"Don't Talk" is an American 21-minute silent short film from 1942, so this one is already over 75 years old and that it is about the days of war, even if not abroad, is reflected by the fact that it was indeed made during wartime obviously. The names of the people working on this one are not too known today anymore with the exception of Barry Nelson perhaps, so feel free to check out the list of cast and crew for yourself. The subject here is the investigation by federal authorities against a woman who is a saboteur and we find out she has accomplices too. It's not too bad of a premise, but still the movie never managed to reach a level of suspense that I would have hoped for. The characters are not developed to an extent either that I would have liked, so the film noir component here falls relatively flat overall. It is another of these films that may have worked better back then than today just because of the political context they played in and it is not too surprising in my opinion that it was nominated for an Oscar, even if I wasn't a big fan of the quality. Also very fitting that it lost to another short that is even more about war than this one here. All in all, I give "Don't Talk" a thumbs-down. Watching it once is okay, but may already be one time too many. I suggest you go for something else instead.
Review of Don't Talk
