The Mysterious Intruder (1946)
IMDb meta-data is a runtime of 1 hour and 1 minute, rated 6.6 by 395 cinematizens.
Genre: Très noir
Verdict: Didn’t see that coming.
It is fifth in The Whistler series but the eponymous Whistler figures only as an unbodied narrator at the start and finish.
Richard Dix is an unscrupulous PI (or is he?) who stumbles onto a significant opportunity.
When his loyal (god knows why) secretary chastens him to treat an ingénue nicely. He says: ‘When have I ever taken advantage of a client?’ To which she barks, ‘Whenever you could!’ In reply to which he shrugs and walks away. This is our 1946 (anti-)hero.
Also rather noteworthy is the Brasher Doubloon surrogate: two wax cylinder recordings of Swedish opera soprano Jenny Lind (1820-1887).
The cylinders are unique in that Lind was never recorded, or so it was thought until this scriptwriter went work. High culture in a second B feature is odd, indeed.
Très noir, indeed. Stay tuned for the last act to see why. No Spoiler here.
This film series was a cross-over from the CBS radio series of The Whistler.
Director William Castle imbues this film with atmosphere galore with low angle shots lit below from the front to add shadows as the characters face uncertainties. the shadows loom over all. Then in contrast faces illuminated with a cigarette lighter are blank and cold. The plot is full of twists and turns, betrayals and more with the body count to match all in just an hour, starting with the kindly old music store owner whom the ever reliable man-mountain Moose throttles.
In turn he is blasted later by parties to be known later. But look out for Bernie Olds there.
Charles Lane and Barton McLaine make a good pair of cops who, for once are no dummies, and they stir the pot to see who else gets it. If the villains want to murder each other, that makes their lives easier. N.B. Lane was one of Frank Capra’s character actors in many titles and he later tried to take the menace out of Dennis on television. Wesleyan University graduate, the bulky Barton MacLaine was the bad cop in The Maltese Falcon (1941), but also the romantic lead in the five of the nine Torchy Blane films playing second fiddle to Glenda Farrell from 1937-1939.
MacLaine, Moose, and Olds were all Philip Marlowe’s friends and enemies.