''Port of Escape'' is a 1956 British

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...

directed by Tony Young and starring

Googie Withers Georgette Lizette Withers, CBE, AO (12 March 191715 July 2011), known professionally as Googie Withers, was an English entertainer who was a dancer and actress with a lengthy career spanning some nine decades in theatre, film, and television. ...

John McCallum John McCallum (born 9 April 1950) is a Canadian politician, economist, diplomat and former university professor. A former Liberal Member of Parliament ( MP), McCallum was the Canadian Ambassador to China from 2017 to 2019. He was asked for h ...

Bill Kerr William Henry Kerr (10 June 1922 – 28 August 2014) was a British and Australian actor, comedian, and vaudevillian. Born in South Africa, he started his career as a child actor in Australia, before emigrating to Britain after the Second Worl ...

and

Joan Hickson Joan Bogle Hickson, OBE (5 August 1906 – 17 October 1998) was an English actress of theatre, film and television. She was known for her role as Agatha Christie's Miss Marple in the television series ''Miss Marple''. She also narrated a number ...

Plot

Two sailors, one Australian and one American, are kicked off their ship when it docks in London, and get involved in a fight outside a dockside pub that leads to a man's death. They go on the run and hide on a barge that belongs to three women. The two men plan to travel to Missouri, the home state of the American, but not all goes to plan.

Cast

- Anne Stirling *

- Mitchell Gillis *

- Dinty Missouri *

- Rosalie Watchett * Wendy Danielli - Daphne Stirling *

Hugh Pryse Hugh Pryse (1910–1955) was a British character actor. He was born on 11 November 1910 with the name John Hwfa Pryse, and was billed as Hwfa Pryse in the films ''Penn of Pennsylvania'' and '' "Pimpernel" Smith. His stage work included Peter Br ...

- Skinner *

Alexander Gauge Alexander Gauge (29 July 1914 – 29 August 1960) was a British actor best known for playing Friar Tuck in ''The Adventures of Robin Hood'' from 1955 to 1959. Born in a Methodist Mission station in Wenzhou in China,Ingeborg von Kusserow Ingeborg von Kusserow (28 January 1919 – 14 April 2014) was a German film actress. Biography Kusserow was born in Wollstein, Province of Posen, Germany (today Wolsztyn, Poland). She starred in Nazi propaganda films during the Third Reich, w ...

- Lucy *

Ewan Roberts Ewan Roberts (29 April 1914–10 January 1983) was a Scottish stage, film and television actor. On stage from 1935, his theatre work included a season with the Old Vic, in 1946-1947. In 1949 he appeared at the Adelphi Theatre in '' Castle in ...

- Sergeant Rutherford *

Basil Dignam Basil Dignam (24 October 1905 – 31 January 1979) was an English character actor. Basil Dignam was born in Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire. Before the acting, he tried many jobs, from a company clerk to a journalist. He acted on film and ...

as Det. Sgt. Crawford * George Rose as Publican Hugh Pryse died in 1955, nine months before the film was released.

Critical reception

In a recent review Allen Eyles at the ''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...

'' gives the film three out of five stars and writes that "The skilled performances of John McCallum and Googie Withers, and an atmospheric treatment of the London Docks setting, give this modest melodrama a considerable lift. ... An obscure director, Anthony Young, lets the pace slacken occasionally, but overall this is an intelligent and offbeat work that deserves to be better known, and probably owes much to its producer, Lance Comfort, an able director in his own right."

References

External links

* 1956 films British crime thriller films 1950s crime thriller films Films directed by Tony Young British black-and-white films Films shot at British National Studios 1950s English-language films 1950s British films {{crime-thriller-film-stub