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Film: Phantom Ship
Year: 1935
Director: Denison Clift
Writer: Charles Larkworthy
Starring: Bela Lugosi, Shirley Grey and Arthur Margetson
Review:
This was a film that I learned about through looking at films that featured Bela Lugosi originally. The poster popped up and it wasn’t until compiling the list of horror films from 1935, then going to watch this on Tubi that I realized its original title was The Mystery of the Mary Celeste. That did make me intrigued to tick this off the list. I know this is also based on a real mystery of what happened to the ship of the same name, which I’ll come back to. This is a Voyage through the FiVes watch for Journey with a Cinephile as well.
Synopsis: during a horrific storm at sea, the crew realizes that there is a murderer among them.
We start this film off with the crew preparing the ship, Mary Celeste, to depart. The problem is that they don’t have a full crew and Captain Benjamin Briggs (Arthur Margetson) doesn’t want to sail without one. There is talk here about ‘Shanghaiing’ people and this is something that Capt. Briggs doesn’t want to do. I looked this up and it is the practice of kidnapping people to serve as sailors by coercive techniques such as trickery, intimidation or violence.
There is something here that is irregular and complicated. Capt. Briggs is bringing his new wife, Sarah (Shirley Grey), along. There is a love triangle as Ben was introduced to her by Capt. Jim Morehead (Clifford McLaglen). These three meet up at her place and decide as to who she chooses.
Ben’s first mate Toby Bilson (Edmund Willard) goes to a local tavern to find sailors to join the crew. He is aided by a man there who is the owner or a bouncer. It is also here that Anton Lorenzen (Lugosi) shows up. He was thought to be dead. He is someone who gets assigned to Mary Celeste. The last one is assigned through Ben when Jim asks for a favor. He calls in a member of his crew with an opportunity if he takes care of his former ‘friend’.
This ship embarks from port and things seem to be going smoothly. Being isolated at sea messes with people’s heads. There is a member of the crew with his eye on Sarah. Anton does something there which garners him praise from the captain and Bilson. This causes him to descend into madness over what he did. Past traumas also come to a head with this character as they try to get to their destination before it is too late.
That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is that this is an interesting film. It borrows from the legendary ghost ship, which is the same name from the vessel in this story. I did look this up and no one truly knows what happened to that brigantine back in 1872. There is evidence of a few things and mysteries that stem from that. The possible theories are that the captain might have thought the ship was sinking, used the longboat and got lost. Another was insurance fraud. Regardless, this film gives a possible explanation as well.
Another thing I didn’t realize until doing my review was that this is one of the first from Hammer film production. Not to play my hand too early, but I enjoyed what they’re doing here. Where I’ll start is that I love the setting. Being on a ship at sea just creates isolation and paranoia. You can’t just easily get off. If you do, you’ll drown or a small boat could have a multitude of things happen. This creates an easy explanation as to why characters descend into madness. I’m a big fan of stories that are in a setting like this since it ramps up tension easily. Coupling that with characters that have past traumas, like getting shipwrecked, that’s a good recipe as well.
Something else that I’m a fan of is superstitious and lore. I do think it is a misstep that no one brings up in the world of the film, but I’ve heard women at sea are bad luck. It is funny though because the true reason is that when you isolate people, they tend to think that norms or laws don’t apply. In this case, a ship full of men with one woman. There is one sailor in particular that is planning to attack her when the opportunity presents. There is a grounded explanation for this superstition that works. A more subtle one is that for us as a viewer, there is a sense of foreboding for Mary Celeste. The characters feel it. We know that this is a famous ghost ship. I enjoy this being played with.
I think I’ll shift gears to discuss the acting performances. Not many of the characters are developed all that well, but that’s a problem with the writing. One who would be Anton and I thought this was one of the better performances by Lugosi. He is down on his luck in the beginning. The more we get to know him, he is just unstable. I thought that progression and revealing character was a good touch. Grey portrays a character that needs more. It feels like she’s just here to complicate the voyage being a woman. Margetson and Willard are fine. The sailors on board are as well. My issue there is that I don’t remember who my name was. When watching this I knew them by looking. Giving the individual characters a bit more would help.
All that is left then is filmmaking. Something interesting here is that this could be considered an early slasher film. We have a few people on this ship that are getting picked off. This happens off screen for the most part to preserve the mystery. It could also be multiple killers. The cinematography and framing were fine to build the claustrophobic atmosphere, which is what is needed. Limited in the effects, but it also doesn’t necessarily need them. It is more about the tension of the situation. The soundtrack was fine. I did enjoy the sailor's music and singing aboard the ship.
In conclusion, this is a movie that is interesting by exploring a possible reason that this real ghost ship ended up that way. I love that this early into the history of cinema we get a movie set on a boat like we do. The acting here is solid. The bigger issue is with the lack of fleshing out more of the characters to help them stand out. I thought this was made well enough with the cinematography, framing and music helping to capture that this is on a ship. One that I’d recommend if you are a fan of Hammer studios, being that this is one of their first. Not a great film, but I still enjoyed my time well enough.
My Rating: 7 out of 10