Strange Cargo poster & wallpaper

Albert Dekker, Bernard Nedell, Clark Gable

Verne wants nothing more than to escape from a penal colony located off the northern coast of South America. He tries to involve Julie, a saloon girl, in his plans but she turns him in to the authorit...( read more  read more... )ies. On Verne's next try, he piggybacks on the escape of six other convicts and runs into Julie again in the process. One of the convicts is a spiritual figure who seems to know what will happen before anyone else. The group attempts to travel through the jungle, board a boat, and make it to the mainland.

Flixster Users

61% liked it

187 ratings

PG, 113 minutes

Directed by: Frank Borzage

Release Date: March 1, 1940

Invite friends to see

DVD Release Date: February 12, 2008

Stats: 27 reviews

Get movie widget Recommend it Add to Favorites
report incorrect info

Photos

Strange Cargo
Upload a Photo |

View All Strange Cargo Photos (1)

Your Rating


clear rating
Share on: Facebook Twitter

Flixster Reviews (27)

  • groaningbitch
    May 25, 2008
    groaningbitch
    "strange cargo" is the last movie of the gable/crawford duo which is highly popular in the 30s until their romance got hindered by mgm louis b. mayer and their seperate marriages. (gable to carole lombard; crawford to franchot tone) practically crawford's off-and-on lifelong affa...( read more)ir with gable is the only thing described with a positive light in the speclal feature of crawford's dvd collection despite mostly the interviewees are mocking her animalistic shrewdness with misogynism all the time.

    gable plays verne, a dubious inmate who is desperate to escape his colonial jail in southern america or obtain a bit of solace of female touch, so he spots on the saloon girl julie(crawford) by sneaking into her dressing room and forcing her to conform into his bossom. tough julie reports him to jail instead, then he frames her as accomplice to get even. a stuck gender guerilla of animosity turning into affection. then on the way of her retreat to mainland america, she stumbles into him again, so they end up in the same lifeboat with other five inmates drifting to america on sea. it has albert dekker as the malicious survivor and ian hunter as the christ figure, the spiritual guide who inspires gable's conscience. peter lorre as the disdained sap who has a crush on crawford, but belittled as pig all the time while the hunky gable pushes crawford around by trashing her good wills of saving him with distrusts.

    it is literarily clark gable's star vehicle, and the peak of the whole movie would be his temporal betrayal to the woman who sells herself to trade for his freedom then he's on verge of drowning his best friend to obliterate the evidence of his existence. eventually the story is turned around when he decides to go for the righteous: rescue the friend he almost drowns to death and returns to crawford and stop her from marrying pig. it might be a one-man show to demonstrate the wayward overpower of gable's chauvinistic machismo while crawford de-glamourizes herself without even a smear of lipstick as his petite love prey.

    as the special feature suggests, crawford considers gable the man of her life, and she even volunteers to take carole lombard's unfinished movie "they all kissed the bride" then donoates her earn to the red cross charity to ease off gable's grief like a faithful friend and devoted lover. maybe a woman could only be appreciated when she surrenders to man, only glorified when she's under rosy color of romance, ridiculed ruthlessly while she stands aloof to fight for herself. it is apparent, considering the treatment of crawford's posthumous documentary.
  • threefolddado
    October 9, 2008
    threefolddado
    Strange Cargo makes for good story.
  • jjnxn
    March 9, 2008
    jjnxn
    An intruigingly different idea presented within the confines of 40's melodrama. Very gritty for an MGM production with excellent performances.

View All Strange Cargo Reviews

Critic Reviews

No recent reviews.

Comments

This board looks lonely. Be the first to talk about "Strange Cargo" !

Post A Comment | View All Comments

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

All Rotten Tomatoes content is used under license from Rotten Tomatoes. Rotten Tomatoes, Certified Fresh, and the Tomatometer are the trademarks of Incfusion Corporation, d/b/a Rotten Tomatoes, a subsidiary of IGN Entertainment, Inc.

Cast

More Like This

This list looks lonely.
Add a suggestion!

Facts

No facts approved yet. Be the first

Strange Cargo : Watch Free on TV

Movie Quizzes

No quizzes for Strange Cargo. Want to create one?

Video Clips

Upload a Video |

All Strange Cargo Videos

Meet Other Fans

Add Strange Cargo to favorites

Recent News

No recent headlines. Got one?

Recent Lists

Make a List |

View All Lists

Most Popular Skin

No skins yet. Interested in creating one?