Ghost Ship

Not to be confused with "The Ghost Ship," one of four (!) classic Val Lewton films from 1943, OR the 2002 horror fest "Ghost Ship," 1952's "Ghost Ship" is an obscure little British picture that should just manage to please. In it, real-life husband and wife Dermot Walsh and Hazel Court play Guy and Margaret Thornton, a Canadian couple living in England, who buy the Cyclops, a 40-year-old steamer yacht, and realize, after a series of freakish incidents, that the darn thing really might be haunted. An aged biddy of a medium (a pale knockoff of the marvelous character brought to indelible life by Margaret Rutherford in 1945's "Blithe Spirit") holds a seance on board and, via a series of flashbacks, the viewer is allowed to witness the events that led to the ship's current state, culminating in a surprise ending of sorts. A fast-paced 72 minutes, "Ghost Ship"'s major lure for modern-day audiences is perhaps Hazel Court, who over the next 10 years would become one of British cinema's reigning queens of horror. With a perfectly shaped mouth that might make Angelina Jolie envious and a pair of zygomatic bones that could turn Deborah Harry green with envy, Hazel was indeed luscious to look at on screen, especially in this relatively early role; sadly, her striking red hair and green eyes cannot be appreciated in this B&W film. The picture in question is a lighthearted affair that is not a bit scary (even an initial glimpse of the ship's ghost fails to raise any hackles) but always engaging, thanks to some pleasant performances, a crackling, no-nonsense script from director Vernon Sewell, and a sprightly score by Eric Spear. In all, a minor affair, but an entertaining one, presented here on a surprisingly crisp-looking DVD courtesy of Wham! USA.

Ghost Ship (1952)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

This forgotten British "B" picture isn't the greatest film out there but it's unique enough to make it worth viewing by those who enjoy stories dealing with ghosts. Guy and Margaret Thornton (Dermot Walsh, Hazel Court) buy an old ship that has the reputation of being haunted because years earlier three people went missing aboard it. The duo don't pay any attention to the stories until one day the husband actually sees the spirit of a man and soon they call in a paranormal expert. GHOST SHIP has pretty much been forgotten by everyone over the last several decades except for fans of Court who will search out everything the cult actress has appeared in. While the movie isn't a complete success it does feature enough interesting moments and a rather nice story to make it worth viewing. With that said, there are still some major problems in the film including one very big one. The film runs just 71-minutes but it actually feels a tad bit longer due to some pacing issues. I think part of the problem could have been avoided how two very bad scenes been left on the cutting room floor. One sequence involves a party on the boat where we get a rather long sequence dealing with a drunk. I'm going to guess this was meant to be comic relief but it's just really bad. Another horrible sequence is when the couple invite the paranormal expert on the boat and we get a long sequence where the man tries to explain various "sounds" that we can't hear. I believe this entire sequence is meant to make the viewer believe in ghosts but I think this could have been achieved in a much better way. I do think the best thing going for its film is the actual backstory to the hauntings. Early on we get a sequence showing the court hearings, which explain what happened to the ship and how it was discovered after being thought to have sunk. Another sequence happens at the end when we learn what actually took place on the ship and the twist in the story is actually pretty effective. Another major plus is that both Walsh and Court are very good in their parts as they're easy to believe and both are effective. The actual hauntings in the picture are kept quite low and I will admit that the first time we see the ghost it's rather unspectacular and it really doesn't stand out. However, it almost seems as if director Vernon Sewell has no intention on building up any type of atmosphere instead it seems as if he just wants to tell a good story, get it on the screen and do very little else. GHOST SHIP isn't a masterpiece and it's easy to see why it has been forgotten but fans of the genre should enjoy it.

Minor British movie about a young couple who buy a boat called "Cyclops" despite being warned that it is haunted. There is very little haunting going on here, most of it is in the form of an unexplainable smell on board of cigar smoke. It is heavy on dialogue but very little action, bit of a bore. The only notable thing for me is that it stars Hazel Court, who went on to become a British 1960's scream queen. Missed opportunity here; they should have put a bit more spookiness into it, or perhaps gone down the comedy route.

At sea on a haunted boat sounds terrifying. Nowhere to go except overboard!

This isn't a scary film at all but it does have an interesting story and there are good segments, especially once paranormal expert Hugh Burden (Dr Fawcett) appears. He has a good scene explaining sound vibrations with his collection of tuning forks. Did you know that a sound pitch inaudible to the human ear can be heard by drinking a glass of water which acts as a conductor for the sound. This is fascinating stuff! Once medium Mignon O'Doherty turns up we get to the crux of the story as things unravel.

