The Devil's Cargo : Plot, Cast, Preservation Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Devil's Cargo

1925 film by Victor Fleming

February 2, 1925 (1925-02-02)

Running time

80 min.; 8 reels (7,890 feet)CountryUnited StatesLanguageSilent (English intertitles)

The Devil's Cargo is a 1925 American silent drama film produced by Famous Players–Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Victor Fleming and starred Wallace Beery and Pauline Starke. It is based on an original story for the screen.^[1]^[2]

Plot

As described in a review in a film magazine,^[3] John Joyce (Collier), newly arrived in Sacramento during the California Gold Rush to edit a newspaper, arrays himself with the Vigilantes. He is one of the most eager in his demand that the mining camp characters expelled to make the capital what he thinks it should be. Then he meets Faro Sampson (Starke) and falls in love, thinking her to be a daughter of a minister. When he discovers that she is the daughter of a gambler and the chief attraction of his den, he spurns her. However, when she comes calling, he meekly returns at her call, and is placed in a compromising situation. He is evicted along with all the people he had denounced, and his sister Martha (Adams) is carried along on the same boat. Vigilantes refuse the crowd to disembark, but they force their way ashore until the bursting of the boiler on the boat sends it adrift with a few men and women still onboard. Ben (Beery), a fireman, assumes command by virtue that he has the captain's cap and by his strength. When he seeks to make Martha his victim, Joyce is galvanized to action to save his sister. A fight ensues and Ben is overpowered by a blow to his head from a skylight. Demoted to the scullion on the rescue ship, Ben is relegated to paring potatoes while Joyce and Faro find happiness.

Cast

Wallace Beery as Ben
Pauline Starke as Faro Sampson
Claire Adams as Martha Joyce
William Collier Jr. as John Joyce
Raymond Hatton as Mate
George Cooper as Jerry Dugan
Dale Fuller as Millie
Spec O'Donnell as Jimmy
Emmett King as Square Deal Sampson (credited as Emmett C. King)
John Webb Dillon as Farwell (credited as John Webb Dillon)
Louis King as Briggs
Martha Mattox as Mrs. Farwell

Preservation

The Library of Congress catalog and film archives do not show any listings for the film.^[4]^[5] However, the silentera.com site and an online dvd retailer list the film as available for sale.^[6]^[7]

References

^ Progressive Silent Film List: The Devil's Cargo at silentera.com
^ The American Film Institute Catalog Feature Films: 1921-30 by The American Film Institute, c. 1971
^ Sargent, Epes W. (February 21, 1925). "The Devil's Cargo; Wallace Beery Saves, Almost Single Handed, a Paramount Story of the Days of '49". The Moving Picture World. 72 (8). New York City: Chalmers Publishing Co.: 786. Retrieved September 11, 2021.
^ The Library of Congress / FIAF American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: The Devil's Cargo
^ The Devil's Cargo at Arne Andersen's Lost Film Files: lost Paramount films - 1925
^ The Devil's Cargo at silentera.com
^ LovingTheClassics.com ^{[dead link]}