ted

Can anyone confirm that "Hell's Cargo" was a Brit film about a ship carrying a material which if exposed to sea water develops poison gas. The ship sinks and a cloud of poison gas blows across the Med. In its path a cruise liner breaks down. Three destroyers, one Russian, one French, one Brit try to rescue the passengers. And if it isn't "Hell's Cargo" wot is it?

Ted, Ottawa

Steve Crook

It sounds like it might be similar, but not quite the same.
The All Movie Guide says:
Filmed in 1935, the British Hell's Cargo finally received a US release in 1939, capitalizing on the recent outbreak of war in Europe. Most of the story takes place on a cargo ship, slowly inching its way through treacherous waters with a cargo consisting of a top-secret poison gas. When the ship's intoxicated doctor reveals the nature of the cargo to a good-time girl in a foreign port, chaos ensues, culminating in the death of the treacherous doctor at the hands of the ship's three commanding officers: Englishman Falcon (Kim Peacock), Frenchman Lestallieur (Walter Rilla), and Russian Tomasov (Robert Newton). The question: if a murder is committed in to maintain the Peace of the World, can it truly be considered murder? Hell's Cargo was based on a story by French writer/director Leo Joannon, whose later seafaring efforts included Laurel & Hardy's Atoll K (1951).

Steve

ted

I don't suppose the All Movie Guide could be (heavens) wrong, could it? The fillum I'm thinking about had a drunken doctor, too, but the ship certainly wasn't carrying poison gas but rather some form of dye that turned into poison gas. I think the doctor may have opened the sea cocks to sink the ship.

Besides, as a Former Naval Person (thirty three years RN, RCN and Ocean Weather Service) I find the idea of a merchant ship with three commanding officers a bit much. No, the film I have in mind definitely had three destroyers one of which goes through the gas cloud with its ad hoc sealants breaking down and some of the crew dying as a result.

Ted, Ottawa

Steve Crook

It could well be, it's a poor relation to the IMDb. But the IMDb didn't have anything about this one.

Although one must wonder, if the chemical produces poison gas when it comes into contact with sea water, why transport it by sea?

Steve

homeguard

Or nitro-glycerine by bumpy lorry!









Regards,
HG (keeping out of the way)

ted

Well, bumpy lorries and nitro worked well enough in "Wages of Fear." Incidentally, I went to a cinema to see the re-make of that but never got to the end when the place was cleared because of a, believe it or not, bomb threat. Anyway, I'm positive "Hell's Cargo" had the plot I've described - with all respect to our venerable moderator. I saw the film twice when I was a kiddley.

Ted, Ottawa

Hugo

David Quinlan's British Sound Films lists HELLS CARGO (USA, Dangerous Cargo) as having a 1939 release. The plot is "Three naval commanders, Tomasov, a Russian (Newton), Lesteilleur a Frenchman (Rilla) and Falcon (Peacock), an Englishman, pursue an oil-tanker whose skipper has committed a murder in Tangier. He jetisons his cargo, a dye which generates a deadly gas and threatens the liner carrying Lestielleur's wife and son. Lesteilleur leads a successful rescue, but Tomasov perishes in the deadly fumes. Unevenly acted version of french film 'Alerte en Mediterrane' "

ted

Well, that's closer but the detail of three naval commanders (each in his own ship) pursuing a Tangier murderer escaping in a tanker sounds a bit much. No, the ship carrying the toxic dye was a freighter and it sank through the malfeasance of one of its crew all of whom perished. After that, it was all hands on deck to save the ocean liner passengers in the path of the dye-generated poison gas cloud.

Have we all had enough of this thread?

Ted, Ottawa