Doomed Cargo (1936) User Reviews

Who's Been Wrecking Those Trains?

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 12 October 2005]

American stars Edmund Lowe and Constance Cummings went over to Great Britain to film this Hitchcock like mystery thriller in 1936. Lowe went back to the USA, but Ms. Cummings stayed in Great Britain where she resided for the rest of her career.

Lowe is a private detective and Cummings works for an insurance company and both are trying to find a killer whose method of homicide is to either wreck trains to kill somebody or to cause a wreck to hide the body of someone he's already killed.

In a manner like Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint from North By Northwest, Lowe and Cummings exchange some very witty dialog. Other Hitchcock pictures that you will see elements of here in Seven Sinners are The Thirty Nine Steps, The Lady Vanishes, and Foreign Correspondent.

This wrecker is a pretty clever guy and it is only in the final minutes that our intrepid heroes realize who it is. And I don't think the audience will realize it either.

All that's missing is Alfred Hitchcock's portly cameo.

Hey, it's got Edmund Lowe....so it has to be worth seeing.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 22 November 2011]

Edmund Lowe was not an especially handsome man, but he had a nice, carefree acting style that I have always found endearing. Because of this, even a relatively routine film like "Doomed Cargo" is well worth watching. In this film, Lowe is ably assisted by Constance Cummings--another American actor--though she later specialized in making British films and moved to the UK for good.

The movie begins in an odd way--Lowe is dressed as a devil for a party and his tail is shut in a door--and he cannot move. But that's not the only thing weird about this party, as Lowe finds a dead man--and no one believes him because when they return the corpse is gone. But, to make things even weirder, after a train wreck, Lowe finds this same body among the dead in the wreckage! It seems someone went to a lot of trouble to disguise this as an accident. The film eventually leads to the trail of arms merchants and it's up to Lowe and Cummings to work it all out--with lots of witty repartee along the way. Smooth, easy-going and fun--this is a better B-mystery film--reasonably well written and enjoyable.

One of Private Godfrey's

[1930s_Time_Machine · 6/10 · 25 December 2023]

Although Arnold Ridley is synonymous with playing bumbling old Private Godfrey in DAD'S ARMY, in the 20s and 30s he was a reasonably successful playwright writing dashing adventure stories such as this.

This is a splendid, spiffing, old style rip-roaring mystery thriller very much in the Bulldog Drummond tradition of 'boys own adventures' which were so popular in the inter-war years. It seems like about half of all English plays, books and films featured a dashing slightly eccentric hero solving crimes or saving the honour of the Empire.

The dashing debonair hero in this however is neither that dashing nor that debonair nor indeed that heroic. He's prolific American B-movie actor, Edmund Lowe - very capable but was too inconspicuous to ever be a real star. Paired with fellow American 'also ran' Constance Cummings we've not got the classic eternal screen partnership but they do have enough chemistry to fully engage us.

They're no Bogart and Bacall but they're fine enough in these well written roles and being American makes this feel a little less provincial than some 30s English films but in this instance, it's not the stars which make you want to watch it, it's the story and the witty script - the first collaboration of the soon to be legendary partnership of Gilliat and Launder. The direction is also pretty snappy - Albert de Courville was clearly very, very heavily influenced by his more famous stablemate at Gaumont-British, Alfred Hitchcock.

It's also a very classy production - Gaumont-British were famously over optimistic in their bookkeeping so were prone to splash the cash at projects - even if they didn't quite have it! Not ideal for the future financial security of Isidore Ostrer's studio but good for us viewers, all these years later.

It's real alright!

[vaughan.birbeck · 19 October 2001]

Neil-117 is quite correct, the film makers were given permission by the Southern Railway to smash an old locomotive and carriages into a lorry on a disused branch line, hence the spectacular train crash.

I think his other comments are a little unfair. The film is taken from a play called 'The Wrecker' by Arnold Ridley (who also wrote 'The Ghost Train' and later became Private Godfrey in 'Dad's Army'). The whole point of the plot is that a serial murderer is staging train crashes to disguise his crimes.

Of course the film is dated but it's good, well-paced entertainment. If you enjoy Hitchcock's British thrillers (especially 'The Lady Vanishes', also a Launder and Gilliatt screenplay) you'll like this one.

Seven sinners

[coltras35 · 6/10 · 20 November 2023]

Ed Harwood, a wisecracking private investigator from New York, discovers a crime at an hotel in Nice during a carnival. The unraveling of the mystery which lies behind will lead him and Caryl Fenton, a female insurance agent, who will become his companion, first to Paris, then to London, later through the English countryside and finally to Southampton, in search of a criminal train wrecker.

