Contraband (film)

Infobox Film
name = Contraband
(Blackout)


image_size = 225px
caption = theatrical poster
director = Michael Powell
producer = John Corfield
writer = Story & Screenplay:
Emeric Pressburger
Scenario:
Michael Powell
Brock Williams
starring = Conrad Veidt
Valerie Hobson
music = Richard Addinsell
John Greenwood
cinematography = Freddie Young
editing = John Seabourne
distributor = Anglo-American
released = 11 May fy|1940 "(UK)"
29 November "(US)"
runtime = 92 min. "(UK)"
80 min. "(US)"
country = United Kingdom
language = English
budget = £47,000 "(est.)"
gross =
imdb_id = 0032356

"Contraband" (fy|1940) is a wartime spy film by the British director-writer team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, which brought stars Conrad Veidt and Valerie Hobson together again after their success in "The Spy in Black" the previous year. The title of the film in the United States was "Blackout".

Plot

Danish Captain Andersen (Conrad Veidt) is stopped for a cargo inspection in a British Contraband Control Port in the early years of World War II. He gets some shore passes for himself and his First Officer but they are stolen by passengers Mrs. Sorensen (Valerie Hobson) and Mr. Pidgeon (Esmond Knight) who take a boat and go ashore. Capt. Andersen decides to follow them and the journey takes them through blacked-out London and to various strange characters and adventures.

Cast

Cast notes:
*Milo O'Shea made his film debut in "Contraband", in the uncredited role of an Air Raid Warden. [imdb name|642675|Milo O'Shea]
*Also making their screen debut were director Michael Powell's golden cocker spaniels Erik and Spangle, who went on to appear in the Powell and Pressburger films "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp" (fy|1943), "I Know Where I'm Going!" (fy|1945) and "A Matter of Life and Death", also known as "Stairway to Heaven" (fy|1946). [imdb name|1521132|Erik, imdb name|1526257|Spangle]

Production

"Contraband" was intended as a followup to Powell and Pressburger's "The Spy in Black", which was filmed at the end of fy|1938, but wasn't released by Alexander Korda for almost a year. [Eder, Bruce [http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=1:132687~T1 Review (Allmovie)] ] The current film was in production from 16 December fy|1939 through 27 January fy|1940. [IMDB [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032356/business Box office/business] ] at Denham Film Studios, with location shooting in London at Chester Square in Belgravia, and in Ramsgate in Kent. [IMDB [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032356/locations Filming locations] ]

Critical reaction

:"An odd little comic thriller - who, except perhaps Michael Powell, would cast 47-year-old "Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" star Conrad Veidt as a light romantic hero?" --- [http://tvguide.com TV Guide online]

:"Less stylish than The Spy in Black, this espionage thriller is more fun, with its tongue-in-cheek plot revelling in Hitchcockian eccentricities" --- Time Out

:"A neat Second World War espionage thriller that depicts a London crawling with spies" --- Radio Times

Notes

External links

* [http://www.powell-pressburger.org/Reviews/40_Contraband/index.html "Contraband"] reviews and articles at the [http://www.powell-pressburger.org Powell & Pressburger Pages]
*
*
*
*. Full synopsis and film stills (and clips viewable from UK libraries).