Ferry to Hong Kong

I was in my teens when I saw Ferry to Hong Kong in 1959, after it went on general release in the UK. My memory is that it was an enjoyable, colourful adventure film. I loved seeing any film in the cinema, especially if it was in colour and widescreen (CinemaScope in this case) Curt (sometimes credited as Curd) Jurgens was a familiar face, having seen him in The Inn of the Sixth Happiness the previous year. I recall thinking that he again gave a very favourable impression with a likeable performance.

I've often thought I'd like to see it again to see how it stands up to my memory of the film but it's been neglected on home video and is only available in the UK on a poor-quality DVD but at least is in anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen. On watching the DVD, it turns out to be a major disappointment compared with my fond memory of the film. I won't repeat the problems which have been well documented about the making of the film but one has to wonder what persuaded the Rank Organisation to approve what was a high budget film based on such an extremely slight story line. For three quarters of the film, the main plot involves Curt Jurgens as a down-and-out being stuck on a ferry, running backward and forward between Hong Kong and Macau; unable to disembark due to documentation irregularities. This becomes tedious because there is no drama or conflict involving his predicament Much screen time consists of arguments with the captain, played by Orson Welles giving his worst ever hammy performance in a ludicrous English accent, obviously dubbed (badly) in post-production.

It's one of those films where the main actors seem to be working at odds against each other with no sense of common purpose. Sylvia Syms does her best in a thankless role, as does Jeremy Spencer. The final 20 minutes features a half-hearted action sequence when the ship is boarded by thieves and there is some much need action and conflict but it comes too late. The film needed a tighter script and a clearer idea as to whether it was meant to be a comedy, a drama or an adventure. One thing that almost makes the film worth seeing are the wide-screen colour location scenes of Hong Kong in the 1950s.

If you liked Father Goose, check out an obscure movie with a somewhat similar feel to it: Ferry to Hong Kong. Curd Jurgens plays a scruffy barfly with a temper, and when the authorities have finally had enough of him, they ship him out of Hong Kong to Macao on Captain Orson Welles's ferry. However, Macau won't let him in and ships him back to Hong Kong. Orson hates him, but there's nothing to be done, so back and forth ad nauseum they travel. Enter Sylvia Syms, a pretty and proper English schoolteacher in charge of some Chinese kids who take the ferry every Friday.

This movie does have a darker turn to it, with typhoons and pirates to worry about - but then again, Father Goose has Nazis and snake bites. I loved seeing Curd let his hair down in this fun, comical role. As usual, he's larger than life, and even his drunken demeaner is endearing. Sylvia gives a great Deborah Kerr impression, and you keep hoping for her sake that he'll clean up. He and Sylvia (or he and Deborah, for that matter) could have easily handled Father Goose. Although, Orson Welles with his caterpillar-esque accent and strange expressions probably couldn't have played the straight-faced Trevor Howard counterpart.

There's the most adorable scene when Curd finally cleans up and takes Sylvia "out to dinner" on the ferry since he's legally prohibited from stepping foot on land. Predating The Terminal by fifty years, he prepares a delightful evening on the boat with the help of a few friends and their imagination. They point to empty tables and gossip about other patrons, they look over the menu carefully, and they indulge in martinis, wine, champagne, and brandy. Of course, they're all alone, they only eat bowls of rice, and there's only one little liquor bottle to sustain them. But it's incredibly sweet and easily the best scene in the movie.

If you've only seen Curd playing soldiers or if you want a China Seas adventure with a bit of laughter and a lot of charm, find a copy of this movie. It'll make you an instant fan.

DLM Warning: If you suffer from vertigo or dizzy spells, like my mom does, this movie might not be your friend. During the typhoon scene, the camera tilts back and forth quite a bit, and that will make you sick. In other words, "Don't Look, Mom!"

Apparently this film did very badly at the box office, yet in time it may be regarded with the same nostalgia as the all time classics. It has a top class cast and is much underrated. Well worth watching again and again.

Lewis Gilbert, who directed three passable James Bond vehicles (YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, MOONRAKER, and THE SPY WHO LOVED ME) must have been wet behind the ears when he directed FERRY TO HONG KONG... and with Orson Welles as captain of the good ship Fat Annie in the cast!

Curt Jurgens, a German-born thespian of some quality and fame in the 1950s and 1960s, plays the dashing drunk and disheveled hero who wants to beat the dragon, encouraged to that end by exceedingly beautiful Sylvia Sims.

With some fisticuffs, fights, and blows over the head delivered by a fast fattening Welles, ably aided by fast aging Jurgens with pirates and criminals as targets, you see poor Fat Annie bubble down and sink in Kowloon Bay off then British colony Hong Kong, with some memorable sunset shots (could it be symbolic of the sun setting on the British Empire?)

If this crit makes no sense to you, the plot made no sense to me either, and it drags on for an interminable 111 minutes. I will NOT watch it again.

After boy-genius Orson Welles gave us his debut masterpiece `Citizen Kane', followed it up with the wonderful `Magnificent Ambersons'(and who could forget his charismatic Harry Lime in Carol Reed's `Third Man'?) he really had nowhere to go except down.

But I never expected to see him as he is in `Ferry to Hong Kong' mugging and pulling faces to try to produce cheap laughs in an awful English accent. He even waddles around at one stage with a board strapped to his back, all dignity gone. To paraphrase a well-known script-writer from Stratford `When great Orson fell, what a fall was there!'

Otherwise this is a pretty poor attempt at a comedy with perhaps some interest for those who want to see ever-changing Hong Kong as it was in the late Fifties.

I wish I hadn't seen `Ferry to Hong Kong'