Seven Sinners is entertaining comedy thriller in the vein of Hitchcock's The Thirty-Nine Steps (1935), featuring a couple who spend their time during their escapade bickering and bantering until, inevitably, they finally declare undying love. But that's only after some hectic and dangerous moments such as chases, train crashes and a shootout in a cinema-theatre at the end. There's some witty dialogue and likable performances from Lowe and Cummings,

Brisk Thriller

[rmax304823 · 6/10 · 18 July 2013]

Edmund Lowe and Constance Cummings are on vacation in France when Lowe stumbles on the body of a bearded dead man. He reports this to the authorities but of course when they return to the scene the body has disappeared. The couple are next involved in a terrific train accident in which the same corpse appears amid the wreckage before it is consumed by fire.

This time, there is evidence that the switches were tampered with, and the French police inspector, Thomy Bourdelle, takes an interest in unraveling the mystery and, in fact, makes a five-thousand dollar bet with Lowe that he, Bourdelle, will find the murderer first. Lowe and Cummings track some clues to a peace group in London. Bourdelle follows. I don't think I want to give away the ending because it is, after all, a mystery, and it has an unexpected outcome.

I'm loathe to say that this thriller exhibits Hitchcockian properties because all half-way decent thrillers will share some features with Hitchcock's. In this case, though, some of the shared variance is not coincidental. First, by the time of this release, Hitchcock had already made some popular and profitable films, like "The Man Who Knew Too Much" and "The 39 Steps," so imitation was inevitable. Also, the two writers on this film, Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder, had already worked with Hitchcock and would do so again, on "The Lady Vanishes." So how does it all come off? It's pretty light hearted. Edmund Lowe is rarely serious and leaves wisecracks all over the place. His companion, Cummings, is there mostly to exchange barbs with him, although she's quite attractive too. It moves quickly without being frenzied.

The dialog isn't all it could be. Gilliat and Launder were to do better. Well, I'll give two examples.

At about the half-way point, the French inspector refers to the five-thousand dollar bet and tells Lowe, "I'm only one step behind you." Lowe: "Don't trip."

Lowe and Cummings are in an empty room when two bullets come flying through the window and they drop out of sight. "How do we get out of here?", asks Cummings. Lowe: "They say an army travels on its stomach. Let's join the army." And they crawl through the door.

Some viewers may find that sort of thing funnier than I did. There is another great train wreck, a la Hitchcock, and a shoot out in a theater, also a Hitchcock staple.

The pursuit itself could be kind of enjoyable, insubstantial though the plot may be, but the lack of real wit and the inclusion of only one truly comic scene (a woman screaming that she's been cheated out of her suckling pig) keep it at a level that can only be called routine.

Was This Proposed As A Hitchcock Movie?

[boblipton · 7/10 · 6 May 2024]

American detective Edmund Lowe is traveling in Europe. He falls in with love interest Constance Cummings, and the two get tangled up in a mystery involving some train wrecks, a dead man, and a peace organization.

I was struck by the numerous plot elements and situations that Hitchcock had and would use. A comparison and listing of them would be the sort of thing that some one might undertake in search of, if not a thesis, then a good grade on a paper in a film course. Many of these similarities, I believe, can be attributed to the writers of this movie: Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder have the primary screenplay credits.

There's also a great train crash sequence lifted from the out-takes of 1929's The Wrecker. Over all it's a fine movie, even if it lacks the visual flair and mordant humor that Hitchcock would have given it.

piquant banter

[Cristi_Ciopron · 9/10 · 13 March 2016]

A cool British thriller with Edmund Lowe and Constance Cummings, with an eventful storyline and a thoughtful plot, written by Gilliatt; the idea belongs to the pulp tropes, and in fact to the 19th-early 20th century popular fiction, with sinister secret associations and conspiracies, but the identity of the major villain, though obvious, is nonetheless surprising, anyway highly unusual. There are many piquant one-liners, and a sense of the quaint, well conveyed by a few striking physiognomies, foreboded by the opening scenes at the carnival in Southern France, with the mask …. The leads' performances are very generic, which matches the script (where these characters aren't endowed with exceptional insight, but with wit and dynamism, the leads are keen on clues, but not on moral insight, and the gullible and unsuspecting New York detective tips the villain and provides him with the necessary information), as well as the movie's focus on the villains for the suspense and chills.

It has a fantastic, dreamlike feel, feverish; Thomy Bourdelle is a villain as obvious but also as effective, as Mowbray in 'Terror by Night'.

It's a reminder of how British were Hitchcock's '30s movies.

Those who already like the '30s British cinema don't need any further recommendations. Therefore, I would recommend the British 'Seven Sinners' to both Hitchcock's fans, and 'Fantômas'' fans.

Comedy thriller Hitch would surely be proud of

[adrianovasconcelos · 8/10 · 27 November 2023]

Albert de Courville was never a director of the highest pedigree so why two reasonably established American stars like Edmund Lowe and Constance Cummings should cross the Atlantic to do this comedy in Great Britain remains an open question. I was born 21 years after SEVEN SINNERS came out and, unsurprisingly, I have no idea, though from what I have read and heard both Lowe and Cummings had a penchant for comedy.

And comedy they do get here, and along Hitchcock lines to boot! Mind, Hitch had only just come into public recognition with the 39 STEPS, he had not yet done THE LADY VANISHES, let alone cross the Atlantic in the other direction to build his fame and fortune.

In my humble view, a screenplay penned by Gilliat and Launder is a guarantee of high quality - and I was not disappointed. This is a quirky, clever, sharp dialogue script that serves both the the American and British spirit in the film.

Cinematography by Mutz Greenbaum (never heard of this fella, was he German?) is competent, nothing more than that. What elevates SEVEN SINNERS is the superb sense of fun together conveyed by Lowe and Cummings... and the twists in the story also had me riveted!

Definitely worth watching, especially if you can get a good copy. 8/10.

Average comedy/thriller/battle of the sexes.

[Neil-117 · 5/10 · 20 April 2000]

Mildly amusing scenario of US private detective and female insurance investigator battling for supremacy in solving a series of murders in Europe. Will they kiss and make up in the end? The bad guys are suitably sinister and new ones keep popping up just when you thought you had it all figured out. The script writer must have been short on inspiration as the same device of a train wreck is used no less than three times. But those action sequences are well filmed and I'd swear one of the crashing steam locomotives is the real thing.

One of the most superb classic thrillers ever made that Hitchcock had nothing to do with.

[mark.waltz · 10/10 · 16 July 2023]

A mixture of smart comedy, thrilling disaster sequences and a great mystery, this is absolutely one of the picture perfect classic British films that isn't as well known as it should be and definitely worthy of discovery by those who love early Hitchcock and can't get enough of that style. It starts off at a Mardi Gras like celebration where Edmund Lowe, a drunken American detective, has a conversation with a man in a hideous mask whom he later discovers murdered. If that isn't enough to sober him up, his meeting (while still intoxicated) with insurance agent Constance Cummings certainly will.

Lowe is investigating a string up sabotage attacks on passenger trains, and that leads to some very frightening moments where Lowe and Cummings witness them, and later near the conclusion when they are on one. The script is snappy and no nonsense, and the photography terrific, with direction by Albert de Courville fast paced and non-stop movement. A few familiar British character actors in the supporting cast including Felix Aylmer and Henry Oscar, as well as memorable minor characters including a sniveling spinster type who gets all huffy when Lowe beats her in a card game. The film doesn't delve much into the identity of the saboteur or motive, and just gets to the point of resolving the case and to turn Lowe and Cummings into the British Nick and Nora who never were.

agreeable mix of thriller and comedy

[myriamlenys · 8/10 · 9 May 2023]

Amidst much drunken revelry, a hotel guest stumbles upon a dead body. However, by the time the hotel management arrives the corpse has disappeared. Not many people are inclined to believe the drunken man's assertions. Even his female colleague thinks he's talking nonsense...

"Seven Sinners" is notable for the ease and success with which it combines comedy and suspense. Not too many movies would be able to elicit genuine laughs while telling a tale about a criminal so callous that he commits acts of sabotage against passenger trains. The two protagonists are charming, the plot is pleasantly twisty and the dialogue is eminently quote-worthy.

"Seven Sinners" also teaches an important life lesson. If you're investigating a criminal fond of causing railway catastrophes, do not take the train yourself...

As is so often the case, reality has added a layer of poignancy to the movie. Made in 1936, "Seven Sinners" dealt, among other things, with an international peace movement determined to beat swords into ploughshares. (Watch out for a number of pretty good jokes involving the denial of the pacifist ideal.) Only a few years later World War II erupted, plunging humanity into unimaginable horrors...

What's missing

[lor_ · 5 April 2024]

The Launder/Gilliat screenplay credit attracted my attention, but other than its many screwball elements, the British comedy/thriller "Seven Sinners" came up empty.

I can imagine a Depression Era audience enjoyhing its modicum of thrills (re: train crashes) and the goofy situations and dialogue, but the show appear doomed from such weak casting. I doubt if current filmmakers would be interested in this genre at all, but from a few decades back, a pleasant hit like "Silver Streak" points up the necessity of finding the proper stars to populate such frivolous nonsense.

Beyond the dynamite first teaming of Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor, the SS supporting cast is a who's who of talented players. No such luck in this 1936 SS, with Edmund Lowe tiresome in his hogging the screen but offering zero charm, while Constance Cummings is eminently forgettable and the various minor players a washout.