Phantom Ship

Moviecut—The Mystery of the Mary Celeste

source: The Mystery of the Mary Celeste

The Mystery of the Mary Celeste

I always wanted to see this movie because I heard it had a real Lugosi performance, and it certainly does. The problem is the rest of the movie is god awful and damn near unwatchable. The plot has the Ship Mary Celeste going to see with a mad man in the crew slowly killing off the crew. Of course this doesn't fit with history, but who cares...its an explanation of what happened. This creak fest is laughably bad and I pretty much lost interest when the bar owner with the bowler hat and Christmas tree ear ring showed up. Lost Classic? I think not. I think this is just bad. Its an over cooked pot boiler thats leaked all over the stove thats just a mess that some one really should clean up.

The MARY CELESTE sets sail with a rather undistinguished-looking crew -- unless you're into tattooed accordionists, or think an unshaven Bela Lugosi is prepossessing. There's also Shirley Grey as a passenger. Odd things happen, like someone trying to shoot Miss Grey through a porthole, and soon the entire cast is going to pot. This movie has the distinction of being the second production of Hammer Films, and the first to be distributed in the United States. There's some nice shipboard camerawork by Geoffrey Faithfull and Eric Cross, and one nice stunt, but that's about the limit of its excellence. It's the last movie directed by writer Denison Clift, who wrote the story it was based on. If the dialogue was particularly interesting .... the soundtrack of the copy I looked at was pretty poor, and I couldn't tell.

THE MYSTERY OF THE MARY CELESTE is one of five films made by the fledgling Hammer Films back in the 1930s before they stopped making movies for over a decade, only returning to full-time film production in 1947. Some of those five films are now lost, but this one remains, albeit in a shortened version in the form of the American print entitled PHANTOM SHIP. It's a story of a seabound mystery in which a number of sailors go missing, one by one, while the captain tries to figure out which of the crew is responsible. Oddly, this is a straightforward murder mystery, eschewing the supernatural solution you might expect from the subject matter. It's a bit dated and creaky overall, but it benefits from a nice performance from Bela Lugosi as the salty old sea dog along for the voyage, and it has a little of the Hammer magic that would come to the fore over twenty years later.

In history the crew of the Mary Celeste disappeared and this film attempts to show a possible recreation. Bela Lugosi's portrayal of Anton Lorenzen, a mad crazed man seeking revenge against the crew of the Mary Celeste is wonderful. None of the crew can remember what Lorenzen looks like so he is able to join the new crew. One by one crew members are murdered or just disappear until one person remains. But when the floating ship is found there is no one aboard. An interesting tale to watch even if predictable.

A crew set out to sea on the Mary Celeste, circa the 1870's, only to face foul weather, mysterious motives, and murder. The odds are stacked against them as all sorts of seafaring bad luck omens pop up, from 13 crew members, to a black cat onboard, to a woman (Shirley Grey) on the ship. Also starring Bela Lugosi as a crazed one-armed sailor and Arthur Margeston as the square-jawed captain No one knows what occurred on the real Mary Celeste, which was found adrift with all crew missing. The storyline that the film concocts is silly and lurid, and only vaguely entertaining. Lugosi, who looks terrible, hams it up uncontrollably, and his accent is so thick that his voice is dubbed near the end when what he says is important. This was only the second film produced by Hammer, which 20 years later would become synonymous with British horror.

This fictional story is based on true event -- the finding of a ship with no one on it.....and gives a plausible "explanation" of what MIGHT have happened. This film is notable for Lugosi's dramatic performance; it's one of the (very) few films that he was able to show his dramatic (as opposed to horror) side. This is a VERY difficult film to find.....but worth watching for Lugosi's performance alone!

While this isn't the greatest film in history, the Marie Celeste is a puzzle and it's fun watching her self-destruct. Lugosi showed some real chops in this film. Not long after Dracula, we get to see him play a character who is filled with vengeance and fury. Lugosi makes him a really sympathetic person who has obviously been wronged and has seemingly given up on life. The relationship of the captain and his wife on board this strange ship is a bit strained. Why would he do this? Also, there has to be a reel missing from this film. There are a couple of deaths that simply happen but we aren't privy to them. I've always enjoyed the claustrophobic milieu that is a ship, no escape available for anyone, and this one uses that closed in atmosphere pretty well. Still, it is pretty unsatisfying at times.