The Whistler is a 1944 American mystery film noir directed by William Castle and starring Richard Dix, Gloria Stuart and J. Carrol Naish. Based on the radio drama The Whistler, it was the first of Columbia Pictures' eight "Whistler" films starring Richard Dix produced in the 1940s.

Industrialist Earl C. Conrad, who failed to rescue his wife at sea and now suffers from grief and guilt, arranges to have a hit man end his life. He does not know how he will be killed, but knows that it will happen within days. Suddenly Conrad learns that his wife is still alive, and he tries to call off the hit. Unfortunately, the underworld go-between who made the deal with him has been killed in the meantime, leaving Conrad unable to learn the identity of the actual hit man.

The pathological hired killer, obsessed with carrying out his mission, stalks Conrad as the frightened industrialist stays on the move. Always looking over his shoulder and trying to think of a way to survive, Conrad keeps running into other dangers, including the vengeance of the dead man's wife.

Cast
Richard Dix as Earl C. Conrad
Gloria Stuart as Alice Walker
J. Carrol Naish as The Killer
Alan Dinehart as Gorman
Otto Forrest as the voice of The Whistler (uncredited)
Joan Woodbury as Antoinette 'Toni' Vigran (uncredited)
Robert Emmett Keane as Charles 'Charlie' McNear (uncredited)
Don Costello as Lefty Vigran aka Gorss (uncredited)


The New York Times was not particularly impressed: "the miserable expedient to which Richard Dix is reduced in this weary, illogical imitation of an Alfred Hitchcock (plus an early Fritz Lang) film." But we did think it had the look and feel of a Whistler OTR episode. text from wikipedia and NY Times