Sadly Over-hyped

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

. . . is the valuable lesson to be learned from PHANTOM SHIP. If you think that Bela Lugosi is just "hibernating," avoiding him as a crew mate could be added to your list of what NOT to do when signing up for sea duty. PHANTOM SHIP builds upon the legend of the Mary Celeste. In 1872, this American brig was conveying a full load of alcohol from New York City to Genoa, Italy. During a violent storm many barrels of booze broke open in the cargo hold. It may be dangerous to drink and drive, but it's even deadlier to huff and sail. Their better judgment overcome by liquor fumes, Mary Celeste's crew climbed into a lifeboat and drifted astern in a brisk wind. But in their hazy hooch-induced stupor, someone forgot whether "left goes over right, or right goes over left" on the tow-line knot, and someone else overlooked the need for oars in the lifeboat. So the Mary Celeste continued on its merry old way, minus a crew, until discovered weeks later. PHANTOM SHIP writer\director Denison Cliff tosses a bride, a black cat, a vampire, the Accordion of Death, lots of guns and knives, and the kitchen sink into this mix. Only Alfred Hitchcock could have done it better--and maybe he did, as this tale is about the only one of Hitch's 50-plus flicks I haven't run across yet.

This is an Agatha Christie-style story, without the Agatha Christie talent. The actors performed capably, but the story and script were just way too predictable and unimaginative. Furthermore, there generally wasn't enough character development to make you care about the victims. Although I figured out who the killer was pretty early, I didn't care. One scene in this film especially caught my attention, though. In the beginning of the film, Margetson's character explains to his good friend that he's fallen in love with the same girl, and plans to marry her, even if it costs him their friendship. He handles the situation directly and lays it all out there, not pulling any punches. It made me think how much better it is to handle things that way...

"The Mystery of the Mary Celeste" is a much cleaner-sounding and more suitable title for a dramatic story that is based on the true events of what is widely considered as the greatest maritime mystery of all times. The alternate title, "Phantom Ship" merely just cashes in on the successful horror movie reputation of its lead player Bela Lugosi and makes this film sound like a bona fide ghost story, which it definitely ain't. The journey of the Mary Celeste is pretty much doomed from the beginning, at least according to its superstitious crew members, because the newlywed captain brings his wife on board. The women aboard omen turns out to be true when the ship successively encounters devastating thunderstorms and inexplicably sinister accidents with deadly casualties among the crew members. Could the Mary Celeste really be cursed or is there simply a whole lot of foul play involved, like for example sabotage by the man whose marriage proposal was recently rejected by the captain's lovely wife? "The Mystery of the Mary Celeste" is a really ancient film – nearly 75 years old now – and that is noticeable in literally every tiniest detail. Probably this film already looked dated in the 40's already, what with its very rudimentary decors and hideously abrupt editing. For fans of that typically 30's style, the film is definitely worth checking out, as it bathes in ominous atmosphere and cheap awkwardness. The psychedelic ending is definitely far ahead of its time and I can image it must have upset a lot of tender souls back when the film played in theaters. Of course, the writers had to come up with some sort of sudden and abrupt twist in order to remain faithful to the Mary Celeste mystery and leave the several possible theories wide open. The immense ship was found floating around unmanned in the Atlantic Ocean in 1872. There wasn't any material damage or signs of struggle, but none of the crew members was ever seen or heard from ever again. The ideal scary cinema concept, in other words.

Despite the fact that this film is of poor quality (actually it is supposedly the remains of a longer film), it is still a good mystery.The Mary Celeste was actually found at sea with no crew left. What happened to them? The Captain (Arthur Margetson) married a woman (Shirley Grey) loved by another Captain. he paid a crew member to dispatch the Captain at the first opportunity. Did he succeed? Or was it Bela Lugosi (in his only Hammer film) as Anton Lorenzen, a man who was shanghaied six years earlier and wanted revenge? This film may not be historically accurate, but it is a good story. It is also a chance to see Bela Lugosi in a dramatic, non-horror role. After who really knows what happened?