Human Cargo (1936) User Reviews

Very rare title for Hayworth fans

[yrkconnors-1 · 7/10 · 26 March 2017]

Thanks to a friend's discovery of a print, I was finally able to view this little gem from Fox Films. Director Alan Dwan does a great job here and is provided a very good cast, including Brian Donlevy and Claire Trevor (who was to work with Dwan on a half dozen films at Fox--titles like NAVY WIFE and the marvelous ONE MILE FROM HEAVEN). Set in the brutal world of alien smuggling, it tells the story of a hard nosed reporter and a wannabe reporter from society who mix it up as they try to get to the mysterious leader of the gang--men who think nothing of drowning their "human cargoes" in reservoirs or killing cops. This is a fast paced film with a lot of snappy dialogue and Rita Hayworth as an alien who ends up dancing in a club for a vicious killer. Some great character actors including Alan Dinehart and Ralph Morgan help things along nicely. Good "B" made on the cusp between Fox and 20th Century Fox as the closing credits suggest. Must see viewing for Rita fans and those who like good action "B" movies. Bob Connors ([e-mail]).

The boat to freedom, often referring to death.

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 25 October 2017]

A newspaper headline reveals ten bodies dumped overboard, and the suspicion of human trafficking is made by the Press. Ambitious reporter Claire Trevor manipulates her way onto a City newspaper, and finds herself working on this story with veteran reporter Brian Donlevy. A shooting in a nightclub leads them to witness Rita Cansino AKA Rita Hayworth, and sudden violence breaks out which leads Trevor and Donlevy to believe everything that they've suspected is true. This story of a serious issue, still prevalent today, is at its height when Trevor and Donlevy are having their disputes, but surprisingly faces during moments when the action is at its highest.

Classic film audiences will be curious to see the 18 year old Rita Hayworth in one of her earliest speaking film roles, and she commands every scene that she is in, mainly out of curiosity but also because of her not yet studio created beauty and her intensity. For comic relief, there's a receptionist played by an actress named Helen Troy who gets a few good lines, speaking extremely fast and gossiping about the goings-on not only at the newspaper but in her off screen life as well. Ralph Morgan is commanding as a local D.A. Hundreds of racket related film's came out in the 1930s and 40s, but I don't recall offhand having seen a film on this particular subject. As some of the survivors described their situation, it becomes a horrifying example of things still happening today. Trevor and Donlevy, in one of a handful of films they were in together, are great together.

Interesting Potboiler with a now famous cast

[robluvthebeach · 7/10 · 7 June 2015]

Viewed this film through the UCLA Film and Television Archive (though they sent me to their Paramount Lot to view since the print was being restored at the time). Since that time, this was shown at Cinecon Film Festival in 2014 in Los Angeles. This starred Claire Trevor in her usual role as a reporter trying to uncover the facts about illegal aliens being smuggled into the country and then used for slavery since their wages go to the gangsters who smuggled them in the country. Rita Hayworth is a nightclub performer who knows more about the operation than she would like, and is used to get a story for the reporters and ends up getting shot. Claire and Brian Donlevy do a great job as reporters with an easy banter and this is a very topical movie (even more so in today's climate). This is a movie that was worth saving and glad it is being shown more today.

"Get me a boy!"

[boblipton · 6/10 · 14 October 2023]

Claire Trevor breaks into editor-in-chief Alan Dinehart's office. She wants to be a reporter. He says no. She threatens to have her uncle pull his department store's advertising, so he sends her to the sob sister desk. On the way, reporter Brian Donleavy figures she'll be good cover for a story on the illegal alien transporting racket; he has to go to a night club where a member of the gang is hiding, so he take her along. It winds up with the gangster shot dead and Miss Trevor in jail. Welcome to the newspaper racket!

Allan Dwan directs this 20th Century-Fox B at a high speed, with most of the humor in the mysogynistic way Dinehart operates. Donleavy is hard-boiled and not a wisecracker, and Miss revor is akll at sea, but learns fast. There are some nice twists, and a good supporting cast including Ralph Morgan, Rita Hayworth as a nightclub dancer, and Herman Bing. Sol Wurtzel wound up in charge of the B studio after the merger. No one liked him, but he had a good pool of performers and technicians. Thanks to the new corporate structure, he had access to good writers -- finally-- and didn't have to play office politics This is one of the movies that, in this period, made Fox the best B studio among the majors. It's not great, but it fills an hour not just adequately, but with some dash.