The action takes place in the neutral port of Esperanto in 1939. Will Fyffe plays the cantankerous Captain Ferguson whose ship is sunk by a German u-boat. He then becomes obsessed with getting another ship; he and his crew steal a German ship, that ship too is sunk and Ferguson ends up in jail. He breaks out of jail, steals another ship - it is sunk too but this time the ship is sunk by British planes (that also sink three German u- boats.) There is a secondary plot line of a young man (the boyfriend of the Phyllis Calvert character) who at first declines a dangerous mission but later accepts it. It's all rather convoluted. After getting used to Fyffe's accent, I found him to be quite entertaining and appreciate seeing on film such a renown music hall performer. There is an interesting scene in a bar when at one point German sailors, giving the Nazi salute, break into song. One young woman interrupts with a different song. Even though it wasn't nearly as well done, it did remind me of the famous scene in Casablanca. And later in the movie, a British woman puts on record on a player - it's La Marseillaise. Another fight breaks out with the Germans. The production values (especially the ship model scenes) are poor, and the plot is absurd but nonetheless it is worth watching because of Fyffe, Banks and Calvert.
Review of Neutral Port
