Probably only for Shelton fans.. Anomalo fortio is far from being a "good" film. The entire movie is filmed on a huge ship. The action sequences are rushed and it's not directed or edited with any particular care. The acting is OK and there is a lot of bland action. Fact is, this film could be seen primarily as erotica and the only woman in the film is a young and incredibly cute Deborah Shelton who apparently lived in Greece at the time and it was there where she made her first screen appearances. A fairly low budget pic with some studly Greek action stars none of whom ever made it big in Greece. Deborah Shelton is the only real (soon to be) star here and she is the only standout of the film. Oh and to my surprise she is constantly nude in this film including some really saucy sex scenes with the Pirate leader. Sadly, I doubt this film will ever see a re-release on DVD. Who knows.
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Dangerous Cargo was recently released on disk from Mondo Macabro, an interesting distributor of unusual films. This film is a slow going nautical thriller starring the lovely Deborah Shelton, or as the opening credits list her, Debbie Shelton (Miss USA). That might be the first time I have ever seen a description of an actor in the credits.
Set on a cargo ship, the plot has guns and nitroglycerin being smuggled by the unaware crew. A new crewman, who has come in to replace a crewman, who was mysteriously murdered on shore leave, is working for a third party who wants to steal the weapons and explosives. Further complications include a new captain (who knows about the cargo), the captain's new wife (Shelton), and the first mate who used to date the Captain's wife. The plot is not really the main selling point of the movie; Deborah Shelton is. The film includes about a half a dozen scenes of Shelton in various stages of undress. If you are a Deborah Shelton fan, Dangerous Cargo will be a must watch.
However, as a thriller, the film never generates much tension. Take the big storm scene for an example. One would expect shots of the dangerous cargo to be shifting ominously in the hold, as if, at any moment, the ship will blow. Nope, we just get the captain saying "left . . . right" and stock footage of a storm. Dangerous Cargo struck me as a rather lazily directed movie. Still, the film has an undressed Deborah Shelton.
As for Miss Shelton's acting, she looks pretty, which is enough for the majority of the film. However, the film's final third hinges on her character. The filmmakers just don't explain her character satisfactorily (was she in on the gun running with her husband?). At that point, Shelton's lack of acting experience becomes more noticeable. However, Shelton plays the character as written, so the ambiguity in the character is the fault of the screenwriter.
To be honest, most who watch Dangerous Cargo are not going to pay much attention to the film's plot. It is pretty pedestrian, although I was surprised by the early exit of one character. The film is too slow to work as a thriller, but it does have its charms (mainly Deborah Shelton). -
BandSAboutMovies30 May 2020Mondo Macabro has been releasing several examples of Greek exploitation cinema lately, which is a genre I have only recently started to dip my toe into. This is directed by Kostas Karagiannis, who directed more than a hundred movies between 1961 and 1990, including Land of the Minotaur, The Wife Killer and Tango of Perversion.
Deborah Shelton, a former Miss USA and star of Dallas, Body Double and Sins of the Night, plays the captain's wife. That's right. That's the only name she gets. When her husband is killed by pirates, she's left alone with these rough and brutal men on the roughest of seas. That said, she's not unafraid to use her body and cunning to stay alive and start to plan her revenge.
Set entirely on a ship carrying an illegal cargo of dangerous nitroglycerin, this film places all the many sides against one another. No one is blameless. No one is safe. Not many people have clothes on, either.
Complicating matters is that one of the film's stars is named Kostas Karagiorgis, when the director is Kostas Karagiannis. Perhaps these names, in Greece, are as common as John Smith.
The original Greek title, Anomalo Fortio, translates as An Abnormal Load, which makes the 12-year-old in me laugh to no end.