On paper, WHISTLING IN THE DARK has all the makings of a great little film: a clever plot offering plenty of opportunities for comedy, suspense, and action; a solid cast made up of some top-notch character actors, including Edward Arnold, Una Merkel, Ernest Truex, C. Henry Gordon, and Nat Pendleton; and the relative freedom of Pre-Code Hollywood to spice up the story with a little sex, violence, and risqué language. Unfortunately, the elements never really come together into a cohesive whole, thanks largely to a flaccid script and uninspired directing.
The story begins with a newsboy screaming the latest headline: beer baron Otto Barfuss (Joseph Cawthorn) has declared war on the racketeers who have been shaking down the brewing industry. In a sting operation, Barfuss sets up some mobsters, who are caught in the act of extorting "protection" money from him. One of the gangsters is killed while attempting to escape arrest. He turns out to be the kid brother of mob chief Ricco Lombardo (C. Henry Gordon), who swears to rub out Barfuss in retaliation. He orders his second-in-command, Jake Dillon (Edward Arnold) to take care of the business.
Dillon and his gang gather at their hideout on the Hudson River. They plan to use an out-of-town hit man to bump off Barfussuntil fate, in the form of crime novelist Wallace Porter (the diminutive Ernest Truex, who seems to be wearing his leading lady's lipstick) lands literally on their doorstep. Driving off to get married, Porter and his fiancée Toby Van Buren (Una Merkel) run into engine trouble and stop at the gangsters' place to use the phone. Porter fatefully reveals to Dillon that he is a master of the criminal mind and could easily plan a way to murder someone without getting caught. The rest of the film revolves around Dillon's forcing Porter to come up with a foolproof scheme for bumping off Barfuss, while Porter and Toby attempt to escape. The far-fetched conclusion, involving telephone wires jury-rigged to a radio set, finds Barfuss saved in the nick of time from death by toothpaste, the gangsters apprehended, and Porter and Toby happily on their way to the altar.
While other films have successfully combined elements of several different genres, WHISTLING IN THE DARK lurches clumsily between comedy, drama, and suspense. There are a couple of rather funny moments, one genuinely shocking one (when the gangsters test Porter's poisoned-toothpaste plan on one of their own men), and lots of scenes that don't appear to be leading anywhere. The sinister, mute housekeeper Hilda (Marcelle Corday) seems to have wandered in from another movieperhaps THE OLD DARK HOUSE. The engaging actor Edward Arnold is largely wasted in an underwritten supporting role, and C. Henry Gordon's talent for creepy menace is likewise underexploited. Una Merkel livens things up a bit with her patented wry charm; her attempted seduction of her timorous fiancée is one of the few sparks of life in an otherwise lackluster film.
I'm not familiar with the stage play upon which the film was based, I'll assume it played better on Broadway (where it also starred Edward Arnold and Ernest Truex).
The story begins with a newsboy screaming the latest headline: beer baron Otto Barfuss (Joseph Cawthorn) has declared war on the racketeers who have been shaking down the brewing industry. In a sting operation, Barfuss sets up some mobsters, who are caught in the act of extorting "protection" money from him. One of the gangsters is killed while attempting to escape arrest. He turns out to be the kid brother of mob chief Ricco Lombardo (C. Henry Gordon), who swears to rub out Barfuss in retaliation. He orders his second-in-command, Jake Dillon (Edward Arnold) to take care of the business.
Dillon and his gang gather at their hideout on the Hudson River. They plan to use an out-of-town hit man to bump off Barfussuntil fate, in the form of crime novelist Wallace Porter (the diminutive Ernest Truex, who seems to be wearing his leading lady's lipstick) lands literally on their doorstep. Driving off to get married, Porter and his fiancée Toby Van Buren (Una Merkel) run into engine trouble and stop at the gangsters' place to use the phone. Porter fatefully reveals to Dillon that he is a master of the criminal mind and could easily plan a way to murder someone without getting caught. The rest of the film revolves around Dillon's forcing Porter to come up with a foolproof scheme for bumping off Barfuss, while Porter and Toby attempt to escape. The far-fetched conclusion, involving telephone wires jury-rigged to a radio set, finds Barfuss saved in the nick of time from death by toothpaste, the gangsters apprehended, and Porter and Toby happily on their way to the altar.
While other films have successfully combined elements of several different genres, WHISTLING IN THE DARK lurches clumsily between comedy, drama, and suspense. There are a couple of rather funny moments, one genuinely shocking one (when the gangsters test Porter's poisoned-toothpaste plan on one of their own men), and lots of scenes that don't appear to be leading anywhere. The sinister, mute housekeeper Hilda (Marcelle Corday) seems to have wandered in from another movieperhaps THE OLD DARK HOUSE. The engaging actor Edward Arnold is largely wasted in an underwritten supporting role, and C. Henry Gordon's talent for creepy menace is likewise underexploited. Una Merkel livens things up a bit with her patented wry charm; her attempted seduction of her timorous fiancée is one of the few sparks of life in an otherwise lackluster film.
I'm not familiar with the stage play upon which the film was based, I'll assume it played better on Broadway (where it also starred Edward Arnold and Ernest Truex).
