Joan Crawford Double Feature: ‘Letty Lynton’ And ‘Strange Cargo’

Warner Archive provided me with free copies of the Blu-Rays I reviewed in this article. The opinions I share are my own.

Stuck in copyright purgatory for decades, Warner Archive’s Blu-ray release of Letty Lynton deserves every gasp its announcement garnered, but Joan Crawford fans shouldn’t sleep on Strange Cargo, the actress’ final film with Clark Gable.

Clarence Brown‘s Letty Lynton (1932)

Since her father died, Letty (Crawford) has been avoiding New York and returning to the disapproving mother (May Robson) she left behind. Having finally decided it would be better to put some distance between herself and her South American boyfriend, Emile (Nils Asther), Letty books passage on a ship, only to immediately become smitten with the man (Robert Montgomery) bunking in the room across from hers. 

If all this sounds like pretty standard romantic fare so far, it is, with the highlight of these early sequences being the relationship between Letty and her loyal maid, Miranda (Louise Closser Hale), but in true bad news boyfriend fashion, Emile isn’t about to let Letty go without a fight. Forced to meet with him alone, Crawford’s eye acting says more than any words could. From that moment forward, the film takes everything up a notch, ending with a police interrogation scene that blows the lid off the whole film. 

Adrian is credited as the costume designer, and besides the Letty Lynton dress (that would get its name from this movie), there’s a button sleeve number that’s incredible. My favorite character choice, though, is probably the silver dress Letty decides to wear to confront Emile. It’s one thing if she’d been out already and just happened to be wearing this outfit but choosing such a sparkly dress for the occasion is pure Hollywood fantasy and you’ve either got to love it or laugh, and I say both.

Warner Archive’s disc comes with a feature-length TCM documentary on producer Irving Thalberg, which includes a number of talking heads with late film historians like Bob Thomas, Cari Beauchamp, and Gavin Lambert. There are also five different radio programs featuring Crawford.

Frank Borzage‘s Strange Cargo (1940)

Before watching this movie, I read a lot of mixed reviews, many of which seemed to imply this film gets off to a great start but changes course (or the opposite of Letty Lynton, which starts off fine but takes off at the end). Since I’m not always the biggest fan of Crawford and Clark Gable as a pairing (even though they would star in eight films together and were significant in each other’s personal lives as well), I was inclined to believe those reviews. Well, the fear that I might be missing out stuck, and now I can say my reservations were unfounded because Strange Cargo is quite good.

Set on a penal colony, Verne (Gable) only has three years left on his prison sentence but is determined to escape early. Julie (Crawford) is someone he meets long enough to get her in trouble, so she has to leave the island, too. Adding to the mystery, there’s a reason Verne’s escape attempt isn’t discovered right away. Another man (Ian Hunter) takes his place in the prison lineup so the guards don’t realise Verne’s missing, but who is this man and why is he helping?

The plot is a little reminiscent of another recent Warner Archive release, The Miracle. In which a statue somehow takes Carroll Baker’s character’s place at a convent so she can have time to figure out whether she wants to stay a nun or run away with Roger Moore’s soldier. Both films have religious undertones but feel more supernatural than overly preachy

Strange Cargo would also make a great double feature with any of the films where people wind up stranded in the middle of the ocean like Alfred Hitchcock‘s Lifeboat, The Sea Shall Not Have Them (with Dirk Bogarde), and especially Abandon Ship! starring Tyrone Power.

Borzage is a great director, and the movie star entrances he gives both Gable and Crawford are out of this world (especially Gable’s, who steps out of the shadows to make his first appearance)

Often what sours Gable and Crawford films is the power dynamic that tends to develop with Gable refusing to take “no” for an answer and being physically dominant. In this film, however, not only does Crawford go without some of the glamour touches she was known for, but her character gives as good as she gets, throwing pans and putting her own needs first. Peter Lorre has a stoolpigeon role that’s both too small for him yet is the better for his casting. 

Warner Archive’s Blu-ray comes with a 2007 featurette on Crawford and Gable that suggests Crawford wasn’t too happy Gable was married to Carole Lombard at the time they were filming Strange Cargo. There’s also a very sweet Our Gang short where Spanky and the other Rascals attempt to hail a bus so they can go fishing, and a cartoon called “Home on the Range” where a baby calf and rabbit team up against a nasty wolf.

Letty Lynton and Strange Cargo are on sale now from Warner Archive and can be purchased from Movie Zyng.