'Afraid to Talk' is one of those efficient low-budget Hollywood features that deserve to be better known. This drama of corrupt politicos is very much of the 1930s. I don't mean to say that modern politicians are less corrupt than their 1930s counterparts, but the corruption in this film is heavy with the milieu of the Depression era. This movie's appeal is helped considerably by a large cast of familiar faces. Even Arthur Housman gets a look-in, doing his perennial drunk act.
SPOILERS AHEAD. The very talented character actor Edward Arnold spent most of his film career portraying two types: incorruptible authority figures, and seemingly incorruptible authority figures who are secretly crooks. Here, for once, Arnold plays an outright crook who doesn't hide his dishonesty ... and named Jig Skelli, no less. Skelli's rival for control of the underworld is one Jake Stransky, played by Robert Warwick. I disliked this casting: Warwick was a deeply cultured actor with a cultivated stage voice (although American, he sometimes played upper-class Englishmen). Warwick, a good actor within his range, is simply not believable as a thick-ear gangster.
When Skelli rubs out Stransky, the hit is witnessed by bellboy Eddie Martin (Eric Linden). Determined to leave no witnesses, Skelli tries to kill Eddie but merely wounds him. Eddie grasses to the authorities ... which, in this movie, proves to be a mistake. The district attorney (Tully Marshall, excellent), his assistant (Louis Calhern, quite good) and the mayor are all crooked too, and in Skelli's pocket. The mayor is played by Berton Churchill, who sometimes played respectable authority figures but more typically (and more effectively) portrayed authority figures who are secretly corrupt. Churchill's most memorable role was as the banker who embezzles from his own bank in 'Stagecoach': he plays a similar character here.
The D.A. realises it wouldn't be a good idea to indict Skelli, since Skelli has got the goods on every crooked politician in town. But the murder of Stransky has got to be prosecuted. So the D.A. indicts poor Eddie Martin! Talk of being in the wrong place at the wrong time! The innocent Eddie is pressured into giving a false confession, and now he's looking at a death sentence.
Eric Linden briefly played lead roles in this and a few other films. As the hapless bellboy Eddie, Linden is impressive in a role requiring a range of emotions. Viewers who have never run afoul of the justice system might have difficulty believing that an innocent man would confess to murder; I found Linden's performance entirely believable, and I'm painfully aware of the tactics which corrupt police and prosecutors employ to wring confessions out of the innocent.
Much of 'Afraid to Talk' is excellent. Although there are several fine supporting performances, Sidney Fox is insipid and dull in the female lead as Eddie's frantic wife. Also, the last reel of the movie seems rushed ... as if the scriptwriters needed to tie up the plot before they ran out of typing paper. My rating for this one: 8 solid points out of 10.
SPOILERS AHEAD. The very talented character actor Edward Arnold spent most of his film career portraying two types: incorruptible authority figures, and seemingly incorruptible authority figures who are secretly crooks. Here, for once, Arnold plays an outright crook who doesn't hide his dishonesty ... and named Jig Skelli, no less. Skelli's rival for control of the underworld is one Jake Stransky, played by Robert Warwick. I disliked this casting: Warwick was a deeply cultured actor with a cultivated stage voice (although American, he sometimes played upper-class Englishmen). Warwick, a good actor within his range, is simply not believable as a thick-ear gangster.
When Skelli rubs out Stransky, the hit is witnessed by bellboy Eddie Martin (Eric Linden). Determined to leave no witnesses, Skelli tries to kill Eddie but merely wounds him. Eddie grasses to the authorities ... which, in this movie, proves to be a mistake. The district attorney (Tully Marshall, excellent), his assistant (Louis Calhern, quite good) and the mayor are all crooked too, and in Skelli's pocket. The mayor is played by Berton Churchill, who sometimes played respectable authority figures but more typically (and more effectively) portrayed authority figures who are secretly corrupt. Churchill's most memorable role was as the banker who embezzles from his own bank in 'Stagecoach': he plays a similar character here.
The D.A. realises it wouldn't be a good idea to indict Skelli, since Skelli has got the goods on every crooked politician in town. But the murder of Stransky has got to be prosecuted. So the D.A. indicts poor Eddie Martin! Talk of being in the wrong place at the wrong time! The innocent Eddie is pressured into giving a false confession, and now he's looking at a death sentence.
Eric Linden briefly played lead roles in this and a few other films. As the hapless bellboy Eddie, Linden is impressive in a role requiring a range of emotions. Viewers who have never run afoul of the justice system might have difficulty believing that an innocent man would confess to murder; I found Linden's performance entirely believable, and I'm painfully aware of the tactics which corrupt police and prosecutors employ to wring confessions out of the innocent.
Much of 'Afraid to Talk' is excellent. Although there are several fine supporting performances, Sidney Fox is insipid and dull in the female lead as Eddie's frantic wife. Also, the last reel of the movie seems rushed ... as if the scriptwriters needed to tie up the plot before they ran out of typing paper. My rating for this one: 8 solid points out of 10.