Extraño cargamento

This is one of my favorite movies from the '40s. It's such a strange film for the time. Clark Gable and some other convicts escape from a Devil's Island-type penal colony. They are joined by a convict (Ian Hunter) none of them seem to know but who has a strange way about him. Gable also brings along a prostitute (Joan Crawford) who turned him in on his last escape attempt. The convicts and Joan embark on a dangerous journey to escape the island. Along the way they begin to suspect there is something almost supernatural about Hunter's character. As a matter of fact, he is heavily implied to be Jesus Christ! This sounds like something prime for mockery but it actually works really well.

Clark Gable is just great in this, from a pure entertainment perspective. He spends the whole movie barking at people and being a tough guy. I especially love all of his scenes with Joan Crawford, saying things like "come here baby" and planting one on her. It's a macho cheesy role for Gable but I loved every minute of it. Crawford turns in an underrated performance and looks absolutely stunning. I don't think Joan would ever look this pretty on screen again. The best thing about it is she looks relatively plain here. No shoulder pads, no Groucho Marx eyebrows, no heavy makeup or matronly hairstyles. She's positively radiant.

The cast is amazing. In addition to Gable and Crawford, there's Ian Hunter's brilliantly enigmatic turn as Cambreau. Paul Lukas and Albert Dekker turn in two of the best performances of their careers. Peter Lorre plays the creepy Pig who has eyes on Joan. John Arledge is nicely sympathetic as Dekker's "friend." There's certainly some room for interpretation with that part of the movie. It's a good-looking film. Director Frank Borzage never made an ugly movie that I'm aware of. He epitomized MGM glamour. Great Franx Waxman score, too. Just a phenomenal movie. Deserves much wider recognition than it has received.

An unusual and well-acted redemption drama with strong performances by all the actors. The plot follows a group of convicts from their prison break to their deaths or final "escapes." The Christ figure, Cambreau, serves as the collective conscience that each deals with or denies.

This entertaining conflation of "Rain," "Island of Doomed Men," and "The Passing of the Third Floor Back" throws Joan Crawford and Clark Gable into a lifeboat with the incarnation of Jesus Christ, which is worth the price of the video already. Add a lovesick Peter Lorre (clearly worth ten Gables) pattering after the unreceptive Miss Crawford, who keeps calling him "Monsieur Pig," and you've got substance. Unforgettable camp of the highest order.

The Strange Cargo referred to in the title is in the person of Ian Hunter who is a mysterious other world convict who comes upon a group of them planning to escape from Devil's Island. It's a strange film, Strange Cargo with Clark Gable and Joan Crawford in the very last of eight films they were paired in by MGM.

Crawford dusts off her Sadie Thompson role for her character here. Even with the Code firmly in place it's rather obvious that Crawford is a working girl. She's free, but stranded on that notorious convict island. Gable is essentially the same cynical tough guy he played in so many MGM features at that time.

Ian Hunter is the mysterious stranger among them. These aren't a group of choir boys he comes among. Yet one by one as they die he brings a peace that passeth all understanding as the Good Book says. The escapees all don't die, but all but one come under his influence.

I'm surprised that TCM did choose this one for its theme this June of gays in the cinema. Prison films even during the days of the Code were a bit more open in treatment of homosexuality. The relationship of Albert Dekker and young John Arledge is rather obvious. Dekker in fact chooses a gruesome suicide rather than live without Arledge after he dies.

In fact what's really startling to me was that the heavenly figure that Ian Hunter represents neither condemns suicide or homosexuality. I'm really wondering how the censors of the day let that one slip through.

Paul Lukas has a very interesting part. He's today what we would consider a serial killer, he's married and killed many women for their money. He's cool and cynical and rejects Hunter's entreaties. When Hunter says they will never meet again, the line is loaded with implications.

Strange Cargo is a strange film. It's not bad, but could have been a lot better without code restrictions.

I confess that I too do not entirely understand all of the message of Strange Cargo - and am not sure that whether or not that is an intentional device used to help each viewer decide meaning for himself/herself(OK, it's a stretch!). The story is simple: French prisoners in French Guyana are tired of the old prison life and routine and eventually make a break for the surrounding jungle amidst virtually no chances of success. We have a rather eclectic group: Clark Gable as arrogant as he comes as the head "Cheese" so to speak, Albert Dekker as Moll who is Gable's only real threat for supremacy, Paul Lukas as a spouse-killing German, Joan Crawford as a wise-cracking woman fallen on hard times(never quite sure whether or not it is established that she is/was a prostitute), and Ian Hunter in a strange role as some kind of super Christian and Samaritan. Aiding the cast is Peter Lorre as "Pig" who is after Crawford with a vengeful lust. The story is straightforward, but what is not is its intent. Each of these prisoners are troubled men with troubled consciences. Hunter's character is almost(or is indeed) a Christ-like figure out to ease each individual's pain and torment. Some men embrace his message prior to death, some live on with the promise of happiness, and one ignores it completely and resumes doing what he had that had gotten him into prison. I guess for me the thematically rich substrate is saying something about the importance of choice and the ease in which each of us can be forgiven if only we want to be forgiven. Director Frank Borzage does a decent job with this symbolic material. Some things might just be too ambiguous. But Borzage keeps the pacing going. Probably the most irritating thing for me was Gable's performance. His character is too pushy, too cocky, too crude to be charming, affable, or interesting at all. I didn't care what happened to him and routinely rooted against him. Joan Crawford fares much better giving a pretty nice performance with some dimension - though not much. Dekker and Lukas are very good; Lorre is good with a throwaway role. For me, Ian Hunetr gives the best, most interesting, and most likable performance as the mouthpiece of Heaven so to speak. His subtle acting really diminishes the possible heavy-handedness inherent in a role like this. Hunter plays his part in a first-rate fashion. Though certainly not one of the greatest films ever made, I found Strange Cargo a very interesting movie with a very interesting message.