Strange Cargo │ Warner Archive Collection

Courtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment

by CHAD KENNERK

Based on Richard Sale’s 1936 novel Not Too Narrow, Not Too Deep, Strange Cargo was produced by Joseph L. Mankiewicz for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and directed by Frank Borzage, the first person to win the Academy Award for Best Director. MGM optioned the novel in March 1938, and after Spencer Tracy turned down the lead, the project became the eighth and final pairing of Joan Crawford and Clark Gable – and the first Gable film released in the wake of Gone with the Wind. Appearing on Blu-ray for the first time from the Warner Archive Collection, Strange Cargo arrives with a new 1080p HD master sourced from 4K scans of the best available preservation elements.

A religious parable in the guise of an adventure film, Strange Cargo follows a group of prisoners attempting to escape a brutal Devil’s Island penal colony. Gable plays convict André Verne, with Crawford as Julie, a café singer who joins the unlikely band of fugitives. Among them is the enigmatic Cambreau (Ian Hunter), who becomes the group’s guide and moral conscience. 

Unlike many jungle pictures of the era, Strange Cargo rarely feels trapped on a soundstage. MGM constructed a four-acre penal colony, while ‘Lot 2’ of Tarzan fame supplied the tropical jungle. Shoreline sequences were shot on location at Laguna and Pico Beach, giving cinematographer Robert Planck’s rich imagery a sense of scale. Jaws fans will also note an early, surprisingly convincing shark attack that feels like the opening of Spielberg’s shocker.

Crawford went without makeup for the first time since Paid a decade earlier. Her wardrobe was similarly pared down, to three dresses costing less than $40 total – a remarkable contrast to the $40,000 wardrobe she received for The Women the previous year. The costume department progressively destroyed the dress Julie wears through the jungle, tearing it a little more each day. Crawford recalled the final day, when the already shredded gown was soaked in the ocean, dragged through mud, hung in the sun to dry and then handed back to her to wear. “I felt a definite sense of achievement as Julie, but reviews were mixed,” Crawford would later say. “Clark and I did our best work in Strange Cargo. We always had been close, sometimes too close, but now we knew each other as mature persons, and the chemistry was still there, and it added to the fire. The screenplay was splendid, and Frank Borzage let us take it and run. And, baby, we ran!”

The unusual mixture of spirituality and sexuality did not sit well with the censors. Joseph I. Breen, head of the Production Code Administration, deemed the first script unacceptable and demanded eight pages be deleted for what he considered unnecessary gruesomeness. Before filming, Breen advised Louis B. Mayer to shoot alternate material that could preserve continuity should scenes later need to be removed. A month before its premiere, the Legion of Decency classified Strange Cargo with a ‘C’, as in condemned. MGM released it anyway, prompting religious and family organisations across the country to organise boycotts. After two weeks, authorities in Detroit and Providence pulled the film, with Boston and other cities following suit. MGM ultimately withdrew all prints and made the necessary changes to secure a reversal of the Legion’s decision.

What survives is still an unusually bold mixture of romance, adventure and religious allegory, all of which looks stunning on Blu-ray. The disc is rounded out by the archival featurette Gable and Crawford, which looks back at the pair’s previous collaborations, including Dance, Fools, Dance (1931). Also included is the MGM cartoon Home on the Range, the Our Gang short Goin’ Fishin’ and the original theatrical trailer.

Strange Cargo is available on Blu-ray 30 June from Warner Archive Collection.
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