Don't Talk

Mark Sampson, the MGM crime reporter, brings us another story of how CRIME DOES NOT PAY. It's a story about how loose lips sink ships, or at least blow up bins of war-needed manganese because spies who run beauty parlors sneer at American democracy, but the Feds are on the case.

This is a mildly hysterical entry in the long-running series. It had begun in 1935, won some Oscars for short subjects, and was held in high enough esteem that many of the approximately 30 episodes were made into radio dramas. It also became a comic book, issued between 1942 and 1955. The series was a training ground for talent, particularly directors. Jacques Tourneur directed several of the episodes, as well as Joseph Newman, who directed this one. Always maintaining a moral tone, the episodes ranged from excellent to to mildly ludicrous. This is a dry but good one.

"Don't Talk" is a wartime propaganda film that was nominated for the Oscar for best short. Surprisingly, it holds up very well today--despite its strong message for the folks at home.

This film is about industrial espionage--Axis attempts to sabotage war supplies being trucked across America. I am not sure how serious a problem this really was during the war. Other than a French cruise ship deliberately sunk in New York harbor, I am really don't know if enemy agents had infiltrated our defense plans. BUT, just in case, films like this were made--made to dramatize the work of the FBI as well as to drive home the need to keep quiet about secret government work.

The reasons why it still holds up well are production values, fine acting and a taut script. So, even though the war is long past, these factors work together to help make a fine short. Well worth seeing--and you can see it for free at archive.org--a site linked to IMDb for many of its films.

We ought to know by now, that "Crime Does Not Pay" but just in case we had forgotten, this one combines with "Dangerous Talk Costs Lives" to warn us of the dangers of idle chatting in wartime. An explosion at a factory causes the FBI to suspect that some fifth columnist saboteurs are up to no good, but how on earth did they know of this precious shipment? The workforce are all entirely trustworthy and adamant that they have ever said a word to anyone. These are smart cookies, these Hoover boys, and so swiftly look for what these men have in common. The café across the street, and a waitress who once visited the Aya Sofia in Istanbul. Is she gleaning the odd snippet of conversation and putting two and two together? We know all along who is pulling whose strings and given the nature of the series, we know that the Feds will get their man, but it's nonetheless one of the more action-packed and sinister of these twenty minute features and I kept expecting Basil Rathbone to emerge from somewhere too.

"Don't Talk" is a cheesy, simplistic film made in the throes of WWII. The message was "don't talk" about anything important out loud, you never know who is listening. Acting was stiff, but it was still a fun short film to see. Everything was black and white, probably as it had to be in the early days of WWII.

But the message was important. You never knew who was listening to your conversations and even seemingly innocuous bits of information strung together by someone with less than pure motives was potentially a danger.

I am not sure it is clear who the baddies were, Nazis or commies, but I assume Nazis since we were allies with the commies in WWII.

MGM presents A Crime Does Not Pay Subject. Someone blows up a plant and the FBI is on the case. They suspect a waitress had been overhearing loose talk and transferring the secrets to a sabotage group intending to take down American democracy with the use of the menu board.

This is a wartime Crime Don't Pay short. It is the months following the Pearl Harbor attack and everybody is pitching in. This is perfectly reasonable for this series to do some war propaganda. It is loose lips sink ships. It is the fifth column. It is all the fanciful espionage tricks although the menu board is going too far.