Strange Cargo (1940)

My Review

Clark Gable and Joan Crawford star in the outstanding melodrama “Strange Cargo.” Gable and friends play escaped prisoners on a ship who team up with Crawford, a jaded cabaret singer. Director Frank Borzage (“7th Heaven” 1927) put together this film which is suspenseful from start to finish. The screenplay by Lawrence Hazard and Lesser Samuels was based on the 1936 novel “Not Too Narrow, Not Too Deep” by Richard Sale.

It is the eighth and final movie featuring Gable and Crawford together. It does not disappoint. The supporting cast includes Peter Lorre, Albert Dekker, Ian Hunter, Eduardo Ciannellli, Paul Lukas, J. Edward Bromberg, John Arledge, and Paul Fix. “Strange Cargo” was popular in theatrical release for producer Joseph L Mankiewicz and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was filmed along the coast of Southern California and at the MGM Studios lot in Culver City.