Ferry to Hong Kong Reviews

Welles once again puts in an embarrassing performance that makes one run to the reference books to see if he is indeed the same man who directed and starred in CITIZEN KANE. This film is a tired adventure yarn featuring the rotund ham as the captain of a ferry boat which makes trips between Hong Kong and Macao. Jurgens plays an aimless derelict from Austria who was kicked out of his home country and is now wandering about looking for action. The action he finds gets him banned from both Hong Kong and Macao, so he spends most of his time shuttling back and forth on Welles's boat, much to the captain's dismay. Jurgens, however, is content to stay on board because it is the first place he has planted roots in for quite some time. Welles soon becomes fed up with the exile's presence and the two men develop a healthy hatred for each other. Eventually things work out for the best when Jurgens tries like hell to save the ship from sinking in a storm. The ship survives the storm, but slowly sinks as it pulls back into Hong Kong harbor. Seeing that the man he thought was a useless rummy has gained some pride and self-respect from the experience, Welles decides that Jurgens is all right after all. As a young man of high-school age, Welles had accompanied his father, an embarrassing alcoholic, on a long voyage to the Orient, and no doubt he contributed this personal memory--as was his custom--to the script of this film.