Publisher: CinemaSerf April 9, 2026
'Careless Talk Costs Lives'. That's the clear message here, but we are not talking gossip down the pub after a few pints. We are talking more of the shrewd and manipulative techniques used by the Nazis to obtain information, entirely unwittingly, from the stranded crew of a bomber shot down over Italy. Initially they all respond with name, rank and serial number and their interrogating major (Louis Adlon) appears to respect their rights under the Geneva Convention. Gradually, though, they apply tactics that divide and conquer asking seemingly harmess questions about units and bases. They don't ask anything that could get the heckles up, and with the exception of their captain (Paul Rand) the squad are subtly softened up by everything from a game of pool to a nice supper, or a beer, or the smiling face of an attending nurse or even the threat of a firing squad to give away small pieces of information. Meantime, behind the scenes each of the officers are collating their snippets of information and trying to work out just what the next step in the American strategy might be. It clearly has a function, this film, but rather than stand on-high sounding peels of warning bells about treason and fifth columns, this takes a much more softly-softly, even humorous at times, approach to warning those in service about the dangers of relaxing - a point well made by Lloyd Nolan as he explains to his colleagues at the end after a mission was intercepted by an enemy who were apparently lying in wait. It's not really a documentary at all, more a drama on a mission of it's own, and though it doesn't actually do what it says on the can - it does raise some red flags.