This is a wonderful little thriller with Bela in top form. We have a very strange tale here, set in late 1800's. If you don't wish to probe the darkness of humanity you may not find this tale interesting. A sea captain (Margetson) wants to marry and take his bride (Shirley Grey) on his next voyage. A strange wish to say the least. Another sailor, Anton Lorenzen (Lugosi) has just returned from sea a shattered man, a victim of being shanghaied.Lugosi learns the Mary Celeste is set to sail so he joins the crew, intent upon righting a wrong. Margetson is ruthless, but less so than many of the other men aboard the ship. There is a strange tension aboard the ship. Margetson stole Grey from an old friend, so even the romance seems doomed. First mate Bilson (Edmund Willard) is a ferocious thug and he is responsible for much of the dread and mayhem aboard the Celeste. The ship is portrayed as a hell hole. The men who sail her are soulless monsters capable of any crime. Grey witnesses many of the cruelties and she (and the viewer) wonders why he asked her to sail with him.Lugosi is a quiet and gentle man as shown by his kindness to the cat. Willard sees the cat on the ship and tries to throw it overboard, but with one arm, Lugosi thwarts Willard and saves the cats life. Yet Lugosi will show no kindness to the devils responsible for his current state. During a vicious storm, sailors begin to disappear one by one.Frankly I'm flabbergasted that the film is rated so lowly. It is unfortunate that the complete film is presumed lost. The missing 20 minutes would be very welcomed. But the guts of the tale remain and it's not a shining one for humanity. Dark, brooding and at the center, gentle Bela enacting revenge one murder after another. This film is close to a masterpiece.

The famous legend of the Mary Celeste which set sail from New York harbor in 1872 and was found in the Atlantic adrift with no one on board is given a speculative tale in Phantom Ship. If the cat could only have talked he could have given witness to what really happened.There has been all kinds of speculation and in such a situation your imagination can run wild. In the original Dr. Who series with William Hartnell as the Doctor the TARDIS lands on the Mary Celeste and finds that Daleks are busy slaughtering all.In any event for the suspicious mind the presence of a black cat on the ship and a woman in the person of Shirley Grey, wife of Captain Arthur Margetson would violate two ancient taboos of the sea.I'm not going to go into the plot, but the presence of Bela Lugosi in the cast would give you some indication as to who might be at the bottom of everything. Lugosi turns in a fine performance as a religious fanatic sailor who has a big grudge against the ship.Phantom Ship is a must for fans of Bela Lugosi.

In desperate need of a crew "Captain Benjamin Briggs" (Arthur Margetson) tells his First Mate "Toby Bilson" (Edmond Willard) that he needs sailors to man his ship and he doesn't care how he gets them. So some are "shanghaied" while others "volunteer" very reluctantly. Unfortunately, among the crew is a psychotic murderer who then begins to kill his shipmates one by one. Obviously, since I don't want to spoil the movie for those who haven't seen it I won't reveal who the killer is. However, I will say that for such a short movie (62 min.) this film leaves much to the imagination. And in this particular case it is both good and bad. For example, in between the stock footage of the ship at sea there are several murders that are not shown. In one particular case the members of the crew are looking into a room and registering their disgust at what they see. But the camera never actually shows the dead body. So in one sense the audience might feel short-changed. But on the other hand, perhaps it's best to let the audience fill in the blanks on their own. Especially since Bela Legosia (as "A. Gottleib") is on hand and does such a magnificent job of setting the stage. Having said that though, other than the attractive presence of Shirley Grey (as "Sarah Briggs") none of the other actors really caught my eye. That said, in spite of the artistic approach to leaving some things understated or completely left out, I felt that this film could—and should—have shown more. Certainly the ending left much to be desired. And that's the reason I didn't score this film higher.

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.