{{short description|1940 film}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2014}} {{Use British English|date=July 2014}} {{Infobox film | name = Neutral Port | image = File:Neutral Port.jpg | caption = | director = Marcel Varnel | producer = Edward Black | writer = {{ubl|T.J. Morrison|J.B. Williams}} | music = Louis Levy | cinematography = {{ubl|Arthur Crabtree|Jack E. Cox}} | editing = | narrator = | starring = {{ubl|Will Fyffe|Leslie Banks|Yyvonne Arnaud|Phyllis Calvert}} | studio = Gaumont-British Picture Corporation<br>Gainsborough Pictures | distributor = General Film Distributors | released = {{Film date|1940|12|06|df=yes}} | runtime = 89 minutes | country = United Kingdom | language = English | budget = }} '''''Neutral Port''''' (also known as '''''The Net''''') is a 1940 British war comedy film directed by Marcel Varnel and starring Will Fyffe, Leslie Banks, Yvonne Arnaud, and Phyllis Calvert.<ref name="BFIsearch">{{Cite web |title=Neutral Port |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150033666 |access-date=8 August 2025 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}</ref> It was written by T.J. Morrison and J.B. Williams and produced and distributed by Gainsborough Pictures. It was one of several films Fyffe made for Gainsborough.<ref name="edward">{{cite magazine|magazine=Filmink|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/forgotten-british-film-moguls-ted-black/|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|date=1 December 2024|access-date=1 December 2024|title=Forgotten British Film Moguls: Ted Black}}</ref>

==Plot== A British merchant ship is torpedoed by a German U-boat and takes shelter in a neutral port. The captain then strikes back at the German enemy.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/43971|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090113221134/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/43971|url-status=dead|archive-date=13 January 2009|title=Neutral Port (1941)|website=Ftvdb.bfi.org.uk|accessdate=7 October 2018}}</ref>

==Cast== {{cast listing| * Will Fyffe as Captain Ferguson * Leslie Banks as George Carter * Yvonne Arnaud as Rosa Pirenti * Phyllis Calvert as Helen Carter * Hugh McDermott as Jim Grey * John Salew as Wilson * Cameron Hall as Charlie Baxter * Frederick Valk as Captain Traumer * Anthony Holles as Chief of Police * Sigurd Lohde as German Consul * Wally Patch as Fred * Dennis Wyndham as Terry * Jack Raine as Alf * Albert Lieven as Capt. Grosskraft * Mignon O'Doherty as Miss Fleming * Anton Diffring as sailor }}

== Production == The film was shot at the Gainsborough's Lime Grove Studios in West London. The film's sets were designed by the art director Alex Vetchinsky.

== Reception == ''The Monthly Film Bulletin'' wrote: "Will Fyffe as Captain Ferguson puts over a few gags in his forthright style, but on the whole this film, whether considered as propaganda or as entertainment, is disappointing. The root of its weakness lies in the extent to which it is entirely divorced from reality. Its link with the present war is purely arbitrary. There were perhaps reasons why the neutral port should have been given the fictional name of Esperanto, but unfortunately the setting and the characters are all of the musical comedy kind which such a name exactly suggests, and there is the most trivial kind of penny blood adventure story to match."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1 January 1940 |title=Neutral Port |volume=7 |issue=73 |pages=181 |id={{ProQuest|1305806616}} |magazine=The Monthly Film Bulletin}}</ref>

''Kine Weekly'' wrote: "Lively story momentum is established and maintained. A spirited super-imposed love interest, a great performance by Will Fyffe, appropriate and topical last-minute spectacular, and a marvellous title seal the obvious box-office project. Excellent general booking."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=12 December 1940 |title=Neutral Port |volume=286 |issue=1756 |pages=10 |id={{ProQuest|2339698495}} |magazine=Kine Weekly}}</ref>

''Picturegoer'' wrote: "The star acts well and is one of the picture's mainstays, but generally it is all rather ingenuous and suffers from a repetition of the central idea.&nbsp;... There are a number of spectacular sea sequences, but the entertainment relies mainly on the efforts of Will Fyffe."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2 January 1941 |title=Neutral Port |volume=10 |issue= |pages=16 |id={{ProQuest|1771158567}} |magazine=Picturegoer}}</ref>

''Picture Show'' wrote: "Stimulating, breezy, topical, this comedy melodrama of the sea is a real tonic.&nbsp;...Will Fyfle is a joy as the pugnacious old skipper, and Yvonne Arnaud delightful as Rosa. The excellent supporting cast is headed by Leslie Banks as the Consul whom the skipper constantly embarrasses."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=18 January 1941 |title=Neutral Port |volume=44 |issue=1134 |pages=2 |id={{ProQuest|1880291895}} |magazine=Picture Show}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *{{IMDb title|0032838}}

{{Marcel Varnel}}

Category:1940 films Category:1940 war films Category:British war films Category:1940 English-language films Category:Gainsborough Pictures films Category:U-boat fiction Category:World War II films made in wartime Category:British black-and-white films Category:1940 British films Category:Films set in South America Category:Films shot at Lime Grove Studios Category:Films scored by Louis Levy Category:English-language war films