Afraid to Talk

Afraid to Talk
Afraid to Talk
Directed by	Edward L. Cahn
Screenplay by	Tom Reed ; Albert Maltz (play) ; George Sklar (play)
Produced by	Carl Laemmle, Jr.
Starring	Eric Linden; Sidney Fox; Tully Marshall; Louis Calhern; George Meeker; Robert Warwick
Cinematography	Karl Freund
Edited by	Milton Carruth
Music by	James Dietrich
Production; company	Universal Pictures
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	December 1, 1932;
Running time	69 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Afraid to Talk is a 1932 American pre-Code drama film directed by Edward L. Cahn and written by Tom Reed. The film stars Eric Linden, Sidney Fox, Tully Marshall, Louis Calhern, George Meeker and Robert Warwick. The film was released on December 1, 1932, by Universal Pictures.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Plot

In an unnamed metropolitan city during the Depression, corrupt mayor Billy Manning is running for re-election, and his political allies in the party machine do their best to burnish his public image.

When a local mobster is shot in his hotel room by a speakeasy owner/racketeer named Jig Skelli the crime is witnessed by bellhop Eddie Martin, who had been waiting on him. The police take Martin into custody, and A.D.A. John Wade, part of the Mayor's clique, pressures Martin to name Jig as the killer, going as far as to prevent his wife Peggy from warning him other thugs have threatened the couple with death if they testify. Martin's name is released to the media as the prime witness. Jig's brother Joe takes a private meeting with court officials, warning them he has documents from the dead mobster that detail all the corrupt activities of the Mayor's cronies, including their interests with the mob, and to protect their interests, wrangle the charges to be dropped and Jig to be freed. Eddie and Peggy are promised a protective move to New York to keep them safe from retaliation.

Associates of Jig Skelli celebrate his release by shooting up the neighborhood, and an innocent child is killed in the gunfire. Since they cannot reindict Jig lest he reveal his secrets, the Mayor's clique take advantage of circumstantial evidence to present an alternate theory that Eddie was the killer. He is arrested before he and his wife's previously promised move, and violently interrogated in the hope of pressuring a forced confession. A doctor on scene insists if he is not taken to hospital, Eddie will die, and A.D.A. Wade reluctantly lets him be taken there to recuperate.

In hospital, a sympathetic doctor sneaks a progressive lawyer into Eddie's room, and enough evidence is gathered that could counter the city's case against him. In desperation, the clique arranges for Eddie to be killed in a manufactured hanging. However, Police Commissioner Garvey, who has quit in protest of the frame-up, manages to reach the detention facility in time to save Eddie's life.

The press reveals that the criminal activities of the Mayor and his cronies have been exposed; the party chairman and A.D.A. Hyde have managed to keep themselves out of records of these events, allowing them to keep their jobs and reputations. However, Hyde has been wildcatting with Jig Skelli's girlfriend Marge Winters, and is killed by the Skellis. When asked for a quote by reporters, the party chair defends Hyde's reputation as a prosecutor, and wonders where another man of integrity to lead the city will be found.