Review: Sealed Cargo

Set during WWII, a fishing boat off the coast of Nova Scotia captained by Dana Andrews and headed for Newfoundland, comes across a Danish ship that has clearly been under fire. Andrews and his crew (which includes two newly hired Danes played by Philip Dorn and Eric Feldary who are immediately suspicious of each other) find the only person alive, the ship’s captain played by Claude Rains. Rains tells them of the tale of what befell his ship and the crew. Apparently the ship was set upon by German U-boats. However, something just isn’t right about Rains, including his barely accented English. Already having the possibility that at least one of his Danish crew members may not be who or what they say they are (i.e. They may turn out to be a Nazi spy), Andrews is deeply suspicious of the Captain. Carla Balenda plays the woman who hires Andrews in the first place to take her to her father (Onslow Stevens) in Newfoundland. Whit Bissell can be seen early on playing cards in a cameo.

 

Well-acted , this 1951 film from director Alfred Werker (“The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes”) is really solid stuff that moves at a pretty good pace. It’s quite tense, and early on eerily quiet and shrouded in fog as you wonder just where this is all going. The B&W cinematography by George E. Diskant (“On Dangerous Ground”, “The Narrow Margin”) is superb, and the first half of the film is particularly strong.

 

I suppose you could argue that one person’s casting is a tad transparent, but the screenplay by the trio of Oliver H.P. Garrett (“A Farewell to Arms”, “Gone With the Wind”, “Duel in the Sun”), Roy Huggins (writer-director of “Hangman’s Knot”), and Dale Van Every (“Murders in the Rue Morgue”, “Captains Courageous”) throws in enough credible suspicion to make things a little less predictable than it could’ve been. In fact, for me the only thing stopping this film from being even better than it is, is the rather dull and unnecessary female element brought to the film by Carla Balenda. She’s barely necessary, completely forgettable, and the attempt at a romance between her and star Dana Andrews comes out of nowhere. Take her out, and you’ve got an even better film, for sure. Andrews is Andrews, a tad glum but solid as usual. Even better is Claude Rains, terrific as always and a constant scene-stealer, even if he’s playing the most English-sounding Dane in history (not terribly convincingly explained away in the film either).

Playing a little like the later “Wreck of the Mary Deare” at times, this is solid wartime thriller stuff with a mostly solid cast, interesting plot, and fine B&W cinematography. You can’t ask for much more than that, surely.

 

Rating: B-