Keep Your Mouth Shut (1944)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Norman McLaren

Genre:

Animation | Short | War

Plot:

A Nazi death's head "congratulates" Canadians for all the helpful military intelligence he overheard from loose talk and gossip.

Plot Keywords:

WWII | Propaganda

Cast

Lorne Greene

...

Himself (voice) (uncredited) (unconfirmed)

Runtime:

3 min

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

National Film Board of Canada (NFB)

Movie Connections:

Edited into 50 for 50: Volume 1, Tape 1: Golden Oldies (1989)

Extremely Underwhelming

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

"Keep Your Mouth Shut", made by the late great Norman McLaren, is a short that portrays a talking human skull that warns World War II-era Canadian individuals to restrain from spreading about wartime-related gossip lest he should hear it and pass the info along to his superiors, in the process bringing about a series of calamities to allied forces.

The short is made worthwhile due to the talking skull, which is brought to eerie life with brilliant stop motion animation. That, unfortunately, is the only meat there is to be found in this propaganda piece. The plot is tedious, and the moral of the story is pretty nonsensical. The short could have been so much better if it had been restructured, made into a short criticizing gossip in general and with a more logical narrative.

"Keep Your Mouth Shut" gets 4/10, but only due to the aforementioned skull animation. The story alone deserves nothing more than 1/10.