Unfortunately, the story takes a while to get going and more use should have been made of general spookiness. We needed some scares and more ghostly shenanigans. The film lacked that spooky atmosphere and ended rather abruptly. Still, it is an ok film - a ghost story that isn't scary but is still an interesting watch.

This is a movie that I got turned on to when I was looking through the Internet Movie Database some years ago. At one point, this was listed as the original version of the movie Ghost Ship from 2002. That is the reason I picked this movie up. They have nothing in common outside of featuring a ghost ship and sharing that title. I didn't realize until writing this review that it was based on a play. It does explain things for sure.

Synopsis: a luxury ship is haunted by the ghosts of a crew that had disappeared off the ship years before.

For this movie, we start with Guy (Dermot Walsh) and his wife, Margaret (Hazel Court). They arrive at a pier where they're looking to buy a yacht. They meet with the manager, Joss Ambler, and after some confusion, it turns out they want to buy The Cyclops. This couple is new to the United Kingdom. Before selling them the ship, he tells the checkered past.

It belonged to Prof. Mansel Martineau (John Robinson). He updated the engine room and the machinery to sail with minimal crew. During that voyage, they lost communications and everyone thought it snuck. Days later it was found floating adrift by a group of fishers. Since then, anyone that tries to take possession of this yacht, smells cigar smoke and people see a ghost in the engine room.

Guy doesn't believe in this. Margaret does smell the smoke quite a few times. Regardless, they bought the vessel and fix it up. Their plan is to set sail and live on this ship. The problem then becomes they have trouble keeping someone to run the engine room. The only person who agrees to stay on and has no issues is deckhand. The couple have snuck all their money in. They investigate what is happening with investment and whether it is truly haunted.

That is where I'm going to leave my recap as there isn't much to this movie. We are getting a lot of talking and seeing now that this is a take on a play, which makes sense. This movie could be done with minimal sets. Where I want to start first is the idea of a ghost ship. I'm both fascinated by the ocean as well as terrified. Part of my fear is what is at the bottom that we don't know about, but the other part is being stranded. In the case of a ghost ship, it is scary to me that there are vessels out there that we might never know what happened on them to get them left there. Equally, there are the ghost stories about how some people see certain ships out to sea and then they disappear. These things tick boxes for me.

For this movie though, we have an interesting story with what happened to the ship. We do get the explanation to end the movie. Part of this is done when Dr. Fawcett (Hugh Burden) who is a paranormal investigator arrives and he calls a medium, Mrs. Manley (Mignon O'Doherty). The story that gets revealed here is basic though. I like the idea of it and how everything ties in. The concept of there being a ghost aboard the ship works for me.

To shift over to a negative though, this movie is boring. The reason I think is that it is dialogue heavy and we get minimal haunting things. There aren't a lot they can do so that makes sense. There is a creepy scene where Guy finally sees a specter in the engine room and it spooks him. Other than that, it is Margaret and other characters asking about the smell of cigar smoke. The movie has a low runtime of 70 minutes though, which is a shame. There are just too many repetitive things in my opinion.

Moving away from that, I'll go to the acting. I thought that Walsh and Court were good as our main couple. I like their interactions as they feel real. Walsh is the more grounded one and doesn't believe in the haunting. At first, Court doesn't either. It is when she experiences things that she believes. Other than that, I thought that Burden was good to help us get to bottom of things. I like that we get to see the story of Prof. Martineau, his wife and engine man play out as well as the fishers finding the ship at sea. No one stands out, but they do direct the story where we need to go.

That will take me to the filmmaking aspects. For the effects, we don't get a lot of them. It also isn't that type of movie. We do get smoke that goes away naturally. What I like there is that we know there is supposed to be no one in that room, but we can see this. The cinematography is also fine. They don't do anything to stand out there unfortunately. Other than that, I'd say that the soundtrack works. There is a scene where someone forgets to hang up a phone and it leads to someone discovering information. That is the only part that stood out with the sound design.

In conclusion, this movie has some interesting aspects, but it ultimately was boring in how it was relayed. I'd say the best part of the movie was the acting. The idea of this haunted yacht is intriguing and learning more about it is good. Just how it is done doesn't captivate you. For me, it had trouble keeping my interest. Other than that, the cinematography, effects and soundtrack are all fine. None of them stand out though either. For me, I'd say this is an average movie. There are not enough good things to go higher as there are equally issues that I had.

My Rating: 5 out of 10.