History Film / Kontrabando

* AuthorTract: Anti-Communist (and by extension pro-American) propaganda.

* DeliberatelyMonochrome

* TheMole: Diego.

* RedScare

* TropicalIslandAdventure: The movie is set in the Philippines, so:
** EastIndies: Much of the second half of the film takes place in Jolo, Sulu, one of the southernmost Philippine islands, where much of the country's indigenous-Muslim population is based, and which shares much in cultural and religious makeup with neighbouring UsefulNotes/{{Indonesia}}. (Sulu used to be a sovereign Islamic sultanate until American colonialists appropriated control—and turned it over to the Catholic-lowlander Philippine government in Manila after 1946.)

* TuxedoAndMartini: A little bit of this; indeed, the film's been described as having "shades of [[Franchise/JamesBond 007]]", but of course ''before'' James Bond became a household name. But there's a significant mix of Stale Beer style here as well: Diego doesn't spend a whole lot of time in very glamorous settings, and the villains aren't megalomaniac masterminds with complex world-domination schemes; they're a very realistic, and very dangerous, crime syndicate.

* AuthorTract

* EastIndies: Much of the second half of the film takes place in Jolo, Sulu, one of the southernmost Philippine islands, where much of the country's indigenous-Muslim population is based, and which shares much in cultural and religious makeup with neighbouring UsefulNotes/{{Indonesia}}. (Sulu used to be a sovereign Islamic sultanate until American colonialists appropriated control—and turned it over to the Catholic-lowlander Philippine government in Manila after 1946.)

* TropicalIslandAdventure: The movie is set in the Philippines.

This piece is a rather heavy-handed piece of government propaganda characteristic of [[UsefulNotes/TheColdWar the era it was made in]]; a time when American political influence hung deep and dark over the newly, but nominally, "independent" Philippine republic, and was constantly convincing its leadership that a ''Communist'' threat was constantly hanging over the country, and needed to be stopped at all costs.

This piece is a rather heavy-handed piece of government propaganda characteristic of the era it was made in; a time when American political influence hung deep and dark over the newly, but nominally, "independent" Philippine republic, and was constantly convincing its leadership that a ''Communist'' threat was constantly hanging over the country, and needed to be stopped at all costs.

* TheDon: Lim. Though Mr Tan is TheManBehindTheMan to him.

* MafiaPrincess: The daughter of Mr Tan, who quickly becomes Diego's LoveInterest.

* TuxedoAndMartini: A little bit of this; indeed, the film's been described as having "shades of [[Franchise/JamesBond 007]]", but of course ''before'' James Bond became a household name. But there's a significant mix of Stale Beer style here as well: Diego doesn't spend a whole lot of time in very glamorous settings, and the villains aren't megalomaniac masterminds with complex schemes; they're a very realistic, and very dangerous, crime syndicate.

* RuthlessModernPirates: Not entirely seabound, but many of the Moros, lowlander-Catholic Filipinos, and Chinese agents working within or with Lim's gang effectively double as this, especially since—operating within an archipelago—they need to use boats a lot anyway in transporting any kind of contraband.
* SpyCam: Pretty ingenious, too: Diego's belt-buckle conceals a tiny camera, which he uses to catch the criminals in the act, simply sliding up the buckle to expose the lens.

* PropagandaMachine: The film as a whole is a vehicle to promote the Philippine government's actions against the alleged Communist insurgency then ongoing when it was made, to which the criminal actions of Lim's organization are actually second-place, no matter how much screen time the latter occupies. The public-service message at the start of the film even blatantly calls the Philippines a ''[[BlatantLies bastion of democracy]]''!

It follows the mission of Diego Malvar, a military intelligence agent working for the Philippine government—in local terminology, a "G-2 operative", played by 1950s movie star Jaime dela Rosa (brother to the more famous matinee idol and later Philippine Senator/Ambassador Rogelio dela Rosa), as he's tasked with infiltrating a notorious criminal syndicate in the business of narcotics and arms trafficking. He does it rather successfully for the most part.

* PropagandaMachine: The film as a whole is a vehicle to promote the Philippine government's actions against the alleged Communist insurgency then ongoing when it was made, to which the criminal actions of Lim's organization are actually second-place, no matter how much screen time the latter occupies. The public-service message at the start of the film even blatantly calls the Philippines a ''[[BlatantLies democracy]]''!

* PropagandaMachine: The film as a whole is a vehicle to promote the Philippine government's actions against the alleged Communist insurgency then ongoing when it was made, to which the criminal actions of Lim's organization are actually second-place, no matter how much screen time the latter occupies. [[BlatantLies The public-service message at the start of the film even blatantly calls the Philippines a ''democracy'']]!

* PropagandaMachine: The film as a whole is a vehicle to promote the Philippine government's actions against the alleged Communist insurgency then ongoing when it was made, to which the criminal actions of Lim's organization are actually second-place, no matter how much screen time the latter occupies. The public-service message at the start of the film even blatantly calls the Philippines a ''democracy''!

* PropagandaMachine: The film as a whole is a vehicle to promote the Philippine government's actions against the alleged Communist insurgency then ongoing when it was made, to which the criminal actions of Lim's organization are actually second-place, no matter how much screen time the latter occupies.

* TuxedoAndMartini: A little bit of this; indeed, the film's been described as having "shades of [[Franchise/JamesBond 007]]", but of course ''before'' James Bond became a household name. But:
** StaleBeer: Diego doesn't spend a whole lot of time in very glamorous settings, however, and the villains aren't megalomaniac masterminds with complex schemes, however; they're a very realistic, and very dangerous, crime syndicate.

* TuxedoAndMartini: A little bit of this; indeed, the film's been described as having "shades of [[Franchise/JamesBond 007]]", but of course ''before'' James Bond became a household name. The villains aren't megalomaniac masterminds with complex schemes, however; they're a very realistic, and very dangerous, crime syndicate.

* FarEastAsianTerrorists: The Chinese Communists are depicted without sympathy as this. The rest of the gang could count too, both Catholic northerners and Muslim southerners, except that they're not terrorists in the strict sense of the word (i.e., with political motive), although it's strongly implied they'd gladly help overthrow the "legitimate" Philippine government. Also, more strictly speaking they'd be ''Southeast'' Asian terrorists.

* FarEastAsianTerrorists: The Chinese Communists are depicted without sympathy as this. The rest of the gang could count too, both Catholic northerners and Muslim southerners, except that they're not terrorists in the strict sense of the word (i.e., with political motive), although it's strongly implied they'd gladly help overthrow the "legitimate" Philippine government.

It follows the mission of a military intelligence agent working for the Philippine government—in local terminology, a "G-2 operative", played by 1950s matinee idol Jaime dela Rosa (brother to the more famous actor and later Philippine Senator Rogelio dela Rosa), named Diego Malvar, as he's tasked with infiltrating a notorious criminal syndicate in the business of narcotics and arms trafficking. He does it rather successfully for the most part.

''Kontrabando'' ("Contraband" in English, obviously), is a 1950 [[UsefulNotes/{{Philippines}} Filipino]] film, produced by then-dominant local studio LVN Pictures.

It follows the mission of a government intelligence agent—in local terminology, a "G-2 operative", played by 1950s matinee idol Jaime dela Rosa (brother to the more famous actor and later Philippine Senator Rogelio dela Rosa), named Diego Malvar, as he's tasked with infiltrating a notorious criminal syndicate in the business of narcotics and arms trafficking. He does it rather successfully for the most part.