User reviews

This Val Lewton produced film is not what one would likely expect from the title: a ghost story...so don't expect that going in. It isn't even really an Horror film per se although there are elements at work here which will prove horrific to many viewers. What it is instead is a seafaring adventure yarn about a Captain who's slowly going mad (and homicidal) due to his obsession with authority and only our heroic lead Tom Merriam, the 3rd Officer, seems to want to do anything about it. Everyone else seems to either not believe Merriam or dismisses what he tells them for fear of losing their jobs. Merriam however retains his values and ethics throughout the film even when they don't work out in his favor. While the film possesses the mood and style one expects from Lewton's films, the content and in some cases atmosphere is really not what one expects from the producer. Also events here do seem to wrap themselves up much too quickly. Still all in all there's enough good stuff here that this film is definitely worth seeking out.

Tom Merriam is a third mate on the Altair, a cargo ship headed by Captain Stone, who Merriam looks to as a father figure, since Stone has the experience and the full loyalty of the crew. Merriam's opinion of his commanding officer is changed after a series of events (including the death of a mate due the captain's interference) and Merriam believes that Stone is unfit to command the ship. A hearing at the ship's port has the crew and line agent side with Stone, and Merriam is relieved of his duties as third mate. While on shore, Merriam is knocked out for trying to stop a fight, and is put back on the Altair much to his and Stone's disapproval. Stone says Merriam is now a guest on the ship, but the crew shuns him and Merriam believes that Stone is going totally insane and plans to kill Merriam, who now has to find someone to believe him before its too late. Underrated (and for a long time, unseen) classic from the Lewton-RKO 9, with above average script, camera-work, cinematography, but highlighted by probably Dix's best performance as Stone, as a man who is insane try to fool himself and those around him by acting normal. Excellent moments of suspense (especially for me when Merriam notices the lock missing from his door) make this a film one to get a hold of. Rating, 8.

The title of this film is misleading as it implies a ghost story.....but of course, it isn't. In fact it isn't even a horror film in the general sense. It is more a psychological thriller, surrounding the personality of the ship's captain, played by that old war horse, Richard Dix. And he does a terrific job of letting the viewer glimpse the madness beneath his controlled exterior. His byword is "authority" and he goes to unbelievable lengths to assert that authority.

Russell Wade, with whom I am unfamiliar, plays the Third Officer, who sees through the captain in short order and vainly attempts to convince the crew of Dix's insanity......but to no avail. The only person who is aware of the problem is a mute played by probably one of the most unattractive and busiest character players in Hollywood, Skelton Knaggs and he becomes somewhat of a hero in the final few minutes of the film. Edith Barrett, who was used by Lewton in other films, makes a limited appearance as the captain's inamorata. Look for Lawrence Tierney, future Hollywood bad boy, as a target of the captain's revenge.

Val Lewton was the master of atmospheric films made on a limited budget and he doesn't miss with this one. It's a dandy!!

Tom Merriam takes a job as the Third Officer on the cargo ship The Altair. Despite a strange interaction with a blind man in port, things look good for Tom as the ship appears good and the Captain is amiable enough. Finding that his bed is still a mess from when the last Third died there is a little disturbing but he gets past it and begins to work. When the Captain puts lives at risk rather than be seen to have his authority questioned by Merriam, Tom starts to worry that the Captain is living within his own head too much – a worry reinforced when more men and put at risk and deaths are caused; but how can he change things? Apparently commissioned because RKO had an expensive ship set knocking around that they wanted to get more use out of, this film is surprisingly enjoyable and works because it tries to shun melodrama and be something much more interesting. This is not to say it totally does this, because it doesn't, but it does have plenty of good things about it. The story is fairly standard in appearance but the Captain's "madness" is convincing and realistic – he is not a gibbering loon but rather a man who appears to have lost touch with reality thanks to a lonely and sad life to date. Within this story the script develops the characters well so that they rise above being the stock figures of b-movie fare. With a low key story, the production still really goes for it on atmosphere and produces an air of foreboding and menace that is present from the very start. Shadows are well used, fog drifts over the decks and the music is constantly moving darkly in the background – menacing without ever being overused or overbearing.

The cast do very well with this product. Wade was surprisingly good in the lead and it made me wonder why I have never knowingly seen him in anything else. He was a pretty regular guy and came off natural rather than being the square-jawed hero that is often the norm. He plays second fiddle to Dix though, who sets up a strangely friendly character who convincingly moves into a sort of madness that is convincing. He avoids being a monster and naturally questions himself while also producing a character that we feel for – Dix is not just a "baddie" to Wade's "goodie". Barrett is so-so but the film didn't need her and her scene slows the film by taking it off the ship albeit briefly. Support is good from Glover, Overall an enjoyable film that produces the goods on many levels and is much better than I thought it was going to be. The plot seems simple but the writing respect the audience and makes the story more interesting than the usual goodie/baddie fare. The atmospheric and tense production only helps to produce a punchy, mysterious film that is well worth seeing even if the ending needed to be a bit stronger and darker but this is a minor flaw.

