Contraband (1940) is a film by the British director-writer team of Powell & Pressburger.

It brought stars Conrad Veidt and Valerie Hobson together again after their success in The Spy in Black the previous year. Its US title was Blackout.

Story

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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.

Criticism

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"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?" --- 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

External links

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• Contraband reviews and articles at the Powell & Pressburger Pages

1940 films | British films | World War II films made in wartime | Films by Powell and Pressburger