White Cargo

Albert is sent a ticket for a supposed high-end club, but he arrives at a low-end strip club. Desirée performs on stage while two Home Office investigators, Chumley and Fosdyke, keep watch in disguises. The moment hints at his daydreams of being a James Bond–type secret agent.

Chumley and Fosdyke, bumbling but persistent, watch the proceedings using a variety of transparent disguises. They blend into the scene while the club operates and Albert lingers on the edge of danger. The pair’s presence foreshadows the trap-like nature of Albert’s adventure.

He imagines overpowering the bouncer Harry and rescuing Stella, but reality intrudes when a mop bucket drenches him and Stella, who has been caught going through the boss’s desk, and they are thrown out into the street. The daydreams reveal his wish to act as a hero. The expulsion marks a turning point in his quest for purpose.

Stella shows a bit of kindness and invites Albert back to her apartment to dry off. While he changes, Stella is kidnapped by Harry, throwing Albert into a new perilous pursuit. The situation compounds the sense that Albert’s fantasies may be his only defense.

Chumley and Fosdyke reappear, posing as gas meter readers, and urge Albert to take the stolen Arabic book to an Eastern trading company for translation. They lie in wait for him, complicating his path and deepening the conspiracy. Albert’s trust is tested as the scheme tightens around him.

At the Eastern trading company, the translators reveal an address of a country house. Albert takes back the book and escapes, escaping the spying by Chumley and Fosdyke as the chase intensifies. This move pulls him deeper into the criminal web.

Albert discovers Fox, Harry, and a cadre of hoods running a white-slavery operation, with Desirée and six women chained in the cellar. He daydreams of freeing them by a hare-brained plan, and improvises by jamming a van’s horn to re-enter the house. The plan fails, and he is eventually chained up overnight with Stella.

In the morning, Chumley and Fosdyke enter the house posing as census takers, but their ruse raises eyebrows because the residents’ names are those of famous film actors. The deception amplifies the tension and foreshadows the tightening net around Fox and his operation.

During the van journey to the dockyard warehouse, Chumley and Fosdyke appear from the back, and Stella reveals herself as an undercover police officer investigating Fox. The alliance between Stella and Albert shifts the balance as police coordination begins to take shape. The momentum toward rescue becomes more concrete.

At the dockyard warehouse, Albert envisions overpowering the guards with a pulley system, but the plan collapses. He instead neutralizes the hoodlums by dropping crates on their heads, while Desirée and the other women chain up their captors. The captives seize the moment as the police edge closer.

Albert finally knocks Fox into the dock, and Stella phones the police to secure the arrest. The immediate danger subsides as the criminals are brought to justice. The resolution closes the core illicit operation.

As a reward for his courage, Albert attains his 'position of responsibility' as the doorman at New Scotland Yard. The arc completes his wish to become a government employee with a sense of authority, even if it’s a modest title. The ending ties back to his daydreams of espionage in a practical, official role.