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The Ghost Ship

USA 1943
produced by
Val Lewton for RKO
directed by Mark Robson
starring Richard Dix, Russell Wade, Edith Barrett, Ben Bard, Edmund Glover, Skelton Knaggs, Lawrence Tierney, Sir Lancelot, Robert Bice, Boyd Davis, Tom Burton, Harry Clay, Alec Craig, George DeNormand, Charles Lung, Paul Marion, Eddie Borden, John Burford, Cliff Edwards, Mike Lally, Nolan Leary, Norman Mayes, Charles Norton, Shirley O'Hara, Russell Owen, Charles Regan, Dewey Robinson, Robert R. Stephenson, Herb Vigran, Steve Winston
story by Leo Mittler, screenplay by Donald Henderson Clarke, music by Roy Webb

review by
Mike Haberfelner

Available on DVD!

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The Altair is third officer Tom Merriam's (Russell Wade) first ship, and initially all seems to go very well, the captain, Stone (Richard Dix), seems to be a nice man, the radioman Sparks (Edmund Glover) becomes a good friend quickly, and even the crew isn't too unruly and professional enough. However, after some days, Merriam's admiration for Captain Stone starts to crumble, first when he refuses to have a hook secured, even if it endangers both ship and crew dangling about, then when he can't muster up the courage to perform emergency surgery on a crewmember's appendix and Merriam has to step in. And both times, the captain's excuses have to do with his absolute authority on sea. Things really go downhill when a crewmember (Lawrence Tierney) complains to the captain and only hours later dies in a freak accident. Merriam is sure the captain has killed the crewmember (and he's right but only we the audience know that) and brings the case to unofficial trial at the next port - but all the crew back the captain, accepting him as their person of authority. After this defeat, Merriam decides to quit his post and leave the ship - but by a freak coincidence, he finds himself on ship on the high sea the very next day. When he talks to the captain about it, the captain tells him he's his guest out of mere generosity - but between the lines, something much more sinister shines through which is only augmented by the fact that the lock is removed from Merriam's cabin. Merriam tries to turn to the crew, but nobody wants to have anything to do with him, not even Sparks ... until the captain orders Sparks to write a telegram claiming that Merriam's not on board. Sparks puts two and two together and tells Merriam - but then Sparks goes overboard, and with him out of the way, what would stop the captain from murdering Merriam? That is, the captain's message that Merriam's not on board makes the rounds among the crew, and they, too, put two and two together ...

 

The premise of this movie sure is interesting, and it sure is moody enough in all the right places - but somehow, until late in the story, it fails to build up proper tension. Basically it just spends too much time on the build-up without really driving the story in the process. Apart from that, the narration (by mute crewmember Skelton Knaggs) comes across as rather hokey, and the a bit too happy ending is just too much. All that said, this is certainly not a bad film, it's just occasionally lacking but has its effective scenes throughout.

 

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review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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In times of uncertainty of a possible zombie outbreak, a woman has to decide between two men - only one of them's one of the undead.

 

There's No Such Thing as Zombies
starring
Luana Ribeira, Rudy Barrow and Rami Hilmi
special appearances by
Debra Lamb and Lynn Lowry

 

directed by
Eddie Bammeke

written by
Michael Haberfelner

produced by
Michael Haberfelner, Luana Ribeira and Eddie Bammeke

 

now streaming at

Amazon

Amazon UK

Vimeo

 

 

 

Robots and rats,
demons and potholes,
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love and death and everything in between,
Tales to Chill
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Tales to Chill
Your Bones to
-
a collection of short stories and mini-plays
ranging from the horrific to the darkly humourous,
from the post-apocalyptic
to the weirdly romantic,
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screenwriter and film reviewer
Michael Haberfelner.

 

Tales to Chill
Your Bones to

the new anthology by
Michael Haberfelner

 

Out now from
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