Here we are…the final Horror Movie Monday of 2024! Today we’re looking at a 1935 film called Phantom Ship (released as The Mystery of the Mary Celeste in the UK). Starring the great Bela Lugosi, this was one of Hammer Film Productions’ earliest offerings. It puts a murderous spin on the real life mystery of the Mary Celeste, a brigantine found deserted and adrift in December 1872.
How does this 89-year-old film hold up? How much dramatic overacting is there? How does it compare to Death Ship? Let’s find out! As always, there are plenty of spoilers and snark ahead.
Plot Summary
The movie opens to Captain Benjamin Briggs (Arthur Margetson) and First Mate Toby Bilson (Edmund Willard) getting their ship, the Mary Celeste, ready for sea. They are short several crewmen so the First Mate is instructed to find a crew. Captain Briggs is clear: no shanghaiing (kidnapping) men. He then strolls off to propose to his sweetheart, Sarah.
Sarah (Shirley Grey) is unsure whether or not accept Briggs’ marriage proposal. You see, there’s another man courting her too: Captain Jim Morehead (Clifford McLaglen), Briggs’ best friend. Uh oh. Morehead arrives shortly thereafter and – in an overwrought scene dripping with 1930s overacting – Sarah chooses Briggs. Morehead skulks away scowling saying how he never wants to see either of them again.
Later, a one-armed man (Bela Lugosi) walks into a pub and shakily orders a whiskey. When he can’t pay the 10¢ charge, he’s almost thrown out until the barkeep and owner don’t recognize him: it’s their old friend Anton Lorenzen, a boxer formerly known as “Handsome Anton.” They thought he was dead. It turns out he’d been shanghaied six years ago and is a shell of his former self. They give him a place to sleep for the night.
First Mate Bilson has been unsuccessful in getting a crew, so Captain Briggs goes into the bar earlier and offers the owner $5 for every man he can press into service. He quickly gets a crew: albeit an unwilling one. Lorenzen is gently offered a position, and he asks what ship. He’s told it’s the Mary Celeste. Lorenzon’s eyes flash with fury and his whole demeanor changes. He accepts, and later signs on as A. Gottlieb. Still short on crew, Briggs approaches his ex-friend Morehead and asks for help. He sends him a man named Grot (Herbert Cameron). Before he ships out, though, Morehead pays the sailor in full and promises a promotion if “something” should happen to Briggs.
The new Mrs. Briggs is convinced to sail on the Mary Celeste, and joins her husband onboard. Because they somehow found time for the wedding between loading the ship and gathering a crew? One of the crewmen leers at Sarah and vows that she’ll be his wife before the voyage’s end.
The Mary Celeste gets underway. It quickly becomes apparent that Bilson is a brute: Sarah watches him beat a man into submission. She’s distressed, but Captain Briggs nonchalantly assures her that it’s just discipline and nothing more. She starts to regret ever coming on this voyage. This is especially so after Grot (who was flogged for insubordination) tries to kill Captain Briggs but is himself killed by the ship’s cook.
Later, Bilson sees that Lorenzen has brought a black cat aboard. The First Mate whips himself into a fury. He’s about to throw the poor animal overboard in a rage until Lorenzen fights back with mad ferocity. He saves the cat, and Bilson’s called to the wheel. There’s a storm ahead and he’s needed.
The storm rages. With everyone on deck, the sailor from earlier sneaks into the Briggs’ cabin and tries to force himself on Sarah. Lorenzen comes in and kills the man, which he’s distraught over. Another man has died in the storm too, but the result of an accidental fall.
From that point on, crew members are slowly being killed off. One man is found slumped over the wheel. The cook is found in the galley. One man is discovered in the workshop, the sight of which causes another to jump overboard in horror. An unseen gunman takes a potshot at Captain and Mrs. Briggs in their cabin. Who’s responsible for these happenings?
Lorenzen is later talking to Sarah, and reveals that he was once tied to a line and thrown overboard by an exceptionally cruel First Mate. A shark came along and bit off his left arm. By the time he returned to land, his wife was gone. All of this misfortune has left him a broken man, and she sympathizes. Mrs. Briggs is continually shocked by how cruel men can be to each other.
The list of suspects (and crew) dwindle until there are only three people left aboard: Bilson, Lorenzen, and Katz (Gunner Moir). Katz is convinced that the First Mate is responsible and attacks, but is shot and thrown overboard. Nilsson excitedly runs to Lorenzen/Gottlieb and exclaims he’s taken care of the killer.
As Bilson drinks to new beginnings (he has plans to sail the Mary Celeste to the Azores, sell the cargo, and start afresh as Captain Abercrombie), Lorenzen finally reveals himself. He steals the First Mate’s revolver and proclaims that he’s the mysterious killer. Lorenzen explains how Captain and Mrs. Briggs tried escaping in a raft…but were discovered and killed in short order.
But why? Why has Lorenzen done these terrible things? Well, it’s quite simple. Because he hates the ship. And he hates Bilson. Lugosi delivers these lines as only he can, and his facial expressions are truly magnificent. Bilson tries to escape, but is shot in the ass while doing so. Seriously. The ass. And then the knee cap. Watch the clip for yourself and tell me that’s not what happened.
Lorenzen ties Bilson to a line and throws him overboard, just like the mate had done to him all those years before. A shark swoops in as Lorenzen starts cackling maniacally. He’s gone truly mad. Lugosi is in very fine form here. Then the ship’s boom swings over and hits him in the back of the head. Lorenzen collapses to the deck (undoubtedly with a skull fracture) and slowly comes back to his senses. With growing horror, he scrambles up and begins looking for the rest of the crew. He panics when he can’t find anyone aboard (the black cat takes cover at this). Lorenzen then throws himself overboard.
Some time later, the Mary Celeste is found adrift and totally abandoned (except for the black cat). The movie ends with Captain Morehead and a sailor exchanging money, whereupon the latter says, “I am thinking of Briggs and her…dead!”
My Review
So yeah…I really liked this movie. Granted, it’s not phenomenal, but it’s not terrible either. Plus it has Bela Lugosi in it (though I admit I’m a sucker for pretty much everything he did in his career). Add to this the mystery of the Mary Celeste and you have me hooked.
Lugosi, grizzled and unkept, steals every scene he’s in. Is anyone surprised? The supporting cast is pretty good too, though Captain and Mrs. Briggs were probably the weakest characters in the whole film. Then there’s the ship, the Mary B. Mitchell (which gets her own film credit for playing the Mary Celeste). She’s a fine vessel indeed…and even served as a Q-ship in World War I. There are some really fantastic shots of crewman working the rigging throughout.
Though perhaps not the most historically accurate film ever made, Phantom Ship is beautifully shot. The set design makes you feel like you’re on a sailing ship, which grows creepier and more and more crewmen are picked off. There are also plenty of good old sea shanties too.
Of course, Phantom Ship isn’t perfect. It starts off a bit slow but quickly picks up speed after the first two deaths occur. The love triangle is cringeworthy and unnecessary (but I get it…it was a staple in movies at the time). There’s a fair bit of overacting too. The worst is Captain Briggs: he’s overly saccharine with Sarah, and hard and unfeeling when he’s yelling at his crew. It’s jarring, distracting, and annoying.
Interestingly, the British version of the movie is about 18 minutes longer. These additional scenes focus on the court hearing about the mystery. No copies are believed to have survived into the 21st century.
Overall, though, Phantom Ship is a very enjoyable movie. It’s a good psychological horror film that takes place on an isolated sailing ship at sea. Plus it has Bela Lugosi. So how can you really go wrong?