Good start, but then it gets ruined

What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

The Whistler series was an excellent B mystery series from the 1940s. Each of the films had starred Richard Dix...but in 1947 he had a heart attack and was in ill health until his death in 1949. But the studio wanted to carry on the series and brought us "Return of the Whistler"...a similar but Dix-less installment in the series. It turned out to be the last in the series as well. Additionally, the exciting director William Castle directed most of the Whistler films...though not this one.The mystery in this film is a good one. When Ted (Michael Duane) and his fiancée, Alice (Lenore Aubert), arrive at a hotel, things seem pretty normal. But when Ted leaves and then returns, he finds Alice missing--and the hotel desk manager is lying about her leaving on her own. But who took her...and why?! Well, the solution turns out to be very interesting...and well worth seeing.Despite the stars of this film being pretty much complete unknowns, the film works well because the acting is good AND, most importantly, the mystery is very well written and engaging. Overall, actually one of the better entries in the series...and it's a shame this was the last.

The last film in the "Whistler" series, and the only one not to star Richard Dix. He probably missed this one due to health problems, but the truth is the main character here was too young for him - maybe he could have played the private detective instead. Anyway, "The Return Of The Whistler" is neither the best ("Mark Of The Whistler" or "Voice Of The Whistler") nor the worst ("Mysterious Intruder") of the series. It is well-produced (it looks more like an A- than a B+ movie), and has an intriguing first half where the viewer doesn't know who to trust or what to believe, but the second half is more straightforward, and just a tad underwhelming. On the whole, "The Whistler" series lived up to its reputation for me as being one of the best mystery series of old Hollywood. **1/2 out of 4.

The "Whistler" series of mysteries in the 1940s was one of the immediate ancestors of "film noir." The stories were usually dark, the characters were morally ambiguous, and the shadowy, anonymous narrator ("I am the Whistler") added an extra touch of creepiness.This last entry in the series is different from the others. It's lighter, in both senses of the word. Though it's an adequate "B" mystery, it's no grimmer than an Agatha Christie film. The difference is partly due to the writing and directing, but the absence of Richard Dix, the aging former star who played the leads in the previous films, is a big factor. Dix had a "noir" persona if ever there was one. He looked like a man haunted by the past and worried about the future. Here he's replaced by fresh-faced young Michael Duane, who just doesn't have the same gravitas.The plot is a variation on a familiar theme. A man's new fiancée vanishes, and he quickly realizes how little he really knows about her. The more he learns what seems to be the truth, the more it makes sense simply to forget all about her, but he can't get past the feeling that somebody is lying to him.The mystery woman is played by Lenore Aubert, who was sort of the poor man's Hedy Lamarr in the 1940s. She's supposed to be a French widow here, though she doesn't sound terribly French. (She was actually born in Slovenia and raised in Austria, and her Gallic-sounding screen name was dreamed up by Hollywood.)This is a decent little crime story, but it's not representative of the "Whistler" movies. If you don't happen to like it, at least give another film in the series a look.

The minute I knew the screenplay for THE RETURN OF THE WHISTLER was taken from a Cornel Woolrich story, I was hooked into watching. I wasn't disappointed. The story has so many of the film noir ingredients usually found in any Cornel Woolrich story. He wrote THE WINDOW, NO MAN OF HER OWN, STREET OF CHANCE, and so many noirish mysteries.This tale begins on a rainy night when a young couple are about to get married. When the minister is not home, they must stay overnight at a nearby hotel and that's where the mysterious happenings begin. The plot ingredients include a missing fiancé, a corrupt and greedy family looking for an inheritance, a hired private eye, and a man (MICHAEL DUANE) anxious to locate his missing fiancé and getting to the bottom of a plot of deception.It's really standard stuff, but it makes a very watchable tale, nicely acted by Duane, LEONORE AUBERT, RICHARD LANE, ANN DORAN and others.An entertaining entry in the series.