The Devil's Cargo

{{short description|1925 film by Victor Fleming}} {{for|1948 film directed by John F. Link Sr.|Devil's Cargo}} {{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2020}} {{Infobox film | name = The Devil's Cargo | image = The Devil's Cargo.jpg | alt = | caption = Poster | director = Victor Fleming | producer = Adolph Zukor<br>Jesse Lasky | writer = Charles E. Whittaker<br>A.P. Younger | starring = Wallace Beery<br>Pauline Starke | music = | cinematography = Charles Schoenbaum (as C. Edgar Schoenbaum) | editing = | studio = | distributor = Paramount Pictures | released = {{Film date|1925|2|2}} | runtime = 80 min.; 8 reels (7,890 feet) | country = United States | language = Silent (English intertitles) | budget = | gross = }} '''''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.<ref>[http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/D/DevilsCargo1925.html Progressive Silent Film List: ''The Devil's Cargo''] at silentera.com</ref><ref>''The American Film Institute Catalog Feature Films: 1921-30'' by The American Film Institute, c. 1971</ref>

==Plot== As described in a review in a film magazine,<ref name="MPW">{{cite journal |last=Sargent |first=Epes W. |author-link= |title=''The Devil's Cargo''; Wallace Beery Saves, Almost Single Handed, a Paramount Story of the Days of '49 |journal=The Moving Picture World |volume=72 |issue=8 |pages=786 |publisher=Chalmers Publishing Co. |location=New York City |date=21 February 1925 |url=https://archive.org/details/movingpicturewor72janf/page/786/mode/1up |access-date=11 September 2021}}</ref> 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== {{Cast listing| *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.<ref>[http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.mbrs.sfdb.4764/default.html The Library of Congress / FIAF American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: ''The Devil's Cargo'']</ref><ref>[http://www.silentsaregolden.com/arneparamountpictures.html ''The Devil's Cargo'' at Arne Andersen's Lost Film Files: ''lost Paramount films - 1925'']</ref> However, the silentera.com site and an online dvd retailer list the film as available for sale.<ref>[http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/D/DevilsCargo1925.html ''The Devil's Cargo'' at silentera.com]</ref><ref>[https://www.lovingtheclassics.com/by-title/d/the-devil-s-cargo-1925.html LovingTheClassics.com] {{dead link|date=September 2021}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== {{commons category|The Devil's Cargo}} *{{IMDb title|0015749}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Devils Cargo, The}} Category:1925 films Category:American black-and-white films Category:American silent feature films Category:1925 drama films Category:Films directed by Victor Fleming Category:Lost American silent drama films Category:1925 lost films Category:1925 American films Category:1925 English-language films Category:English-language drama films