utgard14 Fictionalized account of the Mary Celeste, a ship found adrift in 1872 with no trace of the crew. Well the mystery is solved now: Bela Lugosi did it. Backtracking a bit, the movie starts with a love triangle involving the captain of the ship, his friend another captain, and a woman they both propose to. She chooses the Mary Celeste's captain. Then the ship sets sail with the captain's wife on board and crazy one-armed Bela as part of the crew. Things are fine for a little while, then Bela saves the wife from being raped by another crew member. After that he seems to snap and then we get the 1930s equivalent of a slasher film, with everyone being killed off one by one.It's a little stiff, of course, given the time in which it was made. The main reason to see it is Bela, who hams it up nicely. His speech after killing the rapist should have earned him an Oscar. And again later when he recounts how he lost his arm, a second Oscar for that. Not really but it's fun to think of a world in which that happened. Unfortunately the static direction and creaks & groans make this a rough watch. Business picks up once the killing starts. Too bad we'll never see the original British version, as all that's left is this shortened American version. Maybe it was better. Then again, maybe it was worse and all that was cut was a lot of unnecessary stuff from before the ship even set sail. I can imagine some schlub thinking that drama about the captain's wife was interesting.One final note: I was a little surprised to hear one character utter a couple of racial slurs, including the N word. As a fan of classic films I'm used to "how things were" and all that, but there generally seemed to be a line and a sense of decorum about what could be shown and said in films, even in the Pre-Code days. Perhaps it's because this was a British-made film, but that wouldn't explain how it made it into the American cut. Anyway, to be fair, the line is in fitting with the character who uses it as he's a rough, mean-spirited sort of cuss.

MartinHafer In 1872, the Mary Celeste (that is the correct spelling) was found adrift. All of the crew were gone and to this day no one knows what happened to them. This film is a fictionalized account of what might have occurred. It stars a variety of little-known actors other than Bela Lugosi in a supporting role as a...well...rather crazy man. Because he acts pretty weird AND because he was the big-name actor, it came as no surprise that he was the man who killed off the unfortunate crew. Sure, other people could have been the guilty party, but I really think this surprise ending wasn't all that much of a surprise.As far as the film goes, it's a decent little B-movie--made on a slight budget with few of the usual frills a "bigger" film might get. The use of minimal incidental music might be seen as a minus, but considering the mood they were looking for, the sea chanteys and occasional music worked well. The biggest minuses were Lugosi's over-acting and the lack of the element of surprise. Still, it's a decent time-passer and stands up pretty well after all these years.

chrismartonuk-1 Despite securing the star role - Bela is almost a background figure for almost the first half of this film. He is okay in what he does but it took Ygor to show he could do more than stand imperiously around with a commanding stare. He certainly brings pathos to Anton's last moments as he staggers about the abandoned ship shouting for his missing shipmates. The bulk of the narrative is held by a convincingly authoritative Arthur Margetson as captain Briggs. His upper class accent lends a subtle air of class conflict to the proceedings. George Mozart looks very much the Michael Ripper of his day with some nice comic touches at the card game and it is genuinely sad to see him so indifferently disposed of by the script. Many have complained about Harbens's sea shanty's but they help enliven an otherwise grim storyline and have the ring of authenticity about them. Denison Clift's direction varies with some fine moody photography to too many ill-handled stagy action sequences such as the murder of Grot and Lugosi slaying Dennis Hoey. Edmund Wllard steals the film as the brutal Bilson - you certainly wouldn't want to get on his wrong side on a sea voyage. The splendid book VAMPIRE OVER London: BELA LUGOSI IN Britain supplied an excellent account of the filming of Mystery of the Mary Celeste. In particular - it brings to light the missing scenes such as the Court of Inquiry in Gibralter and the twist ending which reveals that Briggs and Sarah survived to make it to a tropical island. Without it, it could be argued that the film lacks symmetry as Briggs and Sarah are the narrative centre of the plot only to be abruptly eliminated off-screen. This leads to an obvious bit of dubbing as Bela explains the swift changes to the plot to the helpless Bilson. Perhaps Karloff or Chaney jr might have been better cast in the role of Anton but Bela got himself a rare good payday for his working holiday in England. Lateon, Christopher Lee would complain about being poorly re numerated by Hammer. Ironic to think they would reward Universal's Dracula better than they would their own.

Michael_Elliott Phantom Ship (1935) *** (out of 4) The bad reputation of the Mary Celeste means that the ship has a hard time finding a crew. The Captain is finally able to come up with the crew and soon afterwards the ship is discovered with no survivors.The legend of the Mary Celeste is one of the greatest shockers and unsolved crimes in history so it's a little surprising that the story has been told more times than it has. This early film from Hammer isn't the greatest thing ever produced but it's certainly entertaining enough to make it worth watching. As I said, the story of what happened is still a mystery so this film comes up with its own story as to what happened on board.If you're expecting a flat out horror movie then you'll probably be disappointed as there aren't any monsters, ghouls or ghosts here. Instead we're given a more psychological movie with the viewer going into the film already knowing about the mystery so the film lets your mind wonder as to what really happened. I must admit that the film should have came up with a better theory but I don't think what's on display here is too bad.The highlight of the film is certainly the performance by Bela Lugosi who plays a drunk on board the ship. I thought he gave a pretty darn good performance and he certainly kept you entertained with everything going on. The red herring aspect doesn't really work but it's still a fine performance. Arthur Margetson is also good in his role as the Captain.PHANTOM SHIP is certainly a flawed movie but if you're a fan of this period's "old dark house" movies then you should enjoy this as it contains the same sort of atmosphere and look.