User Reviews

What a neat little picture from RKO. Not a masterpiece but an unpretentious, solid, atmospheric drama and mystery about a Nazi mother ship and its cargo during World War II.

Dana Andrews is the master of the Daniel Webster, a Gloucester fisherman, like that in "The Perfect Storm." He reluctantly agrees to take along a woman, the unremarkable Carmen Balenda, and drop her off at a tiny seaport in Newfoundland, despite the threat of German submarines. On the way they run into fog and discover a Danish square-rigged schooner with all sorts of topside damage from being shot up by a sub.

In a tense scene, Andrews and his small crew investigate the ship and find the only person aboard is the Captain, Claude Raines. The cargo is rum. Andrews agrees to tow the shot-up ship to the tiny seaport that he's headed for.

I'll make the rest of this summary brief. With the Webster and the schooner both docked, Andrews sneaks back aboard the cargo ship, finds his Danish crewman also poking around, and they discover that the real cargo is "enough torpedoes to blow up every ship at sea." Raines is an officer in the German Navy and has notified his U-boats to put into port and resupply. An action climax resolves all the issues.

It's niftily put together. Alfred Werker's direction has nothing much to recommend it but the casting is well done. Andrews is his reliable stern self. And there are two Danes in his crew, each newly hired, and each suspecting the other of being a Nazi spy. One of them certainly is. Here's an example of what I mean when I say the casting is well done. It would have been SO easy to make one of the Danes, namely the spy, less attractive in some way than the other. Get an ugly guy, or a snot nose. But, no. One has an innocent, boyish face. The other is bulkier but looks and sounds genuine and sincere. Poor Henry Rowland is required to be another German, First Mate Anderson -- as he was almost always cast -- although he's just a guy from Omaha.

The dialog helps a lot. When Andrews is interrogating the two Danes, he has them speak Danish to each other. The boyish one tells Andrews, "Is not good Danish, but in Denmark are many accent, just like United States." The other remarks, "He speaks good Danish, just like learn in school." When Carmen Balenda asks her father, a Canadian Navy officer, if he thinks Claude Raines is exactly who he says he is, her father replies, "Is any man?", but nothing is made of it. It's just another of several interesting conversational exchanges.

When Andrews and his crew first board the cargo ship, they find a dead body crushed by some rigging. "He's not a Danish seaman," remarks one man. "He's not a seaman of any kind," says Andrews, "Where's the weather in his face?" Further, I don't know what the background of the writer is, but the sea lingo rings true enough. "Make it fast" instead of "tie it up." An anchor is a "hook." And an "anchor watch" isn't called a "skeleton crew." The munitions hold isn't "a secret room."

It's a low budget movie. The special effects are pedestrian by today's standards. But, though it's studio bound, and though a beach in Newfoundland hardly looks like the sunny California strand we see here, the set decoration is convincing enough. It LOOKS enough like an isolated fishing village nestled in a cove that you can practically smell the haddock. It all establishes a surprisingly impressive atmosphere, considering the limitations of the time.

It's not a wham-bang shoot 'em up. There's very little violence outside of the explosive climax. And Andrews may be a hero but he's no saint. When Raines refuses to reveal the location of a hostage, Andrews pistol whips the unarmed man.

Clichés aren't entirely avoided. There is the "forget-about-me-and-save-yourselves" module. And the musical score is straight out of a Charlie Chan mystery.

But that's easily overlooked in this suspenseful and modest little piece.

The plot is very unique and difficult to believe. However, just from the viewpoint of entertainment value, it is well worth seeing.

Dana Andrews is the captain of a small fishing boat off the East Coast during WWII. They stumble upon a derelict ship that seems to have been attacked by German subs and they board her. The only one left alive is that ship's captain, Claude Rains. They agree to tow his ship carrying rum back to port. However, so much of Rains' account makes little sense that Andrews is suspicious and begins to wonder if the ship was indeed attacked by the Germans or if it actually was a helping the Germans. Later in the film, Andrews sneaks back aboard the ship and discovers its true purpose and soon after this the story gets exciting and explosive.

