''Ferry to Hong Kong'' is a 1959 British melodrama/adventure film directed by

Lewis Gilbert Lewis Gilbert (6 March 1920 – 23 February 2018) was an English film director, producer and screenwriter who directed more than 40 films during six decades; among them such varied titles as '' Reach for the Sky'' (1956), ''Sink the Bismarck!' ...

and starring

Curt Jürgens Kurt is a male given name of Germanic or Turkish origin. ''Kurt'' or ''Curt'' originated as short forms of the Germanic Conrad, depending on geographical usage, with meanings including counselor or advisor. In Turkish, Kurt means "Wolf" and i ...

Sylvia Syms Sylvia May Laura Syms (born 6 January 1934) is an English actress, best known for her roles in the films ''Woman in a Dressing Gown'' (1957), ''Ice Cold in Alex'' (1958), ''No Trees in the Street'' (1959), ''Victim'' (1961), and ''The Tamari ...

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...

and

Jeremy Spenser Jeremy Spenser (born Jeremy John Dornhurst de Saram 16 July 1937) is a British actor who made his screen debut aged 11 in ''Anna Karenina'' (1948). The following year he played in the black comedy ''Kind Hearts and Coronets'' as the young Loui ...

Plot

Mark Conrad, a debonair Anglo-Austrian former

playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. K ...

and junk owner, now an alcoholic down-and-out, is expelled from

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

. He is placed on an ancient ferry boat, the Fa Tsan (known to its crew as the Fat Annie), despite the protests of the pompous owner, Captain Cecil Hart. He travels to

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

, but is refused entry for the same reason he was expelled from Hong Kong. He engages the captain in a card game and wins the right to 'live' on board. His charming manner endears him to the crew and to an attractive teacher Liz Ferrers, a regular passenger. The ferry is nearly wrecked in a

typhoon A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for a ...

, but Conrad wrests command from the cowardly and drunken captain and saves the ship. Drifting out of control near the Chinese coast, they are boarded by

pirates Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

, led by Chinese-American Johnny Sing-up. Sing-up reveals that Hart is a former conman who won the ship in a crooked card-game. Conrad becomes a hero when he saves the ship, and is allowed to stay in Hong Kong. He is tempted to continue his budding relationship with Liz, but decides to resist it until he has 'beaten the dragon'.

Cast

as Mark Bertram Conrad *

as Captain Cecil Hart *

as Miss Liz Ferrers *

as Miguel Henriques, 1st Officer * Noel Purcell as Joe Skinner, ship's engineer *

Margaret Withers Margaret Withers (6 July 1893 – 26 October 1977) was a British actress mainly on the stage. Filmography References External links * Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown British stage actresses British film actresses 20th- ...

as Miss Carter * John Wallace as Hong Kong Police Inspector *

Roy Chiao Roy Chiao (16 March 1927 – 15 April 1999) was a Hong Kong actor, most notable in the United States for playing the minor villain Lao Che in the 1984 movie ''Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom''. Biography Chiao was born in Shanghai in 1927. ...

as Johnny Sing-up * Shelley Shen as Foo Soo * Louis Seto as Tommy Cheng *

Milton Reid Milton may refer to: Names * Milton (surname), a surname (and list of people with that surname) ** John Milton (1608–1674), English poet * Milton (given name) ** Milton Friedman (1912–2006), Nobel Prize, Nobel laureate in Economics, author ...

as Yen, Sing-Up's Partner

Background

The film was among those movies made by Rank to appeal to the international market, involving colour and location filming. Rank had rationalised its film production arm, decreasing overall output but putting more money in a certain number of films. Rank chairman John Davis said: "It is vital that the greatest possible financial encouragement should be given to the making of important films: for these the public will gladly pay. The emphasis will be on the more expensive and important film." The film was to originally star

Burl Ives Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives (June 14, 1909 – April 14, 1995) was an American musician, actor, and author with a career that spanned more than six decades. Ives began his career as an itinerant singer and guitarist, eventually launching his own rad ...

and contract star

Peter Finch Frederick George Peter Ingle Finch (28 September 191614 January 1977) was an English-Australian actor of theatre, film and radio. Born in London, he emigrated to Australia as a teenager and was raised in Sydney, where he worked in vaudeville ...

. However this soon became

Curt Jurgens Kurt is a male given name of Germanic or Turkish origin. ''Kurt'' or ''Curt'' originated as short forms of the Germanic Conrad, depending on geographical usage, with meanings including counselor or advisor. In Turkish, Kurt means "Wolf" and i ...

and

. (A number of Rank movies had German stars around this time as the German market was seen as very important.) The original title was ''Night Ferry to Hong Kong''. The movie had one of the largest budgets in the history of Rank."AMERICANS IN ACTION ON BRITAIN'S FILM FRONT: Shooting 'Suddenly' -- New Departure For Miss Dandridge -- Other Items" by STEPHEN WATTS LONDON.. ''New York Times'' 19 July 1959: X5. Lewis Gilbert described ''Ferry to Hong Kong'' as "my nightmare film". Orson Welles, he said, "never cared about his fellow actors, never cared about the director". Gilbert says "everything was wrong with the film - principally Orson Welles". Originally Jurgens was meant to play the ship captain and Welles the tramp but John Davis, head of Rank, insisted they change roles. The film was shot entirely on location. In Hong Kong the production team bought a boat that could be converted into a paddle steamer and used local labour to build a full sized studio stage and crane for the

CinemaScope CinemaScope is an anamorphic lens series used, from 1953 to 1967, and less often later, for shooting widescreen films that, crucially, could be screened in theatres using existing equipment, albeit with a lens adapter. Its creation in 1953 by ...

camera. The film was shot with guide tracks and every line of dialogue was re-recorded and re-synched in Pinewood. Welles and Jurgens hated each other and Gilbert had trouble filming them in the same shot. Welles insisted on wearing a false nose and at one point held up filming for two days while he could find his nose.

Reception

The film received bad reviews in England and was a disaster at the box office. The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' called it "a very funny comedy-drama"."Sophia Loren Cavorts as 'The Millionairess': SOPHIA" Stinson, Charles. ''Los Angeles Times'' 24 Mar 1961: B10

References

External links

* {{Lewis Gilbert 1959 films 1959 adventure films British adventure films Films directed by Lewis Gilbert Films shot at Pinewood Studios Seafaring films Films set in Hong Kong Films set in Macau 20th Century Fox films 1950s English-language films 1950s British films