White Cargo (1942)

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Cinemaspeak59
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White Cargo (1942)

Post by Cinemaspeak59 »

White Cargo (1942) It’s hard to believe such a tawdry, and campy movie came out of the glamour house that was MGM. But I’m glad it did. Hedy Lamarr’s previous films with the studio were rather bland. Hedy was presented as a porcelain goddess, to be admired the same way one admires a statue. Don’t get me wrong, she did some fine work in H. M. Pulham, Esq., but her roles were too restrained, and high-minded. Bette Davis’s best work involved playing unsavory characters in Of Human Bondage and The Letter. Hedy needed something similar, to allow her to crack open the encasement that held her back her as an object of impersonal beauty. Lamarr plays Tondelayo, a racially ambiguous, greedy temptress toying with the white men working at a British rubber planation in West Africa in the early 1900s. The person who knows Tondelayo best is Harry Witzel, the plantation boss, forcefully played by Walter Pidgeon. Witzel is bit of a martinet. It’s implied he once fell under Tondelayo’s spell, but had enough sense to realize that staying with her would lead to his downfall. Ashley (Bramwell Fletcher), Witzel’s subordinate, wasn’t so lucky. His obsession with Tondelayo turned him into an alcoholic wreck who had to be sent back to England.

Ashley’s replacement, Langford (Richard Carlson), is young and handsome, but resents Witzel’s constant patronizing. Once Langford spots Tondelayo prowling around his bungalow, he’s hooked. Her introduction, “I’m Tondelayo”, is uttered as if Tondelayo were royalty, and for her own aggrandizement. Lamarr’s performance dispenses with any mannerisms, or subtlety, that might win favor with the audience. And this is good. Tondelayo is vulgar, and incredibly obvious in her attempts at seduction, a technique that’s practically infallible. She calls Langford Awila, and promises to make him tiffin, a tea, to make him feel better. Of course in the film tiffin means something completely different, a clever device to get around the censors. Wearing a sarong throughout the movie, we get to see that Lamarr’s beautiful legs could rival Grable's and Dietrich’s. Hedy’s darkened skin is offset by eyes that seem to glow. Credit this to Harry’s Stradling’s great cinematography. White Cargo is also very funny, courtesy of Frank Morgan, who plays the alcoholic Doctor, who hates wasting good liquor to treat infections. Following a big meal, and plenty of boos, Langford disapprovingly asks whether the men always drink like this. The Doctor responds, “Regrettably, no”. White Cargo is by no stretch a masterpiece, but I loved it anyway. In Tondelayo, Hedy created a great femme fatale, even if the film is not a film noir.
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ziggy6708a
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Re: White Cargo (1942)

Post by ziggy6708a »

luuuuv "White Cargo" !!
whatever you do....just DON"T say ACCLIMATIZE to Walter Pidgeon!!
:yahoo: :smiley_clap:
was "mr6666" @ TCM
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jamesjazzguitar
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Re: White Cargo (1942)

Post by jamesjazzguitar »

Very nice write-up of the film White Cargo. This is one of my favorite films Lamarr is featured in since she gets a more gritty part which, as noted, allows her to be more than just a beautiful face.
Cinemaspeak59
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Re: White Cargo (1942)

Post by Cinemaspeak59 »

jamesjazzguitar wrote: December 7th, 2022, 8:11 pm Very nice write-up of the film White Cargo. This is one of my favorite films Lamarr is featured in since she gets a more gritty part which, as noted, allows her to be more than just a beautiful face.
Thanks, James!
Cinemaspeak59
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Re: White Cargo (1942)

Post by Cinemaspeak59 »

ziggy6708a wrote: December 7th, 2022, 8:06 pm luuuuv "White Cargo" !!
whatever you do....just DON"T say ACCLIMATIZE to Walter Pidgeon!!
:yahoo: :smiley_clap:
Yes! And no matter how humid it is, DO NOT SAY BLASTED HOT TODAY
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Swithin
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Re: White Cargo (1942)

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This may be the one line in the film, spoken by Tondelayo to Langford, that could not be said in a film today:

"Please beat me. Then maybe you feel much better. Soon we make up. Much love. Many bangles."
Cinemaspeak59
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Re: White Cargo (1942)

Post by Cinemaspeak59 »

Cuthbert wrote: December 12th, 2022, 1:29 pm This may be the one line in the film, spoken by Tondelayo to Langford, that could not be said in a film today:

"Please beat me. Then maybe you feel much better. Soon we make up. Much love. Many bangles."
I agree completely.
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MovieCollectorOH
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Re: White Cargo (1942)

Post by MovieCollectorOH »

Great 'bad' movie, one of my favorites in fact. It seems to fall through the cracks over at TCM, so good to see them show it again. This fits into my personal category of "jungle movies", where the characters are out of their usual element in some way or another. It is "just a matter of time before the damp rot sets in".
Cinemaspeak59 wrote: December 12th, 2022, 1:21 pm
ziggy6708a wrote: December 7th, 2022, 8:06 pm luuuuv "White Cargo" !!
whatever you do....just DON"T say ACCLIMATIZE to Walter Pidgeon!!
:yahoo: :smiley_clap:
Yes! And no matter how humid it is, DO NOT SAY BLASTED HOT TODAY
I'VE BEEN WAITING HOURS JUST TO HEAR YOU SAY THAT, YOU SWINE!!!
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