POWER OF THE WHISTLER

The third entry in the Whistler series, the 1945 noir POWER OF THE WHISTLER isn't as sharp a print as the others I've viewed, but it's still very nice--just a bit grainy.

I'm a sucker for amnesiac stories and I enjoyed this one. Has a great ending.

Sadly, I've now gone through all the commercially released Whistlers. Just waiting for MARK OF THE WHISTLER to be released. Will probably just watch the copy I have which is a dub from a TMC recording in EP speed on S-VHS tape from 2007.

Or, if someone knows of a better copy online, I'd give that a try.

Bruce R

Power of the Whistler is my own favorite, with some neat little implied-violence bits. I thought it was great that a pretty young woman would invite an amnesiac stranger to sleep in her apartment -- typical American hospitality.
Were you able to get the five-disc set (four DVDs with all the movies, one CD, no company name) of the Whistler series? Are the current DVDs a notable improvement in quality?

These are single dvds, not a set. Quality is excellent, by far the best I've seen in this series and if someone told me that some of them were restored by Criterion, I wouldn't have argued.

Bruce R

What I was wondering about was whether you found the quality better than in the previously issued set. Have you seen the set? I don't know who issued it; there was no company name I could find. But I was happy to see the movies again. (It included all the movies, including the identity-snatching one based on a Cornell Woolrich story which apparently has not been reissued by itself.)

I haven't viewed the previously released set so I can't give you any info in terms of comparing the two.

However, the ones I recently watched were released by Columbia.

Bruce R

http://www.amazon.com/THE-WHISTLER-FILMS-COLLECTION-MOVIES/dp/B00DZ48IH0/ref=pd_sim_74_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=0XE7EH2QXAM4PR5WRCBY&dpID=511RnOkvlPL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR132%2C160_

Above is a link for the set at Amazon. One reviewer does find the quality unacceptable, but I found the movies enjoyable. I suspect that the individual reissues are better but then the set is $25 while the available individually issued seven out of the eight movies go past $100. There are apparently similar low-quality sets for Crime Doctor, Lone Wolf and Boston Blackie.

As noted on Amazon, those are dvd-r's and who knows what the source material was.

I already had decent copies recorded off TCM, etc., but since I'm viewing on a large screen, the sharper the image--the better.

I would suggest considering a prescription to Classic Flix (www.classicflix.com). The Columbia dvds are available for rent (or purchase) from them. They specialize in the movies we love most (around 9000 of them!).

Now, it may take some time to get a particular film. E.g., Someone on the Board mentioned The Lemon Drop Kid last Fall as a Christmas movie. I put it in my queue and only got a copy a few weeks ago. But most of the time, it doesn't take that long. Best to have 30-40 requests in your queue at any given time.

If you do try it, let me know what you think of it.

Bruce R