Contraband (1940 film)

Contraband (Blackout)
Poster from trade screening 20 March 1940
Directed by	Michael Powell
Written by	Scenario: Michael Powell Brock Williams
Screenplay by	Emeric Pressburger
Story by	Emeric Pressburger
Produced by	John Corfield
Starring	Conrad Veidt Valerie Hobson
Cinematography	Freddie Young
Edited by	John Seabourne
Music by	Richard Addinsell John Greenwood
Production company	British National Films
Distributed by	Anglo-American
Release dates	11 May 1940 (1940-05-11) (UK) 29 November 1940 (1940-11-29) (U.S.)
Running time	92 minutes (UK) 80 minutes (U.S.)
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	£35,000
Box office	1,385,365 admissions (France)

Contraband is a 1940 wartime spy film by the British director-writer team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, which reunited stars Conrad Veidt and Valerie Hobson after their earlier appearance in The Spy in Black the previous year. On this occasion, Veidt plays a hero, something he did not do very often, and there is also an early (uncredited) performance by Leo Genn.

The title of the film in the United States was Blackout. Powell writes in his autobiography, A Life in Movies, as saying that the U.S. renaming was a better title and he wished he had thought of it.

Plot

It is November 1939: the Phoney War-stage of the World War II. Denmark is still neutral, but (Danish) Captain Andersen and his freighter Helvig are stopped in the English Channel by Lt. Commanders Ashton and Ellis for a cargo inspection in a British Contraband Control Port.

He receives two shore passes for himself and his First Officer Axel Skold to dine with Ashton and Ellis, but the passes (and Helvig's motorboat) are stolen by passengers Mrs. Sorensen and talent scout Mr. Pidgeon. From a cut-out newspaper train schedule, Andersen is able to figure out they are taking a train to London and catches up with them; but, when the train arrives in the blacked-out metropolis, he is only able to hold on to Mrs. Sorensen.

He invites her to dine at the restaurant of Skold's brother Erik. Then she takes him to the home of her aunt, where they are captured by a Nazi spy ring led by Van Dyne, a man Mrs. Sorensen has already had unpleasant dealings with in Düsseldorf, Germany. Van Dyne knows Mrs. Sorensen and Pidgeon are British agents. Van Dyne finds a message hidden on one of Mrs. Sorensen's cigarette papers, identifying her as "M47" and listing the names of neutral ships under which two German vessels are traveling. He decides to replace one of the names with that of an American ship to cause trouble, the United States being neutral at this time. Mrs. Sorensen and Andersen are tied up, but the captain manages to escape. He brings back reinforcements in the form of Erik Skold's staff and is able to free Mrs. Sorensen and knock out Van Dyne. With everything cleared up, Capt. Andersen and Mrs. Sorensen resume their sea voyage.

Cast

• Conrad Veidt as Capt. Andersen
• Valerie Hobson as Mrs Sorensen
• Hay Petrie as Axel Skold/Erik Skold
• Joss Ambler as Lt. Cmdr. Ashton, RNR
• Raymond Lovell as Van Dyne
• Esmond Knight as Mr Pidgeon
• Charles Victor as Hendrick
• Phoebe Kershaw as Miss Lang
• Harold Warrender as Lt. Cmdr. Ellis, RN
• John Longden as Passport Officer
• Eric Maturin as Passport Officer
• Paddy Browne as Singer in "Regency"
• Dennis Arundell as Lieman
• Molly Hamley-Clifford as Baroness Hekla
• Eric Berry as Mr Abo
• Olga Edwardes as Mrs Abo

Cast notes

• Leo Genn and Peter Bull as two of Van Dyne's associates
• Bernard Miles in an amusing scene arguing with two air raid wardens
• Esma Cannon as Hay Petrie's niece
• Michael Shepley as the helpful man in the club
• Milo O'Shea made his film debut, in the uncredited role of an air raid warden.

Production

Contraband was intended as a followup to Powell and Pressburger's The Spy in Black, which was filmed at the end of 1938, but was not released by Alexander Korda for almost a year. The current film was in production from 16 December 1939 through 27 January 1940 at Denham Film Studios, with location shooting in London at Chester Square in Belgravia, and in Ramsgate in Kent.

Critical reception

The TV Guide online review called it "An odd little comic thriller - who, except perhaps Michael Powell, would cast 47-year-old Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) star Conrad Veidt as a light romantic hero?"

Time Out wrote that "Less stylish than The Spy in Black, this espionage thriller is more fun, with its tongue-in-cheek plot revelling in Hitchcockian eccentricities". Radio Times describes it as "A neat Second World War espionage thriller that depicts a London crawling with spies".

Dennis Schwartz of Ozus' World Movie Reviews had mixed feelings, giving it a grade of B−. "The brisk pace and its added touches of quaintness, made the film endearing in spite [sic] of the lack of any character study and the one-dimensional tone of the villains." However, he wondered "how much better a more romantically inclined hero would have fared in his [Veidt's] role."

External links

• Contraband reviews and articles at the Powell & Pressburger Pages
• Contraband at IMDb
• Contraband at the TCM Movie Database
• Contraband at AllMovie
• Contraband at the BFI's Screenonline. Full synopsis and film stills (and clips viewable from UK libraries).