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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
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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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