This is one of several Swedish films from the 40s and 50s which can be seen on Netflix. It's scripted by Herbert Grevenius, who during the period worked on several films with Ingmar Bergman ("It Rains on our Love", "Thirst", "This Can't Happen Here" and the wonderful "Summer Interlude".) The director of this film isn't in the same league as Bergman (who is?) and this, the first film of his I've seen, shows why. It's a simple, not to say simplistic, tale of noble workers versus nasty Nazis.

A train from Germany arrives at the Polish port of Gdynia in 1938. It contains a large consignment of "canned goods" which are loaded on a Swedish ship, to be taken to Franco's Spain. This raise the obvious question "Why not ship them straight from Germany?" to which the obvious answer is "Because then there'd be no film." When the workers find what's really in the crates they jump ship, even though they'll be stuck in Gdynia, which they describe in the most unflattering terms. Their rebellion has little effect, as there are plenty of sailors in the port, anxious for work. Our heroes are a dull lot, and the only interesting characters are the cantankerous, conflicted captain and the steward.

There's a sub-plot involving the leading rebel's attempt to rescue a Jewish prostitute, a refugee from Germany in danger of being send back because she has no papers. This is rather ironic, since Erik "Hampe" Faustman was described by Peter Cowie as the most committed Swedish director of the period, and it's clear that his commitment was to Stalin's Soviet Union. We get talk of proletarian solidarity, and the crew even sing the Internationale. Stalin was a committed anti-Semite, and his purge of Jews in the USSR and its satellites began the year this film was made.

I won't be seeking out any of Faustman's other works.