Product Details

• Actors: Bela Lugosi, Shirley Grey, Arthur Margetson, Edmund Willard, Dennis Hoey
• Directors: Denison Clift
• Format: Black & White, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: Unrated
• Studio: Image Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: May 28, 2002
• Run Time: 62 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0000648Y8
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #115,231 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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• For more information about "Phantom Ship" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

From the Actor

Denison Clift was a story writer, novelist and playwright before he entered the film industry in 1918. After writing the screenplay for William S. Hart’s Wolves of the Rail, he spent a period of time as a contract writer for Fox Studios and then got into direction himself. He made a mark with feature films like Demos (1921) and The Love of Mary, Queen of Scots (1923). PHANTOM SHIP/The Mystery of the Mary Celeste (1935) was a daunting and hugely successful undertaking starring the famous Bela Lugosi, and earned him widespread recognition. He continued to work as a freelance screenwriter, this always having been his primary passion and forte.

THE PLOT: The American ship Mary Celeste’ was found drifting in the middle of the Atlantic on December 5, 1872, abandoned and derelict. In this reconstruction from the records of the Attorney General at Gibraltar, the story starts at New York Harbor in 1872, where Captain Benjamin Briggs (Arthur Margetson) is hard pressed to find a crew for the ‘Mary Celeste’. The ship has a reputation for being jinxed. However, he intends to sail at all costs, for he intends to marry the exquisite Sarah Briggs (Shirley Grey) on high seas. Captain Morehead (Clifford McLaglen) has already asked for her hand, and is willing to make a considerable sacrifice for her, but he loses out to the headstrong Briggs. On the dock, the drunken, one-armed sailor Anton Lorenzen (Bela Lugosi) arrives at Simpson’s Bar, aged years beyond his time after a mishap at sea. When Capt. Briggs talks the local loan shark into shanghaiing a crew for him, he manages to lure Lorenzen into signing up with the promise of unlimited booze. But Capt. Briggs is still one man short, and approaches Morehead. Bent on revenge for being cheated out of his love, Morehead plants a saboteur on board. With an unwilling crew on board, the deck is set for disaster.

Product Description

The mystery of the half-brig Mary Celeste is a true and tragic tale of the sea. She sailed from New York with a crew of eight on November 5, 1872. A month and a day later, the ship was found under full sail without a person aboard. The lifeboat and some navigational instruments were gone but the provisions and all the crew's belongings were still in place. The ship's log offered no explanation. No trace of the captain and his family or the crew was ever found. "Phantom Ship," the American edition of the British 1935 Hammer horror film "Mystery of the Mary Celeste," offers a cinematic telling of this famous seafaring riddle starring "Dracula's" Bela Lugosi as seaman Anton Lorenzen, a religious zealot who may just be the key to this mystery.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A bit dry, but has good Lugosi role..., June 4, 2002

By	Mark Savary "moon_city" (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Like most movies about real life events, this one is also worthless as history. The film tells the more sensational version of events theorized to have occurred aboard the famous sailing vessel, Mary Celeste, found in the middle of the Atlantic under full sail with no one aboard.

Captain Briggs gathers a crew for the trip to England, but not before stealing his best friend's girl and marrying her. With a crew and his new wife aboard, the ship departs New York. Once out at sea, the cruelty of a seaman's life becomes obvious to the new bride, who quickly chooses to stay below deck most of the time. About half-way through the movie, the crew begins getting bumped off one by one, until the mystery of the Mary Celeste becomes legend.

The original British film ran about 80 minutes, some of which was taken up with a courtroom inquiry into the mystery. Those parts are missing from this, the American version, and the footage is assumed to be lost. It was felt that American audiences in 1935 would either not understand or care about the inquiry angle, so these scenes were excised. Clocking in at 62 minutes, "Phantom Ship" seems somewhat strangely tedious despite the cuts. The dialogue and acting are remarkable only in their lifelessness and lack of believability.

However, the movie is still worth a looksee by Lugosi fans. Lugosi offers us a dramatic performance rather than his usual horror genre type of character. He does an admirable job playing the broken shell of a man who lusts for revenge. His performance (especially towards the end of the film), really sells his act.

