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NR | 1h 30m | Drama, Romance, War | 1951
Director Alfred L. Werker’s 1951 RKO wartime thriller “Sealed Cargo” is based on Edmund Gilligan’s 1943 novel, “The Gaunt Woman.” The movie takes place in 1943, when German submarines were still prowling the Atlantic and a man working at sea had good reason to pay attention to anything that seemed out of place. Dana Andrews plays a fishing captain who gradually realizes that the surrounding danger may involve more than U-boats.
The movie has hallmarks of a straight-up mystery as the characters study others suspiciously. That vigilance could easily grow into paranoia. Espionage and sabotage during WWII were real dangers. Most ordinary people had no way of knowing who might be involved or whether something suspicious really meant anything at all.
“Sealed Cargo” deftly exploits that creeping uncertainty. Werker keeps the picture moving, yet some of its best stretches are when one wonders whether people are telling the truth.
Andrews is well suited to that kind of material, with a screen presence that makes the simple act of thinking through a problem interesting to watch. Plus, the movie keeps giving him more to puzzle over.
Something Wrong Out at Sea
Pat Banyon (Andrews) captains the Daniel Webster, a fishing trawler out of Gloucester, Massachusetts. With wartime manpower shortages making it hard to find crewmen, he takes on Danish sailor Konrad (Philip Dorn). He also reluctantly agrees to carry Margaret McLean (Carla Balenda) to Trebo, Newfoundland.
Once they are out on the Grand Banks of the Atlantic, somebody sabotages the radio. This immediately gives Banyon a new problem: One of those aboard may have a reason to keep the boat cut off from shore.
Gunfire in the fog eventually brings them to The Gaunt Woman, a battered Danish schooner with only Capt. Skalder (Claude Rains) still alive. When he recovers from apparent shock, he explains that a massive storm caused his crew to abandon ship, and a German submarine later shelled the ship.
But when Konrad inspects the damage more closely, he notices a few things that seem a bit peculiar, including where the shells struck.
Banyon takes the schooner in tow toward Trebo. By then the entire business has become hard to take at face value. The damaged ship, its lone survivor, and the sabotaged radio have given him more than enough reason to stay vigilant.
Suspense Done Right
This sort of cat-and-mouse narrative benefits greatly in the hands of a director who knows when to leave some questions unanswered. Werker lets Banyon look, listen, and occasionally get some things wrong, so the viewer can sort through the clues right along with him.
Cinematographer George E. Diskant photographs the foggy North Atlantic in stark black and white. Ships sometimes materialize through the haze before anyone aboard knows whether the sight means rescue or trouble.
The performances keep the mystery alive because nobody seems too eager to explain himself. Andrews gives Banyon the right amount of skepticism, while Rains and Dorn both make it easy to wonder whether their characters are really who they claim to be, especially with all the shifting postures and darting eyes.
The picture eventually drifts out of mysterious waters and becomes more openly adventurous and action-oriented. Werker smoothly handles the change. Sufficient physical details in the earlier sections make the mystery satisfying, while later scenes give Andrews more to do than simply stare suspiciously at everyone on his boat.
“Sealed Cargo” has a regular guy like Banyon finally get the chance to do something about the war that’s been hanging over him since the beginning. He’s a humble fisherman who had been kept out of military service because his work was considered essential.
Yet, he and some of his crew eventually risk their very lives to protect a small Newfoundland community and throw a mighty monkey wrench into German maritime operations. It’s deeply gratifying to see men who started out chasing halibut finish the trip having helped the war effort in a major way.
“Sealed Cargo” is available on ok.ru.
‘Sealed Cargo’
Director: Alfred L. Werker
Starring: Dana Andrews, Carla Balenda, Claude Rains
Not Rated
Running Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
Release Date: May 19, 1951
Rated: 4 stars out of 5
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