Strange Cargo (1929) User Reviews

I've never seen anything quite like it....

[AlsExGal · 8/10 · 17 March 2013]

... and when you couple that with the fact that this is an early talkie, this is quite an interesting little mystery film. The setting is the yacht of Sir Richard Barclay who has a large party on board. He is recently divorced and is making unwanted advances towards Diana. Richard is quite the "Snidely Whiplash" archetypal villain here, and when the bland Bruce comes to her aid as Richard gets too up close and personal for Diana, Richard shows no shame. Also, Richard keeps asking the ship doctor if he's ever heard of a doctor wanted for a criminal charge in England. The doctor keeps answering no, but it's clear the question is making him uncomfortable. There's also a mysterious stowaway on board being helped by a member of the crew. Did I mention that Richard beat it out of India with a bunch of purloined sacred Hindu artifacts which he proudly displays on his yacht?

In the midst of all of this intrigue are strange electrical occurrences that some are attributing to psychic phenomenon. The lights flicker, then go out, a woman screams, and when the lights come back on Richard is gone, with a dagger in the carpet where he was standing.

The captain proceeds to investigate formally by interviewing each passenger one by one while young passenger Hungerford rummages around the ship looking for Richard - or his body - reasoning that there was not time for him to be thrown overboard, and no exit from the room in which he could not be noticed in case he was planning his disappearing act and simply left.

Meanwhile one of the most humorous scenes is guest Mrs. Townsend taking the yacht's first mate (Ned Sparks) up to the crow's nest for a séance. This is one of Ned's first talking picture appearances and one of the few films you'll see him where he is not dishing out wise cracks left and right. Instead he is quite timid throughout the film, thoroughly afraid of ghosts, and very much afraid in this particular scene.

I'd never heard of this film until I recently saw a pretty good copy of it, and if you can forgive the common problems with early talkies - not much motion and some over-emoting, this one is quite good. The mystery is engaging, there are no static overly talkative scenes as was common with the films of 1929, and if this had been made by MGM and not Pathe I'm sure it would show up from time to time on Turner Classic Movies and be better known. One thing that has not helped keep it alive in film history is its near anonymous cast. Outside of Ned Sparks and Lee Patrick as Diana, who is almost physically unrecognizable as the scrappy blonde girl Friday to Humphrey Bogart's Sam Spade in the Maltese Falcon some twelve years later, I had never heard of any of the members of the cast before.

I'd recommend this one to anybody who likes a good and unusual mystery and can look past some of the common technical problems of early sound films.

Mystic Goings On!!

[kidboots · 7/10 · 4 August 2015]

This was typical of the type of film that made people (in 1929) yearn for the joys of silent films. Although not static, it was pretty talkie and where the entire cast, even down to the 2nd mate, sounded as though they were on first name terms with the King of England!! Even Ned Sparks who brightened up all his movies seemed like a fish out of water. Nowadays what impresses is the mysticism and fog bound atmosphere, as well as the unusual mystery. The supernatural genre came into its own with the birth of the talkies - séances, eerie voices, things that go bump in the night were just made for early sound which was desperately in need of different dramas that could be made on the minimum number of sets.

The setting is the luxury yacht of Sir Richard Barclay, a lecherous old bloke who is making Diana Foster's (Lee Patrick) stay on board a nightmare because of his unwanted attentions. There is a confrontation but Diana is just as worried by her soon to be fiancée Bruce's reaction - he threatens Sir Richard with a knife and reveals a temper he has been trying to keep under control since childhood (an interesting plot line which goes nowhere!!) When Sir Richard disappears the talk turns to the supernatural and as the ship's lights have a habit of turning off and on, dowager Mrs. Townsend reveals she is a fanatic believer. In one of the stranger scenes she forces 1st Mate (Ned Sparks) to take her to the crows nest where they indulge in a séance. That forces the "strange cargo" out of hiding. He is a mysterious stranger who is thought to be a gentleman because of the way he speaks!!! Andre Beranger may talk posh but is the one actor who is not comfortable around a mike, pausing in the wrong places, looking like he is reading his lines off a cue card and with a very wooden delivery (even though Beranger had a long career, his roles were almost always uncredited, so maybe he did have a problem with the mike)!! He also has a problem with Sir Richard and is put into the ship's hold and as the film goes on other people join him - a doctor in disguise and on the run from the police for performing an "illegal operation" on a young girl, an Irish sailor (Warner Richmond) who implies he knows the mystery!!

Suddenly a 2nd stranger is found, presumed dead but then very much alive - he is a yogi who promises that in the proper mystical setting he will reveal the truth about the death......

George Barraud (Bruce) was a British actor who was obviously bought to Hollywood when movies started to talk because of his clear diction. Lee Patrick, who excelled at tough, hardened dames, usually in prison, here, in her first film sounded "tewwibly, tewwibly" dignified. Ned Sparks as 1st Mate wasn't really given an opportunity to show his unique drawly dead pan delivery, but he was the most natural sounding actor in the cast!!

Murder and Mysticism at Sea

[drednm · 24 October 2012]

First off, this film has no connection to the more famous 1940 film of the same name starring Joan Crawford and Clark Gable. Second, this is not a lost film.

Nasty Sir Richard (Cosmo Kyrle Bellew) has put together a yachting party so he can pursue young Diana (Lee Patrick). While forcing his attentions on her, in walks Bruce (George Barraud) who threatens Richard if he bothers Diana again. While this is going on, we're told the yacht is experience weird problems with its electrical systems because of some freakish weather. Others in the party feel it's a psychic phenomenon.

While everyone is gathered in the saloon, the nights suddenly go out. There is a scream, and Mrs. Townsend (Josephine Brown) swears she feels the cold chill of death brush by her face. When the lights comes back on, Richard is missing, but the very knife Bruce threatened him with is stuck in the floor. There is blood.

The yacht's captain (Claude King) decides to interview the members of the party to discover who killed Richard. During the investigation it's shown that the ship's doctor (Frank Reicher) is actually an escaped killer (in disguise) who was stalking Richard for some reason.

But everyone has an alibi for the moment Richard disappeared. Or have they? Things grow more frantic when Bruce disappears.

There's an extended and very strange scene in which Mrs. Townsend and the first mate (Ned Sparks) ascend to the crow's nest. They talk about mysticism and hold a seance. They keep hearing rapping noises. They discover that Bruce is in a box in the crow's nest.

Meanwhile Richard's sister (June Nash) is a wreck, and her boyfriend (Russell Gleason) is searching the ship for secret panels. When he finds a secret passageway between the saloon and the doctor's office, a great surprise is found.

A truly strange film with many of the sins of early talkies such as static camera work and muffed lines. But it has its own fascination simply by being such an odd story.