The Mystery of the Mary Celeste (1935)

Pretty Good

How sad is this?

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

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.

I have no idea what I have just seen.Two ship captains want the same woman and we are quickly thrown into a soap opera style drama that doesn't make much sense.This woman has no reason to be in the movie and her part just takes away from the story. So the guy who loses the girl pays one of his sailors to sail with and kill the guy who got her.Does that guy ever get on the other ship?I don't have a clue.All the men are so boring and interchangeable that they could have switched roles mid-movie and I wouldn't have noticed. We never really see how the people die, probably because this was based on a true mystery.But that raises one huge question.Why even make the movie if you will only speculate half of the story?They had no problem fabricating the set up, why not show us the killer? Still better than anything Vince Vaughn has ever done.

A '35 tale of nautical horror, THE PHANTOM SHIP, directed by the practically unknown Denison Clift, brings us to the beginnings of the HAMMER movies. The events are based on an 1872 maritime enigma.THE PHANTOM SHIP (yeah, I know it, pals, I have seen the American, shorter version) is a very curious and mixed movie—if some of the performances are atrocious and infra—wooden, there are also moments, whole scenes of pure cinematographic brio, gusto, joy and fun. A ship, whose name makes the humblest mariners shrink, sails with a shanghaied crew; the captain is played by an execrable actor. On board the ship the captain travels with his bride; the crew is especially colorful, and the scenes from the mariners' lives are well made. The sea thriller motifs are present—the dreadful lives of the seamen, the anger and tension, the mystical wanderer; so, some of the scenes are surprisingly good, and the movie has gusto and brio, interesting outing.Lugosi's role, especially, is very good—though he occasionally slips into regular overacting—anyway, his first scenes are impressive, he makes an awesome entrance in this movie …. Arthur Margetson is the very annoying captain; Edmund Willard does an excellent role as Bilson. The characters generally have interesting—sounding names.

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.