Neat little WWII actioner, with a fresh angle, stumbles a bit toward the end, but largely gets the job done. Dana Andrews stars as a fishing boat captain working possibly dangerous waters off the Canadian Atlantic Coast when he finds a wrecked Danish schooner and tows her in to shore. Something’s fishy though, and it’s not the halibut. Turns out, the sole survivor of the found ship, Captain Claude Rains, is hauling something even more valuable than the barrels of rum Andrews samples; fresh supplies of German torpedoes waiting for a big U-Boat rendezvous. Andrews and his multinational crew have fallen for a wartime ruse and unwittingly helped the enemy. Now, they must fight their way out or wait for the ship, the town and all hands to go kaboom. Yikes! Journeyman director Alfred L. Werker, just off the one high-profile movie of his career (LOST BOUNDARIES/’49, a racial drama about a light-skinned black couple*) does a good job integrating various trick shots, process work & miniatures; less well parsing action & combatants. Hard to tell Axis from Allies in the dark. Good turns from crew members Philip Dorn & Skip Homeier, but little can be done with pro-forma love interest Carla Balenda, hitching a boat ride to visit Dad. And what’s with that title? SEALED CARGO. Really? Sounds like a typically idiotic idea from new R.K.O. owner Howard Hughes, holding forth with bad ideas on every studio release.
DOUBLE-BILL: More unlikely warriors with Merchant Marines Humphrey Bogart & Raymond Massey doing battle against the AXIS on a bigger budget for ACTION IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC/’43.
LINK: *So light-skinned, they’re played by white actors. Link to LOST BOUNDARIES WriteUp below: https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2013/09/lost-boundaries-1949.html
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