The Mystery of the Mary Celeste

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.

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.

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.

This movie has recently been released as a cult classic for $1. Yes, ONE dollar. Didn't come in a standard DVD case, but a thick card-stock 'envelope'. It's packaged as 'Phantom Ship'. I couldn't pass that up and quickly added it to my collection...

The movie was of surprisingly good quality. Usually movies from this era (mid 30's) suffer from static and there is difficulty understanding the dialog at times because of the bad sound quality. Visually, the sets were extremely realistic and detailed. You could tell when the occasional stock footage was used, but it fit well with the movie.

The story is based on an possible answer to the mystery of the Mary Celeste. The Mary Celeste was a sailing ship loaded with 1,700 barrels of alcohol that left New York on November 7, 1872 bound for Genoa, Italy. On board were the captain, his wife, their young daughter, and a crew of eight. The ship was later found drifting at sea - no one on board.

The movie seems to deviate from the story in that the captain is single and has his fiancée with him. There is no daughter. One by one, people start to disappear as the crew realizes there is a murderer aboard the ship. The writer tried to build up a cast suspects.

Was it the crew member sent by the captain of another ship who had also proposed to the captains fiancée? When he sent that crew member on board, he told him to do whatever he needed to do...and maybe he could be a second mate someday.

Was it the sadistic second mate on the Mary Celeste? He seemed to love beating and torturing people.

Maybe it was one of the shanghaied (kidnapped) members of the crew. One of which threatened to kill the second mate and made it clear he was going to get even.

Maybe Bela Lugosi's character. A man who had been shanghaied years before on the Mary Celeste and wanted revenge for the brutality he had suffered.

One by one, people were killed. Each time the remaining crew would grow more paranoid and suspicious. I must confess that I was never quite sure who exactly was guilty until the very end. There were just too many possibilities. This made the movie unpredictable and enjoyable. The acting was superb throughout. The interaction between crew members and the atmosphere were extremely well done.

I would recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys a scary mystery, any Bela Lugosi fan, or anyone who enjoys movies from the 30's.

Denison Clift's "The Mystery Of The Mary Celeste" aka. "Phantom Ship" of 1935 is a great movie starring Bela Lugosi in a great though atypical role. Many people seem to dislike this movie and I don't really see why. Maybe some people have mixed feelings about "Phantom Ship" because Lugosi's character is not the ingenious super-villain he often played, but an unshaven and scruffy sailor. In my opinion, however, Lugosi's role not being typical doesn't downgrade his excellent performance, and "The Mystery Of The Mary Celeste" is a highly atmospheric Horror Mystery and, by the way, one of the first movies produced by the legendary Hammer Film Productions.

The fictional story, which was inspired by the tragic case of the real-life ghost-ship 'Mary Celeste', is of course not historically accurate. Some characters have the names of real-life members of the "Mary Celeste" crew, but the rest of the story is pure fiction. I don't see this as negative either, however. First of all, movies don't always have to be historically accurate to be good. Second, this movie doesn't claim historical accuracy, the beginning clearly says that the story was only inspired by the tragedy of the Mary Celeste.

The great Bela Lugosi is, once again, brilliant in his role, and some of the other cast members, such as Edmund Willard or the heavily tattooed Gunner Moir also deliver great performances."The Mystery Of The Mary Celeste" is impressively filmed, and the dark, sometimes haunting atmosphere and menacing character of the sea are excellently brought to screen. The film's musical score is also great, occasional songs sung by characters contribute to the movie's atmosphere, and the background score in some other scenes contributes to the suspense.

"The Mystery Of The Mary Celeste" is a highly atmospheric, excellently shot and vastly underrated movie. Lugosi fans can't afford to miss this. Highly Recommended! 8/10