This story has two threads and is in two parts. The first thread is the poignant rediscovery—with echos down to the present day—of a film released in 1952 about animals and their keepers. The second thread is the incomplete story of two women who hit the news magazines and newsreels—and who appeared in the film—as a result of their keeping large crocodilians as very tame domestic pets.
The story of this first part, about the film shown in British cinemas in the 1950s, started with two articles I wrote on my other website, Reptiles, Amphibians and Birds: A Historical Perspective of their Care in Captivity.
The only proper book available for many years on keeping tortoises was that written by Audrey and Ivor Nöel-Hume; it was published in 1954 in the Foyle’s Handbook series. Both the Noël-Humes were archaeologists who later moved to the USA. In his biography, Ivor wrote that their tortoises were the subject of a nature film that played in cinemas as the second feature to African Queen. Then in the June-July 1952 issue of Water Life magazine, I read that the film mentioned was called Strange Cargo. This was what Water Life reported:
It would be interesting to know the number of our readers who saw that unusual documentary film "Strange Cargo", the commentary for which was written and given by Richard Dimbleby. How many, I wonder, recognised Mr. Chas. Schiller who "starred" with his two baby alligators in the well-appointed lounge of his London flat. It was Mr. Schiller's fish, including the Harlequins and Black-line Tetras, which appeared on the screen.
Perhaps, like me, many of you thought it strange to have eight and ten-feet alligators as pets. The woman who owns them shuns publicity, and would not let her name or address be given. She seems quite at home manhandling the Saurians [sic] which wallow in tiled baths and, occasionally, take exercise about the house. Four-year-old Pen Densham, the producer's son, does not consider it unusual to enjoy riding round on the back of one of them.
To my mind, the most interesting feature was that of the young tortoises hatching out in a warm linen cupboard. The cameraman had to spend over twelve patient hours to get the excellent pictures of the eggs breaking and the youngsters scrambling out into a brave new world, unusually bright in outlook since in order to get good results on the film arc lights were in play.
The finished reels which represent only the best sections of thousands of feet of film are of absorbing interest. The film is the work of Ray Densham a free-lance producer and part-time cameraman with the B.B.C. Television newsreels.
I searched to see if prints of Strange Cargo were known to exist but could not find any. A few weeks after I put that article on the website, Pen Densham, the four-year old boy who appeared in the movie and riding the alligator got in touch. The event was so memorable that he used a still from the movie as the cover for his bestselling 2011 book on screenplay writing and for its title, Riding the Alligator. and subtitle, Strategies for a Career in Screenplay Writing—and not getting eaten’. He had though never seen the movie nor been able to find a copy of it. Pen, producer, director and screenwriter, of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and Moll Flanders and many more films and television series, is, of course, the son of Ray Densham.
There the matter rested until a sci-fi movie collector contacted me. He had bought a collection of sci-fi films to find that one of them was not of that genre. It was Strange Cargo. Searching for more information on the title he had found my article. Would I like to have it? Within days a large reel of 16 mm film arrived. While 20 years ago I had a 16 mm sound projector available, that was no longer the case but still hopeful of tracking one down I set the reel aside until I remembered that Pen had been looking for his father’s movie. As a result, the reel was sent to Hollywood post haste where he had a high-quality video transfer made. Within a short time a digital version of Strange Cargo came back to me.
To Pen and his family Strange Cargo had great emotional significance. It had been made by both his father, Ray, and his mother, Edna, who had died a few years later. For the Densham family and particularly his younger siblings who were very young when their mother died, its rediscovery brought their first sight of moving images of Edna since she, like Pen, also appeared in the movie at the house of the alligator lady.
Pen was surprised that his mother appeared with him in the film since he had always convinced himself that his mother would not have let him so near crocodiles and alligators. But there she was and both got very close indeed. He does still wonder if he was lucky to escape with all body parts present and intact.
Pen can remember some of the filming: going to the small house with the crocs; the tortoise eggs kept in the airing cupboard at home so that Ray could film them as soon as they started to hatch; being with his parents at the potential distributors of Strange Cargo and the family celebrations after being told that it had been accepted.
Strange Cargo is a glimpse of life in Britain in the early 1950s as currency and import restrictions were being relaxed after years of post-war austerity, as exemplifed by the people who imported and kept fish and reptiles . It opens with aerial footage of an aircraft landing. The cargo arriving at Northolt airport (not mentioned in the article in Water Life) was goldfish arriving from Italy in large tin containers, each packed in a basket. Then fish and plants at a water garden at Rickmansworth appear, followed by Charles Schiller’s tropical fish including Harlequin Rasboras, new to the aquarium trade and for which Schiller was well known, the then expensive Neon Tetras as well as a tank of seahorses.
Apart from the subjects shown, the film is also a bit of broadcasting history; Richard Dimbleby both wrote and delivered the commentary while appearing in some of the scenes, including the last one on a ‘thought-reading’ dog. Yes, the 32-minute film deviated considerably from its title to offer a whimsical look at the English and their animals. There is a dog in a dress playing a toy piano; a monkey brought back by a sailor, poodles being clipped, washed and primped for their owners; the work of a PDSA clinic; a rescued swan living with its owner in a houseboat being taken for a swim in the river; a tame mongoose and its owner; a racehorse with a goat as a companion; a boy with his stick insects, and a dog that likes to fly in the cockpit with his owner/pilot.
In cinemas the film would have been straight print from the 35 mm film which professional cinematographers used. The copy which turned up was a 16 mm print. A number of documentary and educational films were distributed in that smaller size for that great treat at school—a film show.
I am of course delighted to have been the gobetween in reuniting Strange Cargo with the Densham family.
Pen has kindly sent me the still photographs from the Densham family archives and screenshots from Strange Cargo.
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| Ray (1921-1999) and Edna (1924-1956) Densham with camera and a cartridge of 35 mm film |
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| Edna Densham, Thelma Roberts (not named in the film) and her small Nile Crocodile |
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| Edna Densham appearing in Strange Cargo |
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| Pen brushing the Chinese Alligator's teeth |
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| Pen riding the Chinese Alligator |
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| The Chinese Alligator was 6' 4"" long (193 cm) - very large for this species |
...Pen's book using that image:
...and some press cuttings covering Strange Cargo and the people and animals who appeared in it:
Additional Material 26 February 2022
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