So much average

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Eleanor Hunt (Bobbie Reynolds), Conrad Nagel (Alan O'Connor), Claudia Dell (Fay Temple), Frank LaRue (Perrelli), Vince Barnett (Bulb Callahan), Crane Wilbur (director), Harry Strang, John Ivans, V. Carroll. Director/screenplay: CRANE WILBUR. Photography: Mack Stengler. Film editor: Tony Martinelli. Art director: F. Paul Sylos. Music director: Abe Meyer. Assistant director: Bobby Ray. Producer: George Hirliman.A Grand National picture. Released: 8 November 1936. 63 minutes. COMMENT: This first of four Eleanor Hunt (Bobbie Reynolds)/Conrad Nagel/Alan O'Connor) "B" thrillers is probably the best of a poor lot, thanks to its Poverty Row film-making background plot and the charismatic presence of writer/director Crane Wilbur as the movie- within-the movie's crooked director. It's sad to see the super- lovely Ziegfeld chorine-turned-movie-star Eleanor Hunt being out- shone by Jack LaRue and Claudia Dell, but that's the film biz! I've just taken a look at IMDb's photo gallery of Eleanor Hunt and it's interesting to see that in at least half of them, Eleanor does not take a good photo at all, whereas Claudia Dell always looks great in just about every picture in her photo gallery. Eleanor is obviously not at ease, posing in front of a still camera, but comes to life when she is actually acting in the movie!

Fast moving and without pause in either comedy or action, this takes the viewer inside the phony racket that sells extra workers into the black market and replaces them with Chinese laborers. Federal agent Conrad Bagel, pesky reporter Eleanor Hunt and buffoon photographer Vince Barnett get involved in the action which is overloaded with wise cracks between Nagel and Hunt, as well as a surprise twist that keep this hopping. The cover artwork of the DVD is rather deceptive, but no matter. This is quite fun on its own. One very funny scene has Nagel and Huntcreferring to each other by an odd assortment of actors names while Barnett gets laughs with a slew of funny facial expressions.

The first of a series of four "G-Man" films produced by George A. Hirliman's Condor Productions (with all four starring Conrad Nagel and Hirliman's wife, actress Eleanor Hunt, in continuing roles), "Yellow Cargo" has G-Man (nee FBI) Alan O'Connor (Conrad Nagel) being "borrowed" by the United States Immigration Service to track down a smuggling ring on the West Coast, which is engaged in bringing in Orientals to the U.S. in violation of the Chinese Exclusion Act. O'Connor is met at the airport by reporter Bobbie Reynolds (Eleanor Hunt), who mistakes him for a New York actor in search of a movie job in Hollywood. O'Connor falls in with her plan to introduce him to some producers, so he can get a line on the leaders of the smuggling ring, who are operating under the guise of an independent motion picture company. Vince Barnett is on hand for comedy relief as "Bulbs" Callahan ('Vince Barnett' ), a bone-head news photographer.Be prepared for a low budget film, but it moves fast and is watchable if you like movies from the 30's.

This public domain movie is also known as SINFUL CARGO and when I saw that title, I was expecting a salacious little exploitation film. Instead, it was a cheap little film that was dull and probably not worth anyone's time.Conrad Nagel and Eleanor Hunt star in this dud. He is a federal agent investigation the smuggling of illegal Chinese aliens into the country and she is an annoying reporter with a secret. She is assisted by the world's stupidest and most annoying camera man, played by Vince Barnett. Barnett was obviously included as comic relief, but he was neither funny nor a relief when he entered a scene--just a one-joke irritant. In the end, there is a final confrontation with the gang boss that is among the dullest and most anticlimactic in film history. Then, in a "clever" twist, we learn the female reporter's secret and the camera, thankfully, fades.The film has bad writing, acting and direction. It practically screams "SLOPPY" throughout. For a similar plot though done competently, try seeing Ronald Reagan in SECRET SERVICE OF THE AIR--a B-film actually worth your time. Don't say I didn't warn you.