Whistling in the Dark (1933) User Reviews

Watch the remake with Red Skelton...

[AlsExGal · 6/10 · 12 December 2018]

... because he makes all of the difference in the outcome and in the delivery. Ernest Truex as the mystery writer kidnapped by gangsters to come up with the perfect murder is just not funny, and furthermore there is nothing about him that makes me believe that his sweetheart, played by feisty Una Merkel would be interested in him romantically. His milquetoast demeanor, his nondescript delivery, it all just makes me think of MGM cartoon character Droopy who somehow always gets the girl. What carries this thing is Una Merkel, probably one of the most underrated actresses of all time, the rather ingenious story even if it does have a couple of rather ridiculous plot devices, and the best cast of gangsters ever assembled by MGM, a studio that was normally not known for its gangster films. Edward Arnold as the head gangster is perfection - here is a guy who can play tough bad guys or tough good guys effectively, also underrated and unfairly forgotten by film history.

It's a shame Skelton wasn't ten years older or Merkel wasn't ten years younger, because in the remake, they would have made a dynamite couple and made the 1941 version so funny and effective it could have given those in delicate health a coronary. This version is mildly recommended for the plot and the supporting players.

Coulda/shoulda been a lot better.

[lianfarrer · 5/10 · 10 June 2007]

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 Barfuss—until 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 movie—perhaps 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).

Couple gets caught up in crook's scheme

[ksf-2 · 7/10 · 10 December 2012]

Wally (a crime writer) and Toby (his bride to be) are out for a drive, and break down in front of a house where big time crook (Jake Dillon, played by E. Arnold) and his cronies are planning evil deeds. The author talks and talks, insulting the "gang" more and more with each sentence. He gets caught up in Dillon's schemes, and tries to figure a way out. Strong leading roles by Ernest Truex and the pro Una Merkel. Directed by Elliott Nugent, who had directed a couple of Bob Hopers.... so he should know a thing or two about making movies. Viewers will recognize "Joe", Olympic athlete turned actor Nat Pendleton, who frequently played the mug. Good, entertaining fun. The story must have something to it, since it has been remade as film and TV shows several times.

A resource

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 15 April 2019]

Whistling In The Dark has mild mannered Ernest Truex who is eloping with the lovely Una Merkel when their car breaks down. The nearest house happens to be Edward Arnold mob attorney who is hosting mob kingpin C. Henry Gordon and gunsills John Miljan and Nat Pendleton.

The voluble Truex who is just there to make a call for auto repair and a taxi get talking. Arnold is quite intrigued when Truex says his profession is mystery writer. In fact Truex got a medal from NYC when he solved a baffling crime.

If you could have a regular Jessica Fletcher on tab that would be quite a resource for a criminal enterprise. And Truex does design a method for a hit to play for time while he and Merkel look for an escape.

This was an original and amusing comedy. Had this been done over at Paramount Truex's role would have been done by Charlie Ruggles.. It holds up quite well for today.

Metawriting

[tedg · 22 April 2007]

In the early thirties, EVERY film that gathered an audience was important. EVERY narrative trick that worked was adopted and manhandled, forming the ancestry of how our dreams become known.

I'm more interested in the detective story than others of this period. But I'm also interested in the contributors to what would become noir. I'm convinced it has its roots in self-reflexive stories, like this one here. In fact this one is quite important because of its prominence. It was a successful stage play before it was a movie, and the movie features the same two lead actors.

The story is folded in a simple way, not complex at all. Only later would the jumps between folds become accepted.

The setup is simple. You have mobsters, already by 1933 mostly an invention of film and radio. They want to murder someone and cannot figure out how. The world's greatest mystery playwright happens to get stranded in their remote hideaway and they force him to "write" a perfect murder that will be accomplished in the movie. See the fold, a writer in a movie writing a movie?

The fold is made more explicit in the way the murder is foiled. I mentioned radio above. Radio was the great medium of the period, not films. Think TeeVee. The way most folks would have received their mob and mystery stories would be through the radio. The plot device here is impossible in real life, but what happens is that the writer (and his fiancé) are locked in a room and turn an ordinary radio into a phone which they use to communicate the story in the opposite direction than usual, it becoming a two-way device.

The fold is underscored by the humor of their guard being in the room and not getting that the radio is really a channel to an audience. So there's a joke between what he knows and what we know the writer does.

Its not all that great as entertainment. Few of these are, but then few films of any era are. But this one gives you some proto narrative DNA, and if you watch for it, it'll meta-titillate.

Oh, speaking of that, the fiancé is played by Una Merkel who was the roommate in "The Redheaded Woman," just before. One of the precode movie's jokes is that she is rich, stupid, horny and in love with the milquetoast writer.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

Nice look at Ernest Truex in a brains over brawn comedy mystery

[SimonJack · 7/10 · 31 August 2023]

At 5 feet, 2 inches tall, Ernest Truex was hardly the guy to play a macho male hero or leading man in any type of film. He was suited well to play the meek, mild-mannered, and brow-beaten characters that he often did. Yet, this actor who played mostly villains and hen-pecked husbands in silent films, could act in a variety of roles, and he transitioned well into sound pictures. He appeared in supporting roles in adventure, comedy, drama, musical and mystery films in the 1930s and 1940s; and then moved mostly into TV for his last two decades, with roles in a number of series.

