Lack of good storyline.

Fresh and Exciting

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

I've never heard the radio series "The Whistler". This movie version (one of eight Whistler films) is reminiscent of an Ed Wood project, especially the clunky script with its heavy-handed narration.The plot revolves around an escapee from a mental institution who's out for revenge. An accident has induced brief amnesia, and a kindly young woman offers to help find out who he is. We know he's dangerous when we see him killing cats, canaries, and squirrels. (The latter is amazing, as wild squirrels do not tolerate being touched.)The mechanical script is uninspired, as is the colorless direction. The only halfway interesting thing is a semi-passable performance by Richard Dix as the villain.Woof-woof, bow-wow. You have been warned.

The absurd plot points of "Power Of The Whistler" are too many to list here, from small (Dix and Carter entering an unlocked stranger's car for "a little rest"; when he finds them there, he is not upset at all, only happy to drive them to their destination!) to big (the police not issuing a description of an escaped homicidal lunatic to the patrol officers). Nonetheless, Dix is effective in a change-of-pace role (it's a credit to his acting ability that his character here is so different to those he played in the same series just one year earlier), and Janis Carter, who has a bigger (and different) role here than she had in "Mark Of The Whistler", is equally good as her character goes through a range of emotions. There is a memorable climax involving a pitchfork, too. Great late-night viewing fare, if you don't think too hard about it. **1/2 out of 4.

"The Power of the Whistler" is a good story with a lot of atmosphere. A young woman (Janis Carter) tells a man's fortune and sees that it isn't good, goes to warn him, and finds out he's an amnesiac. She and her roommate (Jeff Donnell) set out to help him find out his true identity.Richard Dix stars in "The Whistler" series, which came from the radio -The Whistler is never seen but serves as narrator. I know things were different in the '40s, but first of all, why is Dix always described in these films as handsome? Doesn't anyone notice that cheap hairpiece he's wearing? When you look at who was considered handsome in the 1940s - oh, you know, Cary Grant, Tyrone Power, that crowd, tell me Dix stacks up. Why would Jean (Carter) be attracted to him? And why would she trust him enough that she'd take him back to her place so he could sleep on the couch? While trying to discover his identity, Jean comes across a floral delivery receipt to a ballerina. They go and see the woman, and she says she doesn't know the man. Later we find out she did. She did, and she let this naive young woman walk out the door with him. Ridiculous. Meanwhile, every time this guy is around a little animal, it dies. This poor little girl asks him to hold her kitten for her, and when she gets it back, it's dead. Then the roommate's bird dies. And still, nothing is registering with Jean.I'm disappointed that I can't get into this series, but I just can't get past Dix.

My father told me about the Whistler Series that ran on the Radio years ago in the 1940's and Richard Dix starred in this series. This film was directed by Lew Landers, a famous director who created many mystery films and especially this film which will keep you trying to figure out just what William Everest (Richard Dix) was after he received a bad blow to his head from a car running into him and he lost his memory and amnesia occurred. William Everest stops in for a drink at a bar and a young pretty blonde named Jean Lang,(Janis Carter) is playing with cards that a fortune teller would use and finds out that this man at the bar has about twenty-four hours to live and will probably die. There are many twists and turns in this dark mysterious film from the 1940's and there is a very dark side to William Everest and he always seems to attract the very pretty women. Enjoy.