Sealed Cargo
Encyclopedia
Sealed Cargo is a 1951
war film about a fisherman, played by Dana Andrews
, who gets tangled up with Nazi
s and their U-boat
s. It was based on the novel The Gaunt Woman by Edmund Gilligan.
. He reluctantly agrees to transport Margaret McLean to Trabo, a small community in Newfoundland. Shorthanded, he hires Danish sailor Konrad, and the Daniel Webster sails for the Grand Banks fishing grounds. Once at sea, Holger reports that the radio has been sabotaged. As Bannon knows all of the crew well except for Konrad and fellow Dane Holger, he suspects one of them or even Margaret of being a German agent.
Sailing at night in heavy fog, they hear gunfire. They search for survivors and come upon the damaged Den Magre Kvinde (Danish
for The Gaunt Woman), a Danish square rig
ged sailing ship
. Holger calls her a schooner
but any sailing ship can be called a schooner in danish. She appears to have been damaged in a storm and then shelled. Aboard, they discover only the dazed Captain Skalder and a dead body. He claims that his crew abandoned ship in a storm, and that he was subsequently attacked by a U-boat. The Daniel Webster tows the stricken Kvinde to Trabo.
Konrad is suspicious: he notes that the German gunfire hit above the waterline (rather than below it, where a gunner intending to sink a ship would aim), and that while the tarpaulin covering the ship's boat is riddled with bullet holes, the boat itself is undamaged. Bannon and Konrad separately sneak below decks to search the hold. When they meet, Konrad has a pistol, but he gives it to Bannon to prove where his loyalties lay. They accidentally discover a second, hidden hold containing rack upon rack of torpedo
es — the ship is a tender
, covertly resupplying the U-boat "wolfpacks". They watch undetected as Holger enters the hold and uses a radio to signal the Germans. However, before the pair can alert the military, Skalder's crew arrives in boats, so they pretend they know nothing. Skalder plans to resupply the U-boats at Trabo.
A Canadian flying boat
lands in the harbor, and an officer inspects Skalder's papers. Finding nothing wrong, he informs Skalder that a corvette
will arrive the next day to inspect his cargo. Bannon offers to leave one of his two Danish crewman as a witness, allowing him to rid himself of the spy Holger without arousing suspicion.
Bannon leaves port, but once out of sight, one man remains aboard to sail to the nearest radio station, while Bannon and the rest take to the dories
and return. Bannon sets up a night ambush; when the Germans come to take the villagers prisoner, the invaders are wiped out. Bannon and his men then set fire to the Kvinde under cover of darkness. In the resulting confusion, they board, overpower or kill the remainder of the crew, and free Margaret, who had been taken as a hostage.
Skalder claims to have set the ship to blow up in twenty minutes. Bannon does not believe him, but takes the ship out to sea, intending to destroy her safely away from the village. He and his men rig some of the torpedoes to explode. The Kvinde is approached by two U-boats seeking supplies. Skalder manages to get a gun and wounds his guard, Konrad, before he is killed. Bannon helps Konrad into a boat and flees under German gunfire. When the ship explodes, the resulting wave swamps the submarines, sinking them.
1951 in film
The year 1951 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* Sweden - May Britt is scouted by Italian film-makers Carlo Ponti and Mario Soldati-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :Academy Awards:...
war film about a fisherman, played by Dana Andrews
Dana Andrews
Dana Andrews was an American film actor. He was one of Hollywood's major stars of the 1940s, and continued acting, though generally in less prestigious roles, into the 1980s.-Early life:...
, who gets tangled up with Nazi
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
s and their U-boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
s. It was based on the novel The Gaunt Woman by Edmund Gilligan.
Plot
In 1943, at the height of the World War II Battle of the Atlantic, Captain Pat Bannon, skipper of the fishing trawler Daniel Webster, unloads his catch in his home port of Gloucester, MassachusettsGloucester, Massachusetts
Gloucester is a city on Cape Ann in Essex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. It is part of Massachusetts' North Shore. The population was 28,789 at the 2010 U.S. Census...
. He reluctantly agrees to transport Margaret McLean to Trabo, a small community in Newfoundland. Shorthanded, he hires Danish sailor Konrad, and the Daniel Webster sails for the Grand Banks fishing grounds. Once at sea, Holger reports that the radio has been sabotaged. As Bannon knows all of the crew well except for Konrad and fellow Dane Holger, he suspects one of them or even Margaret of being a German agent.
Sailing at night in heavy fog, they hear gunfire. They search for survivors and come upon the damaged Den Magre Kvinde (Danish
Danish language
Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...
for The Gaunt Woman), a Danish square rig
Square rig
Square rig is a generic type of sail and rigging arrangement in which the primary driving sails are carried on horizontal spars which are perpendicular, or square, to the keel of the vessel and to the masts. These spars are called yards and their tips, beyond the last stay, are called the yardarms...
ged sailing ship
Sailing ship
The term sailing ship is now used to refer to any large wind-powered vessel. In technical terms, a ship was a sailing vessel with a specific rig of at least three masts, square rigged on all of them, making the sailing adjective redundant. In popular usage "ship" became associated with all large...
