Legendary film director Robert Wise called the Whistler features, "examples of budget filmmaking at its very best." Noted B movie historian Don Miller cited them as, "the best B pics of the period from Columbia." Famed film critic/historian Leonard Maltin referred to the series as "one of the most unusual- and one of the best mystery series of the 30's and 40's. . ." Based on J. Donald Wilson's hit radio suspense program featuring ironic tales of terror spun by a mysterious host, The Whistler film series consisted of eight motion pictures produced by Columbia Pictures between 1944 and 1948...

With his dark good looks, muscular physique, heavy-lidded bedroom eyes, and easy smile, amateur boxer and Wall Street business man Jacob Krantz left Wall Street to cut a dashing figure on the silver screen for over five decades. Few knew that he was a Jewish man, when Paramount Pictures signed him in 1922, changed his name from Jacob Krantz to Ricardo Cortez, and widely publicized him as a -Latin lover- in the style of Rudolph Valentino, Antonio Moreno, and Ramon Navarro. He worked in silent movies with top directors and stars, including The Next Corner (1924) with Lon Chaney, Cecil B....