White Cargo
Encyclopedia
White Cargo is a film starring Hedy Lamarr
and Walter Pidgeon
and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
. Set in 1910, it is based on the 1923 London and Broadway hit play by Leon Gordon, which was in turn adapted from the novel Hell's Playground by Ida Vera Simonton. The play had already been made into a British part-talkie
with Maurice Evans
in 1929.
The story centers around two white colonizers who are both interested in Tondelayo, a half Egyptian, half Arab native. In the original play, the character Tondelayo was black, but her ethnic background was changed for the movie to avoid violating the production code. The role became one of Hedy Lamarr's most famous.
The 1942 film, unlike the play, begins in what was then the present day, and uses a flashback
technique.
Hedy Lamarr
Hedy Lamarr was an Austrian-American actress celebrated for her great beauty who was a major contract star of MGM's "Golden Age".Lamarr also co-invented – with composer George Antheil – an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping, necessary to wireless...
and Walter Pidgeon
Walter Pidgeon
Walter Davis Pidgeon was a Canadian actor, who starred in many motion pictures, including Mrs...
and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
. Set in 1910, it is based on the 1923 London and Broadway hit play by Leon Gordon, which was in turn adapted from the novel Hell's Playground by Ida Vera Simonton. The play had already been made into a British part-talkie
Part-talkie
A part-talkie is a partly, and most often primarily, silent film which includes one or more synchronous sound sequences with audible dialog or singing. During the silent portions lines of dialog are presented as "titles" -- printed text briefly filling the screen -- and the soundtrack is used only...
with Maurice Evans
Maurice Evans (actor)
Maurice Herbert Evans was an English actor noted for his interpretations of Shakespearean characters. In terms of his screen roles, he is probably best known as Dr...
in 1929.
The story centers around two white colonizers who are both interested in Tondelayo, a half Egyptian, half Arab native. In the original play, the character Tondelayo was black, but her ethnic background was changed for the movie to avoid violating the production code. The role became one of Hedy Lamarr's most famous.
The 1942 film, unlike the play, begins in what was then the present day, and uses a flashback
Flashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
technique.