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Don't Talk

"Even a whisper may get to Hitler"

This Crime Does Not Pay series entry dramatizes the idea that during wartime, people should not discuss anything related to their work when in public. A casual remark can be overheard by an enemy agent and used to sabotage the war effort. In this short, the story involves shipments of parts to a defense plant.

Top Cast

  • Donald Douglas

    Donald Douglas

    FBI Agent Jack Sampson

  • Gloria Holden

    Gloria Holden

    Beulah Anderson aka Beulah Binvicko

  • Barry Nelson

    Barry Nelson

    FBI Agent Freed

  • Harry Worth

    Harry Worth

    Otto aka Anatole

  • Mark Daniels

    Mark Daniels

    MGM Crime Reporter (uncredited)

  • Dwight Frye

    Dwight Frye

    Ziggy (uncredited)

  • James Millican

    James Millican

    FBI Agent-Driver

Overview

This Crime Does Not Pay series entry dramatizes the idea that during wartime, people should not discuss anything related to their work when in public. A casual remark can be overheard by an enemy agent and used to sabotage the war effort. In this short, the story involves shipments of parts to a defense plant.

Rating

6.4 / 10
8 Reviews
0 Popular

1 Reviews

  • CinemaSerf
    CinemaSerf
    6 Jul 27, 2025

    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.

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The Sea Chase

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