Strange Cargo (1940)
Average Rating: 7.2/10
Reviews Counted: 8
Fresh: 6 | Rotten: 2
No consensus yet.
Release Date: Mar 1, 1940 Wide
liked it
Average Rating: 3.5/5
User Ratings: 309
My Rating
Movie Info
"Strange" is right: this mystical MGM melodrama has to be the oddest of the studio's Clark Gable-Joan Crawford vehicles. When eight prisoners escape from a New Guinea penal colony, they are picked up by a sloop commandeered by another escapee named Verne (Gable) and his trollop girl friend Julie (Joan Crawford). Among the fugitives is Cambreau (Ian Hunter), a soft-spoken, messianic character who has a profound effect on his comrades. One by one, the escapees abandon their evil purposes and find
Mar 1, 1940 Wide
Feb 12, 2008
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Cast
-
Joan Crawford
Julie -
Clark Gable
Andre Verne -
Ian Hunter
Cambreau -
Peter Lorre
Cochon, Monsieur Pig -
Paul Lukas
Hessler -
Albert Dekker
Moll -
J. Edward Bromberg
Flaubert -
Eduardo Ciannelli
Telez -
John Arledge
Duford -
Frederic Worlock
Grideau -
Bernard Nedell
Marfeu -
Victor Varconi
Fisherman -
Richard Alexander
Guard -
Stanley Andrews
Constable -
Betty Compson
Suzanne -
Harry Cording
Guard -
Rychard Cramer
Guard -
William Edmunds
Watchman -
Budd Fine
Guard -
Paul Fix
Benet -
Eddie Foster
Convict -
Christian J. Frank
Guard -
Charles Judels
Renard -
Frank Lackteen
Convict -
Mitchell Lewis
Guard -
Francis McDonald
Moussenq -
Jack Mulhall
Dunning -
James Pierce
Guard -
Dewey Robinson
Georges -
Harry Semels
Convict -
Ray Teal
Guard -
Gene Coogan
Convict -
Art Dupuis
Orderly -
Jack Adair
Guard
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All Critics (12) | Top Critics (3) | Fresh (7) | Rotten (2) | DVD (2)
This enjoyable adventure is a good star vehicle for Cark Gable, then at the height of his popularity, and Joan Crawford.
Despite the pious pitfalls it sets for itself, it's a strikingly open film
I don't think Hollywood has attempted so extraordinary a religious parable before or since.
...a rather talky adventure, but fascinating to say the least, with plenty of local color and offbeat characters.
Embarrassingly flavorful as a Hollywood religious delicacy.
MGM megastars Clark Gable and Joan Crawford headline Strange Cargo, a humid prison break movie that turns into a bald-faced religious allegory.
Weird, but brilliantly done, allegorical drama.
Brilliant allegory.
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It has its flaws, but "Strange Cargo" is an interesting and enriching work of art with an unusual spiritual undercurrent. Set in the South American jungle, it tells the story of an inmate in a remote penal colony (Gable) and a tough broad from the gutter with no family (Crawford) struggling to get by working in cheap nightclubs (probably including prostitution).
Gable and several other inmates break out of the prison, and we follow them on their grueling trek. For reasons I won't explain, Crawford's character ends up going with them. Along the way, they all learn a lot about each other and the demons they're fighting.
There are so many characters that it gets a bit dizzying, and the script sometimes is a bit overly brainy. But there's a lot here to appreciate, and I'm saddened that "Strange Cargo" has been so completely forgotten.
In my continued exploration of the films of Joan Crawford, I'm realizing something more deeply than ever. The vast majority of good films have been forgotten. American culture has a bizarre tendency to forget about its movies. You'd think that good films would leave more of a trace in the culture. So much good work that no one knows about.
One tidbit: the director of "Strange Cargo," Frank Borzage (a man I've never heard of before this), won a Best Director award at the very first Oscar ceremony in 1929. The film was called "Seventh Heaven," starring Janet Gaynor. She also won an Oscar that night. Another forgotten movie from a forgotten director, starring a forgotten actress.