White Cargo

For the French film, see White Cargo (1937 film).
White Cargo

1942 US theatrical poster
Directed by Richard Thorpe
Produced by Victor Saville
Written by Leon Gordon
Starring Hedy Lamarr
Walter Pidgeon
Music by Bronislau Kaper
Cinematography Harry Stradling Sr.
Edited by Fredrick Y. Smith
Production
company
Release dates
 December 12, 1942 (1942-12-12)
Running time
 88 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $570,000[1]
Box office $2,663,000[1]
1942 type "B" theatrical poster

White Cargo (1942) is a film starring Hedy Lamarr and Walter Pidgeon and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It is based on the 1923 London and Broadway hit play by Leon Gordon, which was in turn adapted from the novel Hell's Playground by Ida Vera Simonton. The play had already been made into a British part-talkie, also titled White Cargo, with Maurice Evans in 1929. The 1942 film, unlike the play, begins in what was then the present day, and uses a flashback technique.

Plot

Arriving by seaplane to inspect an isolated, but thriving rubber plantation in the African jungle during World War II, Worthing (Richard Ainley) reminisces about the old days, when conditions were much harsher. The film then flashes back to 1910.

The only four white men within hundreds of miles eagerly await the arrival of the riverboat Congo Queen. Wilbur Ashley (Bramwell Fletcher) and his boss, Harry Witzel (Pidgeon), have grown to hate each other. Ashley is finally going home, and the boat is also bringing his replacement, Langford (Richard Carlson), for a four-year stint. The other two white men are the alcoholic doctor (Frank Morgan) and missionary Reverend Dr. Roberts (Henry O'Neill).

Harry and Langford get off to a bad start, and it only goes downhill from there. It takes all of the efforts of the doctor and Roberts to keep the two men from each other's throat. The situation becomes worse when Tondelayo (Lamarr), a seductive native woman, returns. Harry, as resident magistrate, had already previously ordered her to leave his district as a disruptive, amoral influence.

Tondelayo begins to work her wiles on Langford. Despite the warnings by all three of the other men (and perhaps to spite Harry), he eventually succumbs to her charms. When Harry orders her expelled once more, Langford decides to marry her. Roberts reveals that she is not a native, but rather half Egyptian and half Arab, and in spite of his better judgment, reluctantly joins them in holy matrimony.

After five months, Tondelayo has grown bored of her husband. However, when she tries to seduce Harry, he reminds her that she is Mrs. Langford "until death do you part". That gives her an idea. When her husband becomes sick, the doctor gives her some medicine to give him periodically. She obtains poison and makes him drink some of it instead. However, Harry suspects what she is trying to do. He leaves, then returns just as she is about to give Langford another dose. Harry forces her to drink the rest of the poison. She runs away screaming and collapses on the jungle floor.

The doctor takes Langford away on the Congo Queen for better medical treatment. From the boat comes Langford's replacement: a younger Worthing. Harry grabs him and forcefully tells him that he will stick around. Returning to the present, Worthing observes that he did.

Cast

Production Code problems

According to the file on the film in the MPAA/PCA collection at the AMPAS Library, the miscegenation element of Leon Gordon's story caused great censorship difficulties, beginning with the U.S. distribution of a 1929 British screen adaptation of his play, also entitled White Cargo. As noted in articles included in the MPAA/PCA files, in accordance with the MPPA's 1924 agreement of self-imposed censorship, MPPA head Will Hays deemed the play unacceptable material for screen adaptation and effectively banned any studios from producing it. In the play, Tondelayo is described throughout as a "negress." The March 1930 New York release of the British film, which was directed by J. B. Williams and Arthur Barnes and starred Leslie Faber and Gypsy Rhouma, generated complaints from industry insiders, who felt that its distribution in the U.S. violated the spirit of Hays's decree.

Tondelayo's ethnicity was changed for this movie to avoid violating the Motion Picture Production Code.[2]

The production ran from May 18 to early June 1942.

Reception

According to MGM records the film made $1,654,000 in the US and Canada and $1,009,000 elsewhere, earning a profit of $1,240,000.[1][3][4]

References

  1. 1 2 3 The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
  2. ↑ Thomas F. Brady. "Another Script from the Hollywood Laundry". The New York Times, May 17, 1942, section 8, p. 3.
  3. ↑ "Top Grossers of the Season", Variety, 5 January 1944 p 54
  4. ↑ "101 Pix Gross in Millions" Variety 6 Jan 1943 p 58
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