Ferry to Hong Kong

Ferry to Hong Kong
Original UK quad by Brian Bysouth
Directed by	Lewis Gilbert
Produced by	George Maynard
Starring	Curt Jürgens Orson Welles Sylvia Syms Jeremy Spenser
Music by	Kenneth V. Jones
Cinematography	Otto Heller
Edited by	Peter R. Hunt
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date	1959
Running time	112 min
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	£500,000

Ferry to Hong Kong is a 1959 British melodrama/adventure film directed by Lewis Gilbert and starring Curt Jürgens, Sylvia Syms, Orson Welles and Jeremy Spenser.

Mark Conrad, a debonair Anglo-Austrian former playboy and junk owner, now an alcoholic down-and-out, is expelled from Hong Kong. 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, 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, 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, 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'.

The film was one of a number of 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 and contract star Peter Finch. However this soon became Curt Jurgens and Orson Welles. The movie had one of the largest budgets in the history of Rank.