Welcome back to Horror Movie Monday!
Today’s feature is the 1939 film Torture Ship, starring Lyle Talbot, Julie Bishop, and Irving Pichel. Directed by Victor Halperin, this short movie clocks in at just 64 minutes, with even shorter versions floating around out there. The screenplay claims inspiration from Jack London’s 1899 story “A Thousand Deaths”, though the connection is tenuous at best.
Spoilers and snark are ahead, so consider yourself warned.
Plot Summary
The movie opens with Dr. Herbert Stander (Irving Pichel) defending his controversial experiments aimed at curing criminal minds by altering the endocrine system. Facing indictment for unethical human testing, the doctor remains determined to continue his work at all costs. His interns, Dirk (Anthony Averill) and Paul (Julian Madison), eagerly sign on to keep working with him.
After his indictment, Dr. Stander stages several jailbreaks to gather a rogues gallery of 1930s gangster stereotypes—Harry the Carver, Ritter, Ezra, Murano, bespectacled Jesse, and the infamous “Poison Mary” and her secretary Joan. None are aware of what awaits them.
Dr. Stander buys a yacht and appoints his kind-hearted nephew, Lt. Bob Bennett (Lyle Talbot), a recent Naval Academy graduate, as captain. Why? Presumably because family members follow orders without question. The film also never bothers to explain how he secures a lengthy leave from the Navy for this trip. Maybe he’s in the Naval Reserve.
Once aboard, Dr. Stander reveals his plan to use the criminals as test subjects in his experiments. His passengers, unsurprisingly, aren’t pleased and waste no time plotting to seize the ship. Dr. Stander overhears the scheme—thanks to the bugged rooms—and faces them alone, unarmed. As expected, they overpower him easily. Dirk, Paul, and the ship’s crew arrive with guns and regain control just as easily.
The experiments begin with Ezra, who soon meets a grisly end. Meanwhile, Joan protests her innocence to Bob, and he believes her. He places her under his protection as a result. Murano, up next for the experiment, breaks loose in classic B-movie style, kills a sailor, and gets overpowered. Bob’s injured in the scuffle and sent to the ship’s ward to recover. After ruminating about what went wrong with Ezra, the doctor has a theory and presently decides to test it on his own nephew.
Bob wakes up a changed man—he nearly strangles Joan with his bare hands before the solution wears off, and he collapses. Encouraged by these results, Dr. Stander prepares to administer another dose to his nephew, but Joan interrupts and holds the medical staff at gunpoint. She’s quickly disarmed and taken away. Meanwhile, Bob quietly grabs his uncle’s syringe, empties the solution, and refills it with distilled water. The procedure continues, and Bob pretends to stagger around like a zombie afterward. Then he learns his uncle is about to operate on Joan.
Bob frees the criminals, and they help him reclaim the ship. Shockingly, they double-cross him and shoot Dr. Stander. Thinking fast, Bob grabs the PA microphone and addresses the criminals as his uncle, bluffing that they’ll drop dead any moment. Jesse, unknowingly drinking poisoned wine from Mary’s luggage, collapses on cue. Bob and Dirk (Paul was killed earlier) lure the surviving rogues back to the ward under the pretense of life-saving injections—and then quickly knock them out.
The film ends with Bob and Joan leaning in for a kiss (did I mention they fell in love during all this chaos?), only to be interrupted by Ole, the Swedish steward, who’s about to jump overboard wearing a life preserver. They laugh—then Bob and Joan finally share that kiss.
My Review
Honestly, Torture Ship kept my attention far better than Death Ship—but that’s not exactly a high bar. While it doesn’t quite qualify as horror, it’s nonetheless a pulpy, mad scientist thriller with a dash of film noir thrown in. It’s not high art, but it’s gloriously campy and melodramatic.
The Batman-style rogues gallery of criminals is entertaining. They chew up scenery with gleeful excess and delight in being evil. Despite their exaggerated stereotypes, they’re oddly sympathetic. That is, until you remember they’re terrible people getting their just desserts.
Unfortunately, much of the film feels forced and contrived, with heavy-handed moralizing that leaves you wondering what, exactly, it’s trying to say. The characters often make dumb choices just to move the plot along. Indeed, it felt like a high-quality Ed Wood flick.
Oh, and that claimed Jack London connection? It’s laughable. Aside from a ship setting and a mad scientist, “A Thousand Deaths” is nothing like Torture Ship. The original story revolves around a father repeatedly killing and resurrecting his son—no criminals, no endocrine systems. A shameless stretch, to say the least.
Final Thoughts
Would I recommend Torture Ship? If you enjoy old-school mad scientist films with a ton of camp and have about an hour to kill, it’s worth a watch. It’s not high-quality filmmaking, but it’s entertaining nonetheless.
Have you seen Torture Ship? What did you think? Drop your thoughts in the comments below!
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