Strange Cargo (1940)

In a French penal colony in the tropics, a group of dangerous prisoners make a break through the jungles toward the sea where a boat is waiting for them. Along the way, the most cocky of the escapees (Clark Gable) picks up a cafe entertainer (Joan Crawford in one of her best performances) who has been ordered to leave the island by the authorities. What should have been a fast moving adventure with lots of star wattage via Gable and Crawford is anything but. Based on the novel NOT TOO NARROW, NOT TOO DEEP by Richard Sale (THE OSCAR), it's a rather pious parable with an all seeing Christ figure (Ian Hunter) who lectures all the characters on the error of their ways. It's like something the Trinity Broadcasting Network would finance and there's not a worse moment in the film than when Gable realizes he's in the presence of "God" and is redeemed. Crawford is excellent here, still able to deliver a delicately detailed performance before she went to Warners and became its resident Iron Maiden and Peter Lorre is creepily effective as a sad eyed squealer called Pig. Directed by Frank Borzage. With Paul Lukas, Albert Dekker (doing what I think is a Cockney accent) and Eduardo Cianelli.