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Strange Cargo (1940) More at IMDbPro »

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Overview

User Rating:
6.9/10   624 votes
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Down 8% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Frank Borzage
Writers:
Richard Sale (novel)
Lawrence Hazard (screenplay)
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Contact:
View company contact information for Strange Cargo on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
1 March 1940 (USA) more
Genre:
Drama | Romance more
Plot:
Convicts escaping from Devil's Island come under the influence of a strange Christ-like figure. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
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User Comments:
Moments of beauty, stretches of nonsense more (26 total)

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
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Additional Details

Parents Guide:
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Runtime:
USA:113 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Black and White
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (Western Electric Sound System)
Certification:
Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #5982)
Filming Locations:
Laguna, California, USA more
Company:
Loew's more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Joan Crawford's wardrobe consisted of three ready-to-wear dresses which cost under $40. more
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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Movie Connections:
Featured in Joan Crawford: The Ultimate Movie Star (2002) (TV) more

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User Comments

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13 out of 22 people found the following comment useful.
Moments of beauty, stretches of nonsense, 6 March 2001
4/10
Author: gross-6 from Ithaca, New York

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?

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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
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