This was pretty good entry in the Val Lewton Horror Collection, even though it's anything but "horror." This film is a straight drama, almost a film noir about a paranoid sea captain (Richard Dix) who eliminates anyone who disagrees with his "authority," a key word in this movie.

Russell Wade is the captain's protégé, and the story really centers around him and the conflict he has with his boss after he begins to find out what a violent nutcase he happens to be. Along the way, it was noteworthy to see Lawrence Tierney play one of the captain's victims.

Also good was Jacob "Sparks" Winslow as the ship's radio operator. This is an involving film as we root for Wade to expose this captain and to convince others that the man with the "authority" is an evil person.

The picture deals with Tom (Russell Wade), a third officer who embarks on the ship Altair under command the stiff Captain Stone (Richard Dix) . Strange deaths of crew seamen originate confrontation among different personalities : a distrustful officer and a tough captain obsessed with authority .

Tension and suspense are continued and appear menacing and lurking in cabins , stairs , docks and pier . The movie has the expressionist Germanic atmosphere ; besides , being reflected in the captain's bizarre and quirky interpretation . Cinematographer Nicholas Musuruca (Cat people and Stranger on third floor) creates a magnificent camera-work , along with John Alton are the essential artificers of Noir cinema atmosphere . Cinematography is excellent , dark and lights are originating eerie and creepy scenarios . The film is produced by RKO (Radio Picture Inc.) and by Val Lewton , the great producer of horror classics (Cat people , Leopard man , I walked with a zombie) ; plus , he produced for director Mark Robson various movies (Bedlan , Isle of the dead and Seventh victim) in similar conditions . Habitual RKO musician , Roy Webb , composes an atmospheric score with the usual musical director Bakaleinikoff . Good production design in charge of Albert D'Agostino . RKO had built an expensive ship set for their 1938 production Pacific Liner (1939) , Val Lewton was given instructions to come up with a film that could use the still existing set . The motion picture well well directed by Mark Robson . The picture will appeal to classic cinema buffs.

"The Ghost Ship" has Russell Wade as a naval captain, Tom, who boards a ship in San Pedro, only to find that something seems odd about the captain, Will Stone. Strange occurrences plague his time on the sea, and soon Tom becomes convinced that the captain is a homicidal maniac who has the entire crew under his thumb.

This downbeat and tightly-written psychological thriller was Mark Robson's second collaboration with producer Val Lewton, the first being the phenomenal Satanic horror noir "The Seventh Victim". This film feels lighter in tone than the former and packs a bit less of a punch— it is free from the nihilistic streak of "The Seventh Victim," though it still implements a fair amount of commentary on matters such as the nature of authority and questions about power. The more philosophical bits of dialogue feel somewhat hokey, though they are relatively few and far between.

Looked at from a contemporary standpoint, it's a film that may have been ahead of its time, as it stands as an early example of the "paranoid protagonist" trope, in which the audience comes to question the reliability of the character's potentially unfounded fears about a person or place. As Tom's fears of the captain and his wielding of power grow, the reliability of his perspective is called into question; Robson screenwriter Donald Clarke play up this tension magnificently. Wade is a solid sympathetic protagonist, while Richard Dix is fittingly aloof. The dialogue between the two ranges from somewhat weak to fantastic, but in general, they play off one another nicely.

The film has a thrilling, unexpectedly violent and grim finale, which punctuates what is overall a mellow psychological drama. Overall, "The Ghost Ship" is a modest but well-made thriller; while it's not one of Lewton's greatest collaborations, it's a claustrophobic, fine film that is lifted up by atmospheric set pieces, some very nicely-orchestrate scenes, and a consistent feeling of unrelenting paranoia. 7/10.

Talk about atmospheric thriller, Val Lewton with a fairly unknown cast and a leading man whose box office days are behind him came up with a gem of a thriller at sea. The Ghost Ship stars Richard Dix as the captain of the freighter Altair and Russell Wade as his eager new third officer who sees some distinct flaws in the man whom he admired and was eager to serve under.

On his first voyage some deaths among the crew start Wade thinking, but his doubts are resolved when Nick Stuart a happy go lucky Greek is killed when he's locked in an anchor chain room. It could only be deliberate and it could only be Dix.

