Excellent, a Must See

Admirable film.

A Brilliant Conflict

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

"Whispering City" is an Eagle-Lion production that was made in Quebec. It's the story of an evil lawyer (dare I be redundant?) who is also quite mentally imbalanced. One of his supposed friends and clients is in trouble--his wife is also very imbalanced and has been making accusations that the husband has been trying to kill her. But the husband is innocent--and his life has been hell due to this crazy lady's erratic behaviors and hateful disposition. He goes to this lawyer to talk about this--not knowing that the lawyer (Paul Lukas) has an incredibly evil plan. And, when the unstable wife kills herself, the lawyer hides all the evidence that would exonerate the husband and makes the man think perhaps he DID kill his wife! Then, the lawyer springs his trap--he announces that he will get his 'friend' acquitted--provided the friend first murder someone for him! Can this innocent man be driven to kill? And, does he even realize he's not guilty, as the lawyer got him very drunk and has been trying to convince him that he really has already killed? And, if the innocent man goes to the authorities, what will happen? After all, the evidence does point to him being guilty.Despite having an overly complicated plot (and I've omitted a lot of it in the above paragraph), this is a dandy thriller. Despite its humble origins, the film is very well acted, tense and exciting. However, it's very likely you won't find it unless you download it for free at archive.org, as the film is quite obscure and in the public domain.

This unusual film noir, photographed in Quebec by Guy Roe (and his astute second unit cameraman, Charles Quick), pre-dates Hitchcock's I Confess by several years. Hitchcock undoubtedly saw the movie because he used its main musical idea in his remake of The Man Who Knew Too Much. In this original, however, the beautiful "Quebec Concerto" by Andre Mathieu is heard throughout, not just at the climax, because the lead male, Dantine, cleverly plays the composer. Other roles are distinguished by the lovely Mary Anderson (later to steal Last of the Buccaneers) as heroine, Paul Lukas (credibly cast as a shifty patron of the arts), dialogue director John Pratt as the news editor who is not nearly as gullible as he pretends, and the very convincing Joy LaFleur as the hero's shrewish wife. The script co-written by Rian James (of La Otra fame) has plenty of noirish plot gimmicks that keep the suspense mounting right up to the climax which, despite location filming at Montmorency Falls, is, alas, a bit tepid. In fact, I'm not over-fond of the whole idea of encasing the plot in a flashback from a talkative and rather boring sleigh-driver; but even as is, most definitely worth a look. (On a decent player, the Alpha DVD has watchable visuals and good sound).

I did not expect too much, when I picked this one up on ebay for about a $ 1,50 plus a little extra for postage. The artwork on the case did appear "noirish" and looked a little better than on most of these features from the forties and fifties that belong to public domain. I already found a couple of well written positive comments here on IMDb that convinced me to give it a try. The technical quality of the only available print on DVD (from Alpha Video) is far below average, which is a pity indeed. It's that bad that it looked like copied from an ancient super 8 print – as somebody else stated out. Though that was a reasonable disadvantage the movie took me in from the very start, and I went through it without having a break.Let me ask a question. Why did Alfred Hitchcock choose Mary Anderson for "Lifeboat"? Because she really could act. She is that good in "Whispering City" that I got hooked by surprise. Paul Lukas and Helmut Dantine also deliver strong performances in a story based on a solid script with some interesting twists and turns all along the way to the very end. The final climax was a bit abrupt and all too easily done, so the movie didn't quite got an ending that did suit the whole story fairly, which I think is disappointing. And though I hardly found anything far beyond belief while watching it, a few things come along much too quick in the end.Besides that, this movie is a nearly forgotten and obviously ignored gem that definitely needed to be rediscovered and completely restored like "Woman On The Run" or "Kansas City Confidential" with whom it can compete. It is not those dark and grim type of film noir like "The Killing" or "Force Of Evil" - both are in fact superior movies. But in my opinion "Whispering City" belongs without a doubt to the better half of that period and I'd recommend it to everybody, who is interested in that. "Whispering City" also proves that way back then the Canadians were hard drinkers too. Well, that might also be a fact, because its director was a Russian immigrant. Watch that movie, and remember Fyodor Otsep, because he did a fine job.

The early parts of this movie were terribly confusing to me. True, the print I saw was terrible. It looked like 8 millimeter. However, I hung in because of its interesting cast and indeed, it picks up: Mary Anderson was a very appealing actress. Too bad she never became a star. Helmut Dantine was very handsome and his acting is very good, too. And of course, top-billed, we have Paul Lukas. Only four years after his Osacr-winning performance in "Watch on the Rhine," here he is at Eagle-Lion. Talk about the curse of the statue! From its introduction, the music is exceptionally good. The Dantine character is a composer. He has written a piano concerto, which we hear in pieces and then in performance. (Not all of it is performed but it looks like a real orchestra really playing it.) I can't think of a better piece written for a movie except the Korngold cello concerto for the deliriously wonderful "Deception." I love that movie and I love his music. That piece, stripped of the name of Claude Rains's composer, Alexander Hollenius, is now performed and often recorded by major orchestras, as the Korngold Cello Concerto.Once this movie finds its footing, it's very intriguing. But till then, it's really pretty bad.