Contraband (1940) - film review

November, 1939.  Captain Andersen is on his way back to Denmark when his cargo ship is impounded by British Contraband Control.  When landing passes are stolen by two of his passengers – Mrs Sorensen and Mr Pidgeon – he sets off in pursuit.  His journey takes him to London where he learns that Mrs Sorensen is a secret agent working for British military intelligence.  Andersen’s hope of making a hasty return to his ship is thwarted when he and Mrs Sorensen are captured by enemy agents...

Anyone familiar with the better known films of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger will be somewhat surprised by this stylish comedy thriller, one of their early collaborations made at the outset of WWII.  Indeed, you could easily be fooled into thinking that Contraband came from the same stable as the early British sound films directed by Alfred Hitchcock, such as The 39 Steps (1935) and The Lady Vanishes (1938).  This was intended to be a propaganda film, but it’s harder to make this epithet stick than with some later Powell-Pressburger offerings.  

It could be argued that the film is about the impossibility of adopting a neutral position during wartime.  The hero, Captain Andersen (wonderfully played by the great German actor Conrad Veidt), starts out determined not to get caught up in the intrigues of war, but ultimately has no choice but to get involved – rather like Rick Blaine is Casablanca (in which, incidentally, Veidt also appeared, as the bad guy).  However, this message is somewhat masked by the John Buchan-style thriller heroics and barely restrained comic interludes.   

Contraband is not a polished piece of cinema – it is uneven and at times confusing, occasionally let down by poor production values and some weak characterisation.  However, on the plus side, Conrad Veidt and Valerie Hobson make an enjoyable double act – picking up where they left off in the earlier P&P production The Spy in Black (1939) – and it is hard not be impressed by the film’s imaginatively shot expressionistic sequences, which bring a seductive touch of film noir.

© James Travers 2008

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