The Ghost Ship is a combination of Eugene O'Neill and Edgar Allan Poe in its conception. The camaraderie and dialog among the crew is like something out of The Long Voyage Home. The sea is a great equalizer in the crew. The captain may be Lord and Master, but in the crew all are equal. Note the part played by black actor Sir Lancelot which is a rarity of Hollywood at the time. He's from Trinidad and he's an equal in this company. Very rare for 1943.

But Dix has let the whole Lord and Master thing goes to his head. Quite clear in his scenes with Wade as Wade starts to suspect. The rest of the crew, dare not even if they think it in the deepest parts of their souls. Mutiny is a hanging offense..

Wonderful atmosphere, great performances as Val Lewton gets the most out of the limited budgets he had.

I had never heard of this Val Lewton production till it recently showed up on television. Yet, as directed by Mark Robson, it is one of Lewton's very best.

Russell Wade as the young sailor who is menaced by mentally off-balance captain Richard Dix is handsome and very persuasive. What happened to this actor? I had never heard of him before, either.

The movie has a marvelously eerie, foreboding quality that is maintained throughout, from the blind soothsayer we see before Tom Merriam (Wade) boards the ship, through the sea chanteys, Caribbean songs, the heroic mute sailor.

I generally shy away from all-male casts but in this case, the claustrophobic nature of the plot would have been maintained better had it not been "opened out," albeit briefly, with the scene onshore involving the third billed admirer of Dix.

(Her friend, whom we see greeting Wade at the end in silhouette, is a plot device to imply a happy ending. This is OK because the damage to our nerves has already been done. Dix has already had several of his crew killed and has almost succeeded in doing away with Wade.)

Director Mark Robson and producer Val Lewton team up one more time for this interesting film that surprisingly has nothing at all to do with ghosts or any other supernatural phenomena. Russel Wade takes his new officer position aboard a boat under the control of Captain Richard Dix. Dix outwardly seems gentle and benign but slowly dissipates into a mad man obsessed with his control aboard the ship. Obsessed to the point of killing. Though not what you might initially expect, this film is very effectively done. Wade and Dix both do splendid jobs assaying their respective roles. Dix in particular shows depth of character that manages to not seem one-dimensional. The life on the ship seems very real, and we the audience are lassoed into the trip that begins peaceful and ends in a tempest of turmoil. Robson, under Lewton's watchful eyes, creates suspense and tension while using virtually no budget and little action. There are some obvious corollaries made to Moby Dick. The blind soothsayer at the beginning of the journey foretelling doom ahead for the voyage. The young, new man with little real-life experience as the protagonist, and a captain bent on chasing his own white whale - his meaningless existence on the big sea as he clutches for the only thing within his grasp. A fine, thoughtful examination of life at sea when office politics turn bad.

Perhaps not as mesmerizing as "Cat People" or as disturbing as "The Body Snatcher", but this still definitely is a genuinely creepy golden oldie horror gem like only the great Val Lewton could produce them back in the 1940's. This dark and atmospheric chiller takes us aboard a giant ship in order to examine the mysterious deaths of several crew members. They all seem like unfortunate accidents, but pretty soon the young and ambitious officer Tom Merriam suspects that Captain Will Stone abuses his power in order to get rid of rebellious personnel. The film is terrifically cut in half when the ship sets ashore and Merriam prosecutes the influential and highly respected captain. From then on, the nemesis between the two is frighteningly illustrated and a drama on-board the ship seems inevitable. Richard Dix is outstanding as the tormented Captain Will Stone! He looks naturally eerie and definitely not man to argue with. The black and white photography is stunning and the constantly sung sailor-song will remain stuck in your head, even long after you finished watching the movie. The Val Lewton horror of course isn't very explicit (considering the time and budget) but this movie does contain at least one truly unsettling sequence; when a giant chain crushes a crew member. My advise is to watch this classic as soon as you can, if it were only for the ultra-eerie mute in the supportive cast!

The rarest of the Val Lewton horror films. Exceptional chiller about a much beloved Sea Captain (Richard Dix) slowly going mad. What makes the film stand out are a few key scenes- an anchor blindly swings above the deck, crushing portions of the boat while frightened sailors try to stop it- Dix locking a man in a room sized container for the anchor chain- Dix and a very unlikely hero having a bloody knife fight in the dark while unsuspecting sailors play Calypso music not far away. Not up there with Lewton's "Cat People", or "Seventh Victim", but a good horror classic nevertheless.

Efficient little RKO suspense B, with Val Lewton producing and loads of fog, has third mate Russell Wade discovering that Captain Richard Dix is nuts and murderous, and can't convince any of his fellow crew of that. A young Mark Robson directs carefully, building the suspense slowly and efficiently, and one does spend a lot of the movie wondering what new threat is around the corner on deck. Dix is fine, declaiming some man-and-superman philosophy that must have resonated in wartime and still does, and Wade has an everyman appeal that makes us sympathize with his plight. It's over rather abruptly, and the happy-ish ending isn't altogether convincing, but if you want to see what a well-produced, atmospheric B looked like in 1943, here's an excellent example.