Believe it or not, the story was inspired by some true incidents involving seemingly harmless ships that actually were refueling and rearming stations. The story beyond that is a bit silly but still interesting.

I really like Dana Andrews as an actor, and he is quite good in this movie, playing a wartime fishing captain. But what should have been a lights-out war film because of plot, pacing, and performances (with one exception) flounders instead.

First, the film messes up its believability.

During World War II ships ran without lights to reduce enemy detection. On clear nights, even cigarettes could be seen miles away. Yet as Captain Andrews' vessel creeps through the fog to investigate the explosions and flames up ahead (and, incidentally, why would he want to take that risk?), its lights are all ablaze. (And this incredible goof, by itself, spoils much of the movie for me.)

Later Andrews finds the schooner he aided contains a hidden torpedo compartment. (In reality, the ship is a disguised u-boat tender.) But the compartment's dimensions don't work. From what we are shown, it appears nearly as large as a carrier hanger deck. And clearly that is too big to fit within the diminutive vessel of which it is supposed to be a part.

Second, the film sabotages its suspense.

Of Captain Andrews' two new "Danish" seaman, we are led to believe one is a good guy, the other a spy. But since a much bigger star is cast as the good guy, that decision trivializes most of the "who could be whom" suspense.

Finally, Claude Rains plays the Captain of, and the only man found aboard, the rescued schooner. This too is a mistake. For his sinister demeanor (and apparent lack of "Danishness") suggests funny business from the start. Oskar Werner (Decision Before Dawn, 1951), for example, would have been a better choice. A great actor, he was baby-faced and innocent-looking to boot, both qualities which would have helped keep us guessing.

Alfred Werker's atmospheric SEALED CARGO initially plays like a Ghost Ship picture as fisherman Dana Andrews climbs aboard what seems an abandoned larger vessel where Claude Rains, as a mysterious captain, is met with the kind of cautionary distrust that owns this wartime espionage, ultimately shaping into a heist/caper: but instead of stealing money it's about blowing up the titular contraband... or else...

Leaving little time for romance between Andrews and Carla Balenda, hitching a ride with Dana to his reluctant chagrin. But the unpredictable camaraderie between Andrews and who seems like a Nazi spy in Danish seaman Philip Dorn makes this a buddy flick within the pulpy, tightly-wound Mystery/Thriller; also involving a race-against-time mission that just happens to take place during World War II.

Replace the murky, fog-shrouded oceanic/coastal template with dark-lit alleyways and SEALED CARGO is as Film Noir as they come. Just call it a War Noir -- and a damn good one.

What is amazing about this movie is that the set is so overcrowded with props that you wonder how everybody was directed to get around. It's Dana Andrews as a fisherman and Claude Rains as a tired ship's captain as well as a beautiful but dull Carla Balenda who is supposed to be the heroine who may or may not be a secret Nazi. The dull plot explodes into an intense conflict in the later half, given some psychological twists in the story that make me ask, where were you all along?

I could see this winning awards for the technical aspects of the film because it is probably one of the most amazing sets and intense photography and musical scores of the early 1950's. Of course, Rains easily pills that film with a very intense performance, as the mystery is developed that you don't know exactly what side he is coming from either. Andrews is always easy on the eye, but Balenda just seems to sleepwalk in her role as if she was overwhelmed by watching Rains emote and by Andrews' beauty. The last two reels of this film is also very exciting, featuring some truly magnificent special effects. It's too bad that the first hour outside the intensity of the sets was such a dud.

After a while, while you know who the good and bad guys are, you get somewhat confused regarding the intent of the Nazis off Newfoundland.

Dana Andrews turns out to be much more of a fisherman from Glouchester who sets out to the area above and soon takes on a woman, a nurse, who is going to see her naval father who is ailing.

There is immediate action once it's determined that the wireless on board has been tampered with. Suspicion immediately falls on Philip Dorn, a supposed Dane, who has signed on with the cargo ship.

Meeting up with a boat with Claude Rains, speaking perfect English without an accent, we soon learn who Rains really is and we think we know what his plans are.

The small village nearby has to be evacuated and it's bombs away by film's end, but we come away unsatisfied. More of this story needed to be told.