Whistling in the Dark *** (1941, Red Skelton, Conrad Veidt, Ann Rutherford, Virginia Grey, Eve Arden, Rags Ragland, Lloyd Corrigan) – Classic Movie Review 12,349

Ann Rutherford, Red Skelton and Virginia Grey in the 1941 film Whistling in the Dark.

The 1941 film Whistling in the Dark is a modest, amusing comedy mystery thriller vehicle for the dizzy comic Red Skelton as Wally Benton, a radio murder mystery show star called The Fox. 

Director S Sylvan Simon’s 1941 MGM film Whistling in the Dark stars the young Red Skelton (advertised as ‘A new star!’), Conrad Veidt, Ann Rutherford, Virginia Grey, Eve Arden, Rags Ragland, and Lloyd Corrigan.

Whistling in the Dark is a modest, easy-going, mostly amusing comedy mystery thriller vehicle for the then popular dizzy comic Red Skelton as Wally Benton, a radio murder mystery show reporter-investigator star called The Fox, who is kidnapped by a villain (Conrad Veidt), the boss of a dodgy religious sect, planning to use him as the fall-guy in his evil murder scheme to gain a fortune in a will.

The classy Conrad Veidt steals the show as Joseph Jones, and he is certainly the film’s main attraction, but it’s a good cast all round, especially also Eve Arden, delightful as Red’s managing agent, Virginia Grey and petite Ann Rutherford. The daffy show itself is a bit uneven, though it is funny at its best. Very popular though he was, and remained, Red Skelton’s mugging act is, like Jerry Lewis’s and Lou Costello’s, very much to taste.

It is the first of Skelton’s three Whistling films, followed by Whistling in Dixie (1942) and Whistling in Brooklyn (1943).

Also in the cast are Rags Ragland, Lloyd Corrigan, Don Douglas, Don Costello, Paul Stanton, William Tannen, Reed Hadley, and Henry O’Neill.

The film is based on a 1932 Broadway stage play by Laurence Gross and Edward Childs Carpenter, with a screenplay by Robert MacGunigle, Harry Clork and Albert Mannheimer, as well as Eddie Moran (uncredited) and Elliott Nugent (uncredited). Whistling in the Dark is a remake of an earlier MGM film which starred Edward Arnold as Jake Dillon, who played the same role in the Broadway production, which ran for 265 performances in 1932-33.

The uncredited contributing writer Elliott Nugent wrote and directed the first 1933 film version.

The cast are Red Skelton as Wally Benton, Conrad Veidt as Joseph Jones, Ann Rutherford as Carol Lambert, Virginia Grey as “Fran” Post, Rags Ragland as Sylvester, Henry O’Neill as Philip Post, Eve Arden as “Buzz” Baker, Paul Stanton as Jennings, Don Douglas as Gordon Thomas, Don Costello as “Noose” Green, William Tannen as Robert Graves, Reed Hadley as Beau Smith, Mariska Aldrich as Hilda, Lloyd Corrigan as Harvey Upshaw, George M. Carleton as Deputy Commissioner O’Neill, Will Lee as Herman, and Ruth Robinson as Mrs. Robinson.

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 12,349

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