Port of Escape
{{Short description|1956 British film by Tony Young}}
{{for|the proposed Australian film|Port of Escape (unfinished film)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2016}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Port of Escape
| image = Port_of_Escape_(1956_film).jpg
| caption = Australian daybill poster
| director = Tony Young
| producer = Lance Comfort
| screenplay = {{ubl|Barbara S. Harper|Tony Young|Abby Mann (additional scenes)}}
| based_on = short story Safe Harbour by Barbara S. Harper{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yyqc0Qa6b60C&q=port+of+escape+1956+literary+sources+in+film&pg=PA207|title=The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film|first=Alan|last=Goble|date=8 September 2011|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=9783110951943|via=Google Books}}
| starring = {{ubl|Googie Withers|John McCallum|Bill Kerr|Joan Hickson}}
| music = Bretton Byrd
| cinematography = Phil Grindrod
| editing = Peter Pitt
| studio = Wellington Films
| distributor = Renown Pictures Corporation (UK)
| released = {{Film date|df=y|1956|05||UK}}
| runtime = 76 minutes
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| budget =
| gross =
}}
Port of Escape is a 1956 British thriller film directed by Tony Young and starring Googie Withers, John McCallum, Bill Kerr and Joan Hickson.{{Cite web |title=Port of Escape |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150029218 |access-date=14 May 2024 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}{{cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6b34a1e0|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180908164849/https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6b34a1e0|url-status=dead|archive-date=8 September 2018|title=Port of Escape (1956)|publisher=}} The screenplay was by Barbara S. Harper and Young based on a short story by Harper.
Plot
Two sailors, Australian Mitchell Gillis and American Dinty Missouri, are kicked off their ship when it docks in London. Missouri has amnesia and is prone to explosions of anger. They 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, Dinty's home state, but not all goes to plan.
Cast
- Googie Withers as Anne Stirling
- John McCallum as Mitchell Gillis
- Bill Kerr as Dinty Missouri
- Joan Hickson as Rosalie Watchett
- Wendy Danielli as Daphne Stirling
- Hugh Pryse as Skinner
- Alexander Gauge as Inspector Levins
- Ingeborg von Kusserow as Lucy
- Ewan Roberts as Sergeant Rutherford
- Basil Dignam as Det. Sgt. Crawford
- George Rose as publican
Hugh Pryse died in 1955, nine months before the film was released.{{cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba56177f6|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180908202308/https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba56177f6|url-status=dead|archive-date=8 September 2018|title=Hugh Pryse|publisher=}}
Critical reception
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Although this melodrama is, in its modest way, respectably made, the direction is rather slack and the tension unevenly sustained. The playing is passable, with Bill Kerr making a brave attempt at the part of Dinty. Alexander Gauge brings a hefty authority to the role of a police inspector."{{Cite journal |date=1 January 1956 |title=Port of Escape |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1305818495/477A2FEE06A849A7PQ/1 |journal=The Monthly Film Bulletin |volume=23 |issue=264 |pages=92 |via=ProQuest}}
Kine Weekly wrote: "The picture tackles its plot from a psychological angle but too much is left in the air, even though gunplay and the chase are introduced. Googie Withers acts with easy confidence and John McCallum seizes most of his chances, but all the same they make an incongruous couple as Anne and Mitchell, Bill Kerr has his moments as Dinty, and the rest are adequate. Moreover, the finale is showmanlike, and the exteriors impress."{{Cite journal |date=10 May 1956 |title=Port of Escape |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2676991510/EEBD4F2DE59E4699PQ/1 |journal=Kine Weekly |volume=469 |issue=2543 |pages=21 |via=ProQuest}}
Allen Eyles at the Radio Times 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."{{cite web|url=https://www.radiotimes.com/film/mbtqf/port-of-escape/|title=Port of Escape – review - cast and crew, movie star rating and where to watch film on TV and online|website=Radio Times}}
References
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