Truex was most adept at comedy, and "Whistling in the Dark" is the only male lead he had, after a decade-long hiatus from the silver screen that covered the last years of silent and first years of sound pictures. It's as though this movie and plot were designed for him - the small, mild-mannered character. Indeed this role was tailored for a Donald Meek-type character - or, Ernest Truex.

This film has a good comedy and crime plot; and Truex is the hero by using his brains. His girlfriend, Toby Van Buren, is played by Una Merkel who's at least half a head taller than our hero. The couple are engaged but her father doesn't approve of Porter. When their car breaks down on a country drive, they fall into the hands of a gang of crooks. A very good supporting cast rounds out this picture with Edward Arnold, Nat Pendleton ad Henry Gordon at the top of that list.

Truex has some demure expressions at times, reflecting somewhat the hammy look of him and many others in silent films. Only here, It's adds some to the humor. Truex plays Wallace Porter, a renowned author of murder mysteries. When Jake Dillon's (Edward Arnold) gang holds him to force him to plot the perfect murder so they can bump off a brewer who won't pay for protection, Porter has to use his brains to outsmart the gang.

This is an entertaining film that modern audiences should still enjoy. My favorite line in the film is by Edward Arnold's Jake Dillon. He asks Wallace Porter, "Now what would you rather be at a funeral - a mourner or a corpse?"

one cast member looks like Carol Post, another has a name similar to her portrayer

[lee_eisenberg · 6/10 · 18 April 2024]

I happened to come across Elliott Nugent's "Whistling in the Dark" in the classic comedy section of a local video store. Knowing nothing about it, I decided to rent it. While an okay movie, it wasn't what I would think of as comedy. Ernest Truex and Una Merkel play an eloping couple who end up in the house of a gangster plotting a murder.

While there are some humorous scenes, I would've called the movie a thriller-drama. It manages to stay intense all the way to the end. There was apparently a 1941 remake; made under the Hays Code, it no doubt it reined in one particular scene of the fiancee (you'll know it when you see it).

Anyway, this movie is okay, not great. Enjoyable enough for its brief run.

As to the thing about Carol Post (the wife on "Mister Ed"), Una Merkel looks like her portrayer Connie Hines, while the movie has a cast member named Johnny Hines.

A surprisingly good old film starring a relative unknown

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 18 April 2007]

This movie was remade less than 10 years later and starred Red Skelton--this 1941 version is much more famous, though I haven't yet seen it. The fact is, I almost always enjoy the originals more and I can't see how the film could have been improved upon very much.

A man and his fiancé (Ernest Treux and Una Merkel) are on their way to elope but their car breaks down in front of a mansion containing a lot of no-good mobsters. When the head mobster (Edward Albert) hears that the man is a mystery writer who prides himself on his ability to write good murders, he decides to hold the two people captive until Treux designs a fool-proof way to murder someone. Because they don't want to die, they reluctantly help the crooks, but along the way they come up with some very clever and funny ways to undo this great murder plan. While I am sure some of what they did was impossible, it was believable enough and very smartly written and acted (especially the part about the poisoned toothpaste). The beginning was a tad slow, but thanks to subtle humor that began to assert itself later in the film, it really picked up and improved. An excellent and cute variation on the typical gangster film.

By the way, this film was created before the Hollywood Production Code was enforced in 1934-35. While this film didn't feature nudity, bad language or excessive violence like some Pre-Code films, it did have an interesting bit of sexual innuendo. When it looked like the mob was going to kill the two regardless, the pair are still unmarried and are forced to spend the night together in the same bedroom. It seems that Mr. Treux is an honorable guy and he rebuffs Merkel's repeated suggestions they have one night of whoopee! Late in the film, however, when her father comes to the rescue, the dad says "What have you done to my daughter?"--at which point Merkel shouts out "Practically EVERYTHING!!". This was a very funny line, but I am sure in the remake this was removed due to a much higher level of censorship in films in 1941.

Another case where the remake was far superior...

[Doylenf · 5/10 · 10 December 2012]

A dull, uninspired script that mixes comedy with suspense is the main reason why WHISTLING IN THE DARK gets stuck in a very dated '30s groove and stays there. Elliot Nugent's slow moving direction isn't light enough to keep the comedy aspects in focus.

MGM's later remake starring Red Skelton and Ann Rutherford was a much better variation on this tale told at a much faster pace.

Ernest Truex and Una Merkel are the hapless couple who happen to fall into the clutches of crooked mobsters headed by C. Henry Gordon, Edward Arnold and Nat Pendleton. Truex is a mystery writer forced to invent a perfect murder for Edward Arnold so they can rid themselves of a fellow gangster they want out of the way.

The plot involving a tube of poisoned toothpaste and turning a radio into a two-way connection is not only foolish but improbable, making the story incredible long before the finish.

For some, this will be a trifle easily forgiven and forgotten. Others may find it an uninspired B-film with little to offer in the way of real entertainment even though it began as a play that had a substantial Broadway run.

In any case, the remake with Skelton and Rutherford was far easier to take and was so successful that it became a "Whistling in the Dark" series for several years, to the delight of Red Skelton fans.

Somewhat dated but surprisingly good film.

[Charles-43 · 8/10 · 10 March 1999]

This film starts out as a serious drama and then becomes a comedy in parts. In some respects it is dated, but worth watching.