Edmund Willard plays Toby Bilson, first mate of the ship. He comes off very well as the menacing bully of the deck, seemingly intent on crushing any element of joy the crew may have in their drab lives of toil. Of all the cast, he and Lugosi are just about the only ones that stand out.

Doubling for the Mary Celeste is a British sailing ship used in World War I to hunt down German subs. Shooting parts of the film aboard an actual sailing ship lends some documentary-style assistance to this otherwise dry film.

The transfer is pretty good, and probably the best that could have been made given the age of the film. The transfer reportedly came straight from the original nitrate film elements of the American version.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An incredible dramatic performance by Bela Lugosi, January 21, 2003

By	Daniel Jolley "darkgenius" (Shelby, North Carolina USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

In 1872, the Marie Celeste sailed its way (at full sail) into history when its crew vanished at sea without a trace. The Phantom Ship is a speculative motion picture offering up one solution to the mystery. Filmed in Britain in 1935 (with the original title The Mystery of the Mary Celeste), this movie eased its transition to America (in a slightly condensed form, foregoing the final scenes dealing with early inquiries into the mystery) by including one Bela Lugosi on its cast list. I have to say that Lugosi delivers a remarkable performance in the role of Anton Lorenzen, a down and out sailor with a mysterious yet obviously painful connection to the Mary Celeste. Lorenzen was shanghaied onto a ship in his youth, and the unwanted sea experience he suffered has cost him an arm, turned his hair white, and aged him prematurely. A broken man, penniless, he agrees to join a rag-tag ship's crew being thrown together at the last minute for the Mary Celeste. The ship's captain, Benjamin Briggs brings his newlywed wife on board for the voyage, his love for her having just made his best friend a bitter enemy. At first, the voyage goes smoothly; the sailors fight, sing songs, work, and complain like any normal crew. Then someone tries to attack the captain and is killed; another man dies in the midst of a hurricane; one man is killed after attacking Briggs' young wife. One by one, the entire crew is either killed or disappears.

Lugosi really got to show a great deal of dramatic depth in this movie, something that was often denied him in his American films. He really looks the part of an old, broken man despite this movie being made only four years after he brought Dracula to life. Two scenes stand out from the rest. In the first one, Lugosi betrays a wealth of deep, conflicting emotions in reaction to what he has just done; no one can watch this and come away saying Lugosi was not a seriously talented dramatic actor. The second incredible scene has Lugosi soundlessly carrying the movie by himself for several emotional minutes, relying on intensely communicative facial expressions and body language to keep the viewer enthralled.

The Phantom Ship is blessed with great acting, and it makes for a captivating, albeit rather short, movie experience. The historic plot, one which most viewers may already be somewhat familiar with, serves to pull the viewer even further in to what would be a mesmerizing film in and of itself. I would call this a very special prize for Lugosi fans. This is not exactly horror as I define it, yet Lugosi easily outshines every other cast member, supplying the heart and soul that makes this movie so memorable. This is a dramatic performance that all Lugosi fans will definitely want to add to their collections.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It Was The One-Armed Man..., November 1, 2004

By	Bindy Sue Frønkünschtein "bigfootsalienbaby" (under the rubble) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

THE PHANTOM SHIP (the Mary Celeste) sets sail with a full crew, including the captain, first mate, the captain's new bride, and a motley bunch of sea dogs. Along for the trip is Anton (Bela Lugosi), a one-armed man with a terrible connection to both the ship and her legend. Anton is an ancestor of modern day serial killers. He's bitter, crazy, and extremely dangerous. Bela pulls off the role to perfection, making Anton a bubbling volcano, erupting only when the time is right. He is the master killer, exacting his revenge with stealth and patience. The true horror of this movie is in Bela's portrayal of a man who knows he can take his time with his captive prey. He also shows a great deal of character depth, tossed about by the demons that plague his mind. The rest of the characters are just victims awaiting their doom. Watch Lugosi work his dark magic! I recommend watching it twice in a row. First to see the film, then to watch Lugosi himself. Without him, this would be a 2-3 star movie at best...