. Holger calls her a schooner
Schooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
but any sailing ship can be called a schooner in danish. She appears to have been damaged in a storm and then shelled. Aboard, they discover only the dazed Captain Skalder and a dead body. He claims that his crew abandoned ship in a storm, and that he was subsequently attacked by a U-boat. The Daniel Webster tows the stricken Kvinde to Trabo.
Konrad is suspicious: he notes that the German gunfire hit above the waterline (rather than below it, where a gunner intending to sink a ship would aim), and that while the tarpaulin covering the ship's boat is riddled with bullet holes, the boat itself is undamaged. Bannon and Konrad separately sneak below decks to search the hold. When they meet, Konrad has a pistol, but he gives it to Bannon to prove where his loyalties lay. They accidentally discover a second, hidden hold containing rack upon rack of torpedo
Torpedo
The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...
es — the ship is a tender
Submarine tender
A submarine tender is a type of ship that supplies and supports submarines.Submarines are small compared to most oceangoing vessels, and generally do not have the ability to carry large amounts of food, fuel, torpedoes, and other supplies, nor to carry a full array of maintenance equipment and...
, covertly resupplying the U-boat "wolfpacks". They watch undetected as Holger enters the hold and uses a radio to signal the Germans. However, before the pair can alert the military, Skalder's crew arrives in boats, so they pretend they know nothing. Skalder plans to resupply the U-boats at Trabo.
A Canadian flying boat
Flying boat
A flying boat is a fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a float plane as it uses a purpose-designed fuselage which can float, granting the aircraft buoyancy. Flying boats may be stabilized by under-wing floats or by wing-like projections from the fuselage...
lands in the harbor, and an officer inspects Skalder's papers. Finding nothing wrong, he informs Skalder that a corvette
Corvette
A corvette is a small, maneuverable, lightly armed warship, originally smaller than a frigate and larger than a coastal patrol craft or fast attack craft , although many recent designs resemble frigates in size and role...
will arrive the next day to inspect his cargo. Bannon offers to leave one of his two Danish crewman as a witness, allowing him to rid himself of the spy Holger without arousing suspicion.
Bannon leaves port, but once out of sight, one man remains aboard to sail to the nearest radio station, while Bannon and the rest take to the dories
Dory
The dory is a small, shallow-draft boat, about long. It is a lightweight and versatile boat with high sides, a flat bottom and sharp bows. They are easy to build because of their simple lines. For centuries, dories have been used as traditional fishing boats, both in coastal waters and in the...
and return. Bannon sets up a night ambush; when the Germans come to take the villagers prisoner, the invaders are wiped out. Bannon and his men then set fire to the Kvinde under cover of darkness. In the resulting confusion, they board, overpower or kill the remainder of the crew, and free Margaret, who had been taken as a hostage.
Skalder claims to have set the ship to blow up in twenty minutes. Bannon does not believe him, but takes the ship out to sea, intending to destroy her safely away from the village. He and his men rig some of the torpedoes to explode. The Kvinde is approached by two U-boats seeking supplies. Skalder manages to get a gun and wounds his guard, Konrad, before he is killed. Bannon helps Konrad into a boat and flees under German gunfire. When the ship explodes, the resulting wave swamps the submarines, sinking them.
Cast
- Dana Andrews as Pat Bannon
- Carla Balenda as Margaret McLean
- Claude RainsClaude RainsClaude Rains was an English stage and film actor whose career spanned 66 years. He was known for many roles in Hollywood films, among them the title role in The Invisible Man , a corrupt senator in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington , Mr...
as Captain Skalder - Philip DornPhilip DornPhilip Dorn , born Hein van der Niet and sometimes billed as Frits van Dongen, was a Dutch actor who had a career in Hollywood....
as Konrad - Onslow StevensOnslow StevensOnslow Stevens was an American stage, television and film actor.-Career:Born Onslow Ford Stevenson in Los Angeles, California, he was the son of character actor Housley Stevenson...
as Commander James McLean, Margaret's father - Skip HomeierSkip Homeier-Career:Homeier began acting as Skippy Homeier at the age of six, on the radio show Portia Faces Life. From 1943 until 1944 he played the role of Emil in the Broadway play, Tomorrow the World. Cast as a child indoctrinated into Nazism, who is brought to the United States from Germany following the...
as Steve - Eric Feldary as Holger
- J. M. KerriganJ. M. KerriganJoseph Michael Kerrigan , better known as J. M. Kerrigan, born in Dublin, Ireland, was an Irish character actor.-Life:Kerrigan worked as a newspaper reporter until 1907 when he joined the famous Abbey Players...
as Skipper Ben - Arthur ShieldsArthur ShieldsArthur Shields was an Irish stage and film actor.Born into an Irish Protestant family in Portobello, Dublin, he started acting in the Abbey Theatre when still a young man. He was the younger brother of Oscar-winning actor Barry Fitzgerald. An Irish nationalist, he fought in the Easter Rising of...
as Kevin Dolan - Morgan FarleyMorgan FarleyFrancis Morgan Farley was an American actor whose career began in 1918 in the play "Seventeen". Farley played a large number of mostly small parts in movies, television and broadway...
as Caleb