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Strange Cargo (1940)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writers:
Release Date:
1 March 1940 (USA)
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Plot:
Convicts escaping from Devil's Island come under the influence of a strange Christ-like figure. full summary | add synopsis
User Comments:
Moments of beauty, stretches of nonsense
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Cast
(Complete credited cast)| Joan Crawford | ... | Julie | |
| Clark Gable | ... | André Verne | |
| Ian Hunter | ... | Cambreau | |
| Peter Lorre | ... | M'sieu Pig | |
| Paul Lukas | ... | Hessler | |
| Albert Dekker | ... | Moll | |
| J. Edward Bromberg | ... | Flaubert | |
| Eduardo Ciannelli | ... | Telez | |
| John Arledge | ... | Dufond | |
| Frederick Worlock | ... | Grideau, the Prison Head (as Frederic Worlock) | |
| Bernard Nedell | ... | Marfeu | |
| Victor Varconi | ... | Fisherman |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
USA:113 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (Western Electric Sound System)
Certification:
Filming Locations:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
Joan Crawford's wardrobe consisted of three ready-to-wear dresses which cost under $40.
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Quotes:
André Verne:
So you outsmarted me, huh?
Julie: That's what happens, they tell me, when smart people get together. One of them winds up ahead.
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Julie: That's what happens, they tell me, when smart people get together. One of them winds up ahead.
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Movie Connections:
Featured in Joan Crawford: The Ultimate Movie Star (2002) (TV)
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FAQ
This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.more (26 total)
Message Boards
Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Strange Cargo (1940)| Recent Posts (updated daily) | User |
|---|---|
| Moll didn't have to drink the water | danielj_old999 |
| This IS an amazing and beautiful film!!! | astor1998 |
| Messages From The Classics Still Rule! | mymsplk |
Recommendations
If you enjoyed this title, our database also recommends:
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| The Secret of Treasure Island | Gone with the Wind | Borstal Boy | Pickup on South Street | Escape from Devil's Island |
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| IMDb Drama section | IMDb USA section | Add this title to MyMovies |

Hollywood, the home of hype, glamor and the search for profits, is scarcely ruled by spiritual values, and so it comes as no surprise that its attempts at investigations of the spiritual life are thin and often silly (better to go farther afield--to the films of Bresson, Dreyer, Rossellini and Bergman, for probing depictions of the spirituality). "Strange Cargo" is no exception. This odd hybrid of adventure film, love story and religious parable trivializes the very insights it tries to communicate. That a figure of providence and salvation would work to match Verne (Clark Gable at his most cockily mannered and self-regarding) and Julie (Joan Crawford, snarling and spitting out every other word in an attempt to be the Queen of Tough Dames) seems ludicrous at best. Is this the Patron Saint of the Star System at work, matching warring egos before sending them off to further penal servitude on the M-G-M lot? BUT. . .there are good supporting performances here, and visually arresting moments: the shadowy prison barracks; the escaping boat by moonlight, or against a painterly cloudscape; Julie walking along the seafront as the wind whips up; Julie and Monsieur Pig (Peter Lorre) bargaining for Verne's freedom as the storm builds; an unusually ennobling gay prison romance between two convicts. . .Above all, there is Paul Lukas's dignified and detached performance as Hessler, a murderer who can appreciate Cambreau's virtues, yet turns his back on him. In the film's most arresting moment, Hessler, having left Cambreau, stands outside the cabin. We hear the wind through the jungle, see the shadows on his face, which conveys a moment of fear and self-doubt. Then he exits into the night. In this moment, Hessler achieves an ambiguity, depth and existential strength that none of the other characters manage to achieve. is the film's secret that its deepest sympathies are allied with Hessler?