An appropriately dark and atmospheric piece of psychological horror, it has some interesting philosophies and a sense of the foreboding throughout, making it a rather intriguing watch. The plot is quite simple though, and there is not much in the way of characters either, with an odd selection of narrator - one who provides eerie but ultimately meaningless narration. The film is also concluded too speedily, without satisfying wrapping everything up. Still, it is rather fascinating viewing, and for the most part quite good - there is a fair amount of interesting elements. Richard Dix, at the very least, plays his character brilliantly.

The Ghost Ship was put together because RKO pictures wanted another film to be made using the existing sets from their earlier film, Pacific Liner. This shows somewhat, as the film has something of a rushed and unfinished feel to it; but there's nobody better than Val Lewton for the task of putting together an eerie thriller, and considering the reasons why this was made; he hasn't done a bad job at all. The film isn't up there with his best work - films such as Cat People, I Walked With a Zombie and The Body Snatcher - but I still rate this as a successful production credit for the man, and as an eerie sea bound thriller; it definitely works. The plot is simple (probably as a result of the reason that the film was made) and it follows a ship whose third mate suspects that the captain may be the one murdering the crew, some members of which have been dying under mysterious circumstances. We then follow a familiar psychological drama formula, which is fleshed out by some set pieces typical of Lewton's films.

The atmosphere, as usual with Lewton, is right on cue and makes up the backbone of the movie. The smoky setting compliments the isolation of being at sea nicely, and the film always seems interesting and foreboding for this reason. The story is weak and somewhat dull for the first half hour of the movie - and this is somewhat due to the lack in atmosphere. The first half does treat us to the film's best set-piece - a man being crushed by a huge chain (no less!) - but you'll have to wait until the second half before the movie really picks up. As you would expect from Lewton, the film is never gratuitous, but during the second half the story starts to pick up, and as the tension mounts, director Mark Robson allows the film to reach it's climatic conclusion. Mark Robson isn't the best director that Lewton worked with - and all of his movies have been lesser entries in the great producer's list of film credits, but he knows what he's doing and this is another decent film from him. On the whole - you'll probably want to see the Jacques Tourneur collaborations, along with The Body Snatcher first - but after you've seen those, this is a good place to go next.

Plenty of briny mayhem aboard this devil ship, but no ghosts. Young Russell Wade signs aboard straight out of Seaman's school and strange Captain Richard Dix immediately sets himself as Wade's mentor. The Captain has some very odd ideas regarding authority on the high seas. It's a sort of a programmer Billy Budd and owes a wave or two to Herman Melville. Very ship-shape thriller with Val Lewton psychological touches and well directed by Mark Robson. Dix plays his deteriorating officer with a chilling calm and even garners our sympathy for a man crushing under more responsibility and authority than he can handle. He is at the end of his career here and was never better. When violence erupts in this movie it's earned and there is a well-done close quarter knife fight at the end.

Tasked by RKO Studios to take advantage of a previously existing set, producer Val Lewton came up with this pensive, interesting mood piece & character study, set on a ship. The Altair is commandeered by a captain named Will Stone (Richard Dix). Stone has just hired a young Third Officer, Tom Merriam (Russell Wade), and at first they have a good father-son type relationship going on. But Stone continuously shows signs of instability to the young man, who comes to believe his captain - who fixates on the idea of "authority" - is capable of murder.

While not quite as thickly atmospheric as the best Lewton productions, this is a deliberately paced, fairly spooky little gem. Key to its success is its memorable central character, and performance by Dix. There are scenes where he is humanized and you can take some pity on him. It's easy to see that he's a lonely man who lives only for command. Wade also makes his role sympathetic, and the battle of wills between these two men is effective. All of the men on the crew stand behind their captain and don't want to believe the worst about him, so for a while Tom seems to be all on his own.

Extremely moody black & white cinematography by Nicholas Musuraca is a heavy asset, and the final third contains some palpable suspense. The film also benefits from efficient direction by Mark Robson, and an intriguing, seemingly minor character named Finn. Played by sharp featured character actor Skelton Knaggs, he's a mute, so he says nothing...but he observes a lot. The supporting cast is all fine: Edith Barrett in the only substantial female presence, as a woman who tries to understand Stone, Ben Bard as the first officer, and the highly engaging Edmund Glover as Sparks, the radio man. Alec Craig, Boyd Davis, Sir Lancelot, and Dewey Robinson are solid in uncredited roles, as is a young Lawrence Tierney as ill fated seaman Louie Parker.

The conclusion