LeonLouisRicci Infamous Bad Movie with a Famous Performance from Hedy Lamarr that became the butt of Jokes for Decades and a WWII G.I. Pinup. It is all Contrast between the Loud and Repetitive Dialog and the Soft and Darkly Luminous and Sexy Shots of Tondeleyo, the Half-Breed Man Eater.It is a Risky Effort and is quite Trashy from a usually La-Dee-Da Studio, MGM and it Skirts the bounds of Post-Hays-Code and what was Considered Moral Righteousness. It has some White Supremacist Lines and the Half-Caste Tondeleyo is made to be Egyptian/Arabic instead of White/Black that Definitely was a No-No.The Movie was pretty much Dismissed, Disregarded, and Degraded when it came out, mostly because of the Tawdry Tone. Today it is Viewed for its Camp Value and also because the Beautiful Miss Lamarr was Scantily Clad, Heavily Made Up, and Spoke in a Native Vernacular that Tarzan would have Appreciated.Warning...Do not play a Drinking Game where you take a Drink Every time the Name Tondeleyo is Uttered, and if You include Acclimatized, there will be no Survivors.

st-shot One can't help but go native when encountering Tondelayo (Hedy Lamarr), a local beauty with a great dental plan In White Cargo. With western interests there to exploit the people and capitalize on their natural resources Tondelayo does a decent job of leveling the playing field with the white invaders with a brand of irresistible guerrilla sensuality that throws the boys into disarray. Langford (Richard Carlson) is a newly arrived employee of an African rubber plantation run by the British. Wirtzel (Walter Pidgeon) who is in charge doubts if he has the right stuff to put up with the oppressive heat and supervising workers who don't speak English. Langford is soon frustrated and overwhelmed but finds respite in island beauty Tondelayo. Wirtzel who has fallen victim to her allure in the past warns Langford about her and the already abrasive relationship becomes even more strained. Gold digger Tondelayo meanwhile attempts to soak Langford for everything he has before Wirtzel puts an end to it. There is more than a whiff of white supremacy in White Cargo as the savage and immoral Tondelayo without remorse plunders Carlson and tries to pit him against Wirtzel. It's all very nice to dally with the natives away from home states Frank Morgan's doctor but there is no room for miscegenation in the civilized white world. It's all very nice for them to exploit the land and people but the locals better know their place. Lamarr's Jolson look is jarring with a gleaming Ipana smile as director Richard Thorpe keeps his camera trained in close-up of her. Hedy is stilted and her performance dated but with her beauty speaking for her she is a powerful presence to contend with. Pidgeon, Carlson, Morgan and Reg Owen lend able support but the arch storyline is creaky even for 42 and Lamarr as jungle girl remains a bit of a stretch in the looks department but her beauty and tenacity make it entertaining enough and given the time (WW ll) must have been a welcome sight to overseas GIs, though my guess is they took little heed to the cautionary addendum about the dangers of fraternizing with locals message.

MartinHafer If you are in the mood for a film where characters scream all the time and the film is about as subtle as a stripper at a Baptist picnic, then do I have a suggestion for you--"White Cargo". "White Cargo" is a bizarre film and I can't imagine that anyone involved felt particularly proud for their part in this crappy film.The movie is set in Africa at some god-forsaken rubber plantation. It's run by a cranky guy who screams all the time (Walter Pidgeon) and the doctor is a drunk (Frank Morgan). When a new assistant (Richard Carlson) comes to camp, his boss welcomes him by screaming and treating him like dirt. Later, the newbie falls in love with a silly native, Tondaleyo (Hedy Lamarr)--though, aside from her great body, there really isn't much to her. As for Lamarr, this performance as a bored sex-pot is not exactly a career highlight!! Overall, this is a very tough to love film. The characters all come off as annoying and stupid--such as Tondaleyo when she begs her new husband to beat her!! Overall, a dopey sex film without any sexual chemistry--just a lot of broad acting, bad acting and shrill direction. It's hard to believe that a fancy-pants studio like MGM could make such a misguided, trashy film as "White Cargo".

moonspinner55 Lusty half-caste on a British-owned rubber plantation in Africa--speaking in broken English and always preceded by the tinkling of her jewelry--insinuates herself between the two badgering white foremen; she childishly pits the hotheaded adversaries against one another, winner take Tondelayo! Leon Gordon's play, an adaptation of the novel "Hell's Playground" by Ida Vera Simonton, raised enough eyebrows in the 1920s to make it a hit, but by 1942 the material was already seeming awfully trite and thin. Director Richard Thorpe doesn't even try to disguise the stage-origins, keeping his actors running from Point A to Point B in quick little mad dashes. However, despite the lack of style and finesse, Hedy Lamarr's ripened female-savage is something to see, and occasionally her lines even get intentional laughs. ** from ****