Contraband
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Movie Reviews of Contraband
Movie Review: The Archers hit the bullseye
Summary: 5 Stars
This was one of the very first films by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger before they cemented their partnership and called themselves "The Archers." It's also one of their best films, and a delight from beginning to end. As always with their films it's basically one-of-a-kind, although it is a spy film (like most of their early work during the war). You know something's up in the first scenes when the stern captain (Conrad Veidt) of a Danish freighter asks one of the passengers, Mrs. Sorensen (Valerie Hobson), to wear a life vest, which she refuses; when the ship is brought into a British harbor to determine its cargo (Denmark at this point was a neutral country, and might carry contraband), two of the passengers disappear--and one is Mrs. Sorensen. The captain determines he will hunt them down on the English shore and get an explanation. From there, the plot keeps turning in ways you won't expect; it's got all the touches of Hitchcock's British spy films from the 30s (there's a wild shootout in a warehouse full of busts of Neville Chamberlain, which seems to have all sorts of cathartic political implications for the UK at this time), but it's as much a screwball comedy as a thriller, and there are charming scenes in a Danish restaurant with its singing staff, and a great nightclub brawl. The use of Conrad Veidt as a romantic lead may be unprecedented for this point is his career, but he's tremendously helped by the unusual, swan-necked Valerie Hobson, who seems to match him somehow. The use of light is absolutely spectacular, as might be expected in a film by the Archers called "Blackout" in the United States (Powell himself later admitted this was a better title).Movie Review: Conrad Veidt rocks
Summary: 5 Stars
The 'old brands' are dead, so the newspapers say. Owners of copyrights of The Three Stooges are desperately trying to get young people interested in them again, the Looney Tunes gang are being tricked out in hip-hop clothes (ick ick ick) to try to interest todays kids.....well, Conrad Veidt needs no such crutches. True, the movie is in black and white which means today's youth won't watch it...til they grow a little older and learn that blacker is better (sort of like Gene Wilder and his Young Frankenstein.) It's WWII and Veidt, a German actor, here plays a Danish ship captain (have to explain his accent) whose ship is halted overnight by customs on a through voyage. A passenger (Valerie Hobson) jumps ship and Captain Andersen (Veidt) is determined to get her back at all costs. They arrive via train in London in the middle of a blackout (one of the film's original titles) and Hobson proceeds to lead Veidt on a merry chase. An excellent screen duo, if you like this movie you absolutely must get their first pairing, The Spy In Black. That one will have you in tears at the ending!Movie Review: A real pleasant Hitchcockian surprise!
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought this movie because it was directed by Michael Powell, scripted by Powell and Emeric Pressburger, and starred Conrad Veidt and Valerie Hobson (a great important British director/producer/writer and two great stars). I knew this hailed from just before Powell & Pressburger hit their stride as THE ARCHERS. Boy, what a pleasant surprise; this is FIRST-RATE suspense/spy thriller which takes place in the early days of wartime Britian but before Pearl Harbor. It's about a Danish sea captain who's forced to follow two missing and suspicious passengers while his ship is being temporarily held by the British. What follows is a spy mystery through London during the days of Blackouts....and is ever bit as clever, amusing and suspenseful as any of Hitchcock's superb British sound films. I URGE you to check out this great and little seeen British film classic.Movie Review: Contraband Movie
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie is a spectacular fast-paced British movie with Conrad Veidt and Valerie Hobson. I rate it excellent.Movie Review: One Of The First Of The Powell-Pressburger Films
Summary: 4 Stars
It's November, 1939, and Captain Anderson (Conrad Veidt) has a problem. His neutral Danish freighter, sailing from the U.S. to Denmark, has been stopped by the British navy and forced to an English port while its cargo is inspected. He has several passengers on board who are forbidden to disembark. He and his first mate (Hay Petrie) are invited that night to dinner with the British officers of the port. They receive two passes enabling them to leave the ship. As they get ready, Anderson discovers the passes are missing...and so are two of the passengers, Mrs. Sorensen (Valerie Hobson) and Mr. Pidgeon (Esmond Knight). Yet apparently neither knew each other or had even conversed during the long sea voyage. Anderson is determined to bring them back to his ship. He realizes they must be on their way to London and sets out to stop them. Within hours he finds himself entangled with Nazi spies, British agents, Danish waiters and thuggish heavies. In fact, he finds himself in the middle of a stylish, funny, romantic and patriotic espionage adventure which takes place almost entirely in the blacked-out streets of London and in some fine looking restaurants and nightclubs.
This was the first movie Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger fully collaborated on, following The Spy in Black the year before. With Spy, Pressburger had been assigned the writing job and he and Powell realized how much they agreed on the kind and style of movies they wanted to make. With Contraband, they set to work on the movie together. They cemented their partnership with The 49th Parallel (1941) and followed it with One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1942). In 1943, with The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, they had become The Archers, agreeing to take joint and equal credit for the writing, directing and producing of their movies. And what movies they were. Through 1949, The Archers created, in addition to Blimp, A Canterbury Tale (1944), I Know Where I'm Going (1945), A Matter of Life and Death (1946), Black Narcissus (1947), The Red Shoes (1948) and The Small Back Room (1949). I can't think of any individual or pair of movie makers who were responsible for so many creative, idiosyncratic, different and just plain great movies as these two.
Contraband, like all their movies, doesn't fit the norm of any genre film. One critic said of it, "It's worth thinking about how such a lighthearted film could be made out of such a dire moment in British history...but it's not to missed." Conrad Veidt, the great actor who fled Germany in 1933, plays Captain Andersen as a stern, imposing man who has a taste for adventure and a liking for a smart, resourceful woman like Mrs. Sorensen...who, of course, is not married, is not named Sorensen, and is as brave and smart as they come. The movie is fast-paced and uses the dark streets of London at night to great effect. Powell builds amusing and effective set pieces which keep driving the story forward. I liked a lot Andersen and Mrs. Sorensen having a duel of a dinner at Erik Skold's restaurant, the escape from the darkened room, Andersen's recruitment of the Danish waiters and his navigation skills with a map of London to locate where he and Mrs. Sorensen had been held. Powell uses the busts of the Patriotic Plaster Products Co. for a dramatic and amusing shootout. If you look closely, you can briefly see a handful of actors, mostly unbilled, some in their first movie roles, who later became well known, such as Leo Genn, Deborah Kerr, Bernard Miles, Milo O'Shea and Peter Bull.
Contraband is highly recommended if you are a fan of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. It's also recommended if you just like well-made, amusing, romantic espionage movies. There are no extras. The DVD picture looks better than average, but the movie qualifies for a major restoration.
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