With Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, Ian Hunter
Written by Lawrence Hazard. Directed by Frank Borzage.
“Well, Cambreau, I hope you have better luck with Verne than you had with me. You know, of course, that your chances to herd me into your little flock were limited … because I’m not exactly sheep-like. And you deal mostly in sheep, don’t you, Cambreau?”
The biblical story of the thief on the cross (Luke 23:39-43) happens so quickly that we’re left to marvel at what motivates one dying man to seize his last grasp at salvation, while another so coldly rejects it.
Strange Cargo is a glimpse into the souls of such men. The film has a little bit of everything – adventure, romance, human drama – but also serves as a remarkably engrossing allegory for how Jesus Christ works in the hearts and circumstances of deeply lost men and women.
The setting, not coincidentally, is Devil’s Island, an infamous French penal colony in the Caribbean reserved for the most hard-bitten criminals. Thieves and killers, thrust together, bring out the worst in each other, but a few pledge a brief truce long enough to launch a near-hopeless try for escape. It means hacking a path through a jungle filled with cannibals, quicksand, snakes, and crocodiles … then a desperate voyage in a stolen ship to reach freedom in Cuba.
Joining them is the mysterious Cambreau – a man who knows instinctively the right way through the deadly jungle, the best place to find water … and the secrets each man carries in his soul. They marvel at him, grow fearful, even threaten to kill him, but he remains calm, observant, thoughtful, unafraid. One by one, as each of these wretched men comes to his bleak fate, Cambreau is there to offer understanding, insight – and the quiet option of redemption.
The strongest and hardest of the escapees is Verne. A savvy survivor, he knows people (and the Bible) nearly as well as Cambreau. In the course of his escape, he takes on the tough and sassy Julie, a prostitute with reasons of her own for joining the brutal trek. She’s fully as hard as Verne is, yet both gradually find something to love in each other. And something to be wary of in the all-seeing Cambreau.
Cambreau presents an intriguing character for viewers as well. He is warm, good-humored, believable. Never surprised, never intimidated, He never forces His will or perspective on anyone. He simply offers a clear, reasonable hope … and then leaves it to each individual to decide eternity for himself. No film offers a more convincing picture of why some embrace an amazing grace, and others go so willingly to hell.
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