The Night Won't Talk (1952) User Reviews

Make it 6.5!

[JohnHowardReid · 6/10 · 31 October 2016]

British "B" features are usually not a great investment in time or money, but this is the exception that proves the rule. It's very neatly directed against authentic Chelsea backgrounds by Daniel Birt and boasts a really fine performance by Hy Hazell (a stage actress I once had the pleasure of meeting) in one of her regrettably rare screen appearances.

Admittedly, the screenplay is inclined to be somewhat over-talkative (a sure giveaway of the film's modest budget) and to lose momentum halfway through. But it's still worth watching. Director Daniel Birt plays fair with his audiences – which is something I like! Admittedly, if you can't spot the murderer, you are definitely not a frequent movie watcher, but I enjoyed the game anyway!

Is The Dark Print Intentional Or A Happy Accident?

[boblipton · 6/10 · 14 March 2020]

A model is dead, and the police in the person of Inspector Ballard Berkeley have several likely suspects, but no proof that will convince a jury. The prime suspect looks to be painter John Bailey, who used to be engaged to her. He was subject to fits of jealousy and blackouts. I'm fact, he thinks he might have killed her. The ladies, sculptor Hy Hazell, Mary Germaine, and Sarah Lawson, are sympathetic to him. Fat Martin, who works at a club where the artists and models congregate, is a creepy possibility. And so on.

It's put together very well, both as a mystery and a story about the neurotics in the art world. One thing that helps is the darkness of the print. I am not sure if that was a deliberate choice to reflect the title, or simply a matter of the print, but it adds to the murkiness of the movie's story.

Routine Whodunnit

[malcolmgsw · 5/10 · 18 January 2015]

This was made at the small Viking Studios as a result we have small sets and a small number of actors.The film starts with a young model being murdered in her bed.The case is investigated by Ballard Berkley in his familiar detective role,some 20 years before finding fame at the end of his career as the Colonel in Fawlty Towers.We have the usual number of suspects with the usual motives for killing the model.However as with many of such films you learn to discount the most obvious suspects which then leaves you with just one obvious murderer.Films such as this were picked up by Associated British Pathe probably to support some Hollywood opus and thus help them meet their quota.This film has a running time of under an hour so it jogs along at a reasonable pace,and is entertaining,if a bit predictable.

Chelsea Model Murdered!!!

[kidboots · 7/10 · 11 June 2017]

....scream the headlines - there seemed to be something about murder movies set in the glamorous world of upmarket Chelsea which attracted movie goers like a magnet. Maybe it was a case of murder and death could also come to the rich and famous as well as the poor and underprivileged!!

With the dynamic duo of Brock Williams (script) and Daniel Birt (direction) behind the scenes, this was an intelligent though actionless talkie thriller and left the viewer in no doubt as to the perpetrator. Stella Smith, a Chelsea artist's model is found murdered and the three likely suspects sure are jittery!! They are Kenneth Wills, who had last used Stella as a model just a few hours before, Martin Soames, secretary of the Portrait Painters Club and whom the police dub a highly unlikeable character and Clayton Hawkes. Hawkes is the most intriguing character, he was engaged to the beautiful Hazel - until Stella came along. He and Stella also had a blazing row at the local artist's café only the night before and Hawkes also suffers from that malady so beloved of crime writers - the "occasional blackout syndrome"!! He's suffering from that this morning and Hazel volunteers to help him through but someone else also offers their services!! She is exotic artist Theodora Castle (Hy Hazell) who seems to be the only calm voice of reason when everyone around her is losing their heads!! - but is she??

Hy Hazell stands out as a very solid performer (maybe because she is the only one who doesn't act like she has something to hide). Her real name was Hyacinth (believe it or not) and she was mainly a musical star who was billed as Britain's answer to Betty Grable until the lean 1950s found her doing time in those dreaded quickies!! Mary Germain played Hazel (not very imaginative) and was a Sally Grey lookalike. She was only 18 and gave a good performance but her career was sparse and she soon disappeared from the screen. At only just over 50 minutes there is not a lot of time for characterization - Stella has been busy and the police find she has married and divorced the creepy Soames in her dim, dark past but even though the police are initially interested, Soames doesn't rate a second glance!!

Not worthwhile

[robert-temple-1 · 5/10 · 9 January 2017]

This is a really boring fifties British B picture, with little to recommend it. It is ostensibly set in fifties Chelsea, and when one gets outside the studio sets, one does catch some glimpses of it. Chelsea as a former centre of London Bohemianism is an interesting subject for someone to make a film about one day. The Chelsea artists who populate the characters of this story of the murder of an artist's model could have been made much more interesting if the script were not so corny. The only survival of Bohemian Chelsea today is the Chelsea Arts Club (founded 1891), though it had to open up its membership to non-artists long ago for financial reasons when the price of the lease doubled, and there are too many affluent trendies there now. But it is the same building with much of the original atmosphere, it still has its billiard table, and although most of the old impoverished members with their goatee beards who propped up the bar have died, the oil paintings which had to be sold years ago, when the walls were stripped to save the Club, have long since been replaced by very nice ones, if not as valuable as originals by the Founder, Whistler. The old-style 'school food' of boiled potatoes and simple dishes has long since been replaced by superb cuisine, and dinnertime is always full. There were two women members who always used to walk around the Club naked (with no one batting an eye), but that sort of thing does not happen any more. Oh well, hopes that something of the old Chelsea might be seen in this film were dashed, as it is nothing to write home about.