Contraband (a.k.a. Blackout) (1940)

Directed by Michael Powell; produced by John Corfield

It’s the very early days of the Second World War, and the freighter “Helvig”, from still-neutral Denmark, is brought to an English port by the Royal Navy to be examined for contraband. Its captain, Andersen (Conrad Veidt), is annoyed at the delay, but accedes to the inevitable. What annoys him far more is that the pair of shore-passes the British authorities gave him and his first officer (Hay Petrie) for an evening in London, are stolen by two passengers, the superior Mrs Sorensen (Valerie Hobson) and the obnoxious Mr Pidgeon (Esmond Knight). Sneaking ashore in angry pursuit of the thieves, Andersen finds himself caught up in kidnapping, assault, treason and espionage, as well as romance and an exceedingly fine dinner.

This was the second collaboration between Michael Powell and Emeric Pressberger (who wrote the story and screenplay); the first, 1939’s The Spy in Black, also having starred Veidt and Hobson. The Archers’ (as Powell and Pressburger came to be called) Contraband starts off rather slow and, while interesting, does not really become entertaining until about a third of the way along. But it is worth sticking with, as the movie becomes a fun, light adventure drama, with good comic touches.

Veidt would certainly not be cast as a leading man - never mind a romantic hero - these days. Tall, spare and quite unhandsome, his performance is very good. He endows his character initially with a chilly outward persona; we believe it when we see him open up about his life and loves. Hobson, too, manages to make the alteration to her character - really an alteration in what we see of the character - credible. These are two actors pretty much forgotten these days (Veidt, in particular, because of his early death at fifty) but, like many of their contemporaries, often pioneers in cinematic acting, they deserve to be remembered.

The other actors are also good; a number of them recurred in Powell and Pressburger’s movies. Knight first worked with Powell as early as 1931; his rather odious Pidgeon has about five seconds to show a different side as he leaves his club in one scene and manages to convey it. Hay Petrie, another ‘semi-regular’, has a dual role as brothers; he could have been used as strictly comic relief, but there is usually more even to a minor character in an Archers movie. Leo Genn, Torin Thatcher, Peter Bull, Bernard Miles and Milo O’Shea (the last in his film debut) all have small, uncredited bits.

The story could be called a good yarn, the sort popular in the 1930s and deserving of popularity now: the merchant navy officer, an amateur but highly capable, is caught up in intrigue and adventure. The script is excellent; the settings of the story - the examination of shipping for contraband, and England’s war-time black-out - are both interesting and significant. There is fine use of the minutiae for which the Archers were known: note the clever opportunist selling electric torches (flashlights) in the midst of the war-time black-out, or the two creeps waiting in a motor-car for a woman unable to find a taxi, both elements undoubtedly taken from real life.

Small moments change the direction of the story and the attitude of the characters, such as when a brief description of Mrs Sorensen reveals her to be quite different than she depicts, and thus raises Andersen’s interest in her.

There is some good, and unlikely, action, including a brawl involving the staff of a dodgy night-club, a party of drunken but game servicemen and a gang of Danish waiters, the last roused to battle by Andersen’s cry of, “If you’re Danish, you won’t need a reason to fight!”

After a sluggish start, Contraband becomes an enjoyable caper-film, as improbable as a serial from “The Boys’ Own Paper”, but more fun.