Mysterious Intruder (1946)

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

On December 2, 1889 Thomas Edison made some wax cylinders of Johannes Brahms personally playing his compositions on the piano. These went underground somewhere for 48 years until resurfacing, and were given to the Berlin State Library in 1937. They miraculously survived WWII, resurfaced again and still exist in Germany. In recent years modern state of the art digital methods have produced recordings derived from the original cylinders. Edison and others made recordings of extremely famous 19th century individuals, cylinders that either have been discovered or are waiting to be found. So the basic premise of "Mysterious Intruder" is feasible and broadly based on historical fact: the existence of such cylinders.Richard Dix does a good job in "Mysterious Intruder" as a sleazy private eye out to grab some lost cylinders of a famous singer from the 1880's. It is a tight script and well made, released by Columbia Pictures in 1946. It moves briskly and is filmed with stark noir-style lighting.Another thing I find interesting about this movie is its use of some talented and now totally obscure actresses, namely Nina Vale, Helen Mowery and Pamela Blake (no, not Amanda Blake). Who? They are unknown but worth your time to discover here, wherein we luckily find all three featured in the same movie. The very solid actor Barton MacLane (Maltese Falcon '41) also is a great asset portraying a police detective.This movie has a unique story and is one of Dix's better performances (not great acting, but good for Dix) and is directed by William Castle. I find it to be both entertaining and interesting in its own b-movie sort of way.

Mysterious Intruder (1946) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Fifth film in Columbia's The Whistler series has Richard Dix playing a private investigator who gets a case from an old man who is looking for his niece. Soon the old man is dead and the PI might have had something to do with it. This is a pretty good entry in the series, although the screenplay falls short when compared to the previous film. I think the biggest problem here is the plot itself, which is quite confusing and even in the end it didn't seem to work itself out very well. The film only ran 61-minutes so perhaps that's why the story didn't have time to work itself out as well as it should have. Dix once again turns in a good performance with Charles Lane, Barton MacLane and Nina Vale offering fine support. Castle's direction is good throughout, although it could have probably been better with a better script.

The Whistler was both a radio show and a B-movie series from Columbia Pictures. Unlike the usual B-films (which were mostly detective films), this series was more like episodes of the "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" television series--each a unique story involving human nature and each one being unique and unrelated to the others. Additionally, all but the final film starred Richard Dix--who played very different characters in all the films.In this film, Dix plays a private detective who isn't especially honest. When a kindly old man comes to him for help, Dix appears willing to use a bit of larceny to cash in on the man's trust. Throughout the film, you see that above all else, Dix is a man out for himself. Additionally, other selfish characters abound--and soon practically everyone wants to cash in on the old man's secret.This film is probably the best in the series because the script is much tighter and without the plot holes that sometimes impeded the series. While there are many twists and turns, the script never becomes too complicated and it ends with a wonderful and ironic twist. Additionally, the supporting staff is much better than usual--having many great character actors on hand, such as Mike Muzurki, Barton MacLane and Charles Lane.The score of 8 is relative to other B-movies. For the genre, it's among the best and not to be missed by old film buffs.

A MYSTERIOUS INTRUDER kills Richard Dix's kindly client before Dix can find out why he wants to spend his meager earnings to find a girl the client adopted long ago. Will Dix double cross his way into the big money before psycho-baddie Mike Mazurski kills him, or tough cop Barton McLane puts him away? This is full-blown film noir, with an even more morally ambiguous hero (Dix) than most. The full-blown crisis of conscience Dix endures through this movie anchors the fast-moving (and often incoherent) plot in something a little more substantial than is found in the usual private eye caper. The ending to this one is a very good double twist, one of which is a little surprising. Dix's performance is about as far as you can get from Humphery Bogart and Dick Powell -- eccentric and theatrical. It works quite well for establishing his character. The other actors play the usual set of tough cops, psychos, loyal secretaries and money grubbing blonds in the ways you might expect.In other words -- find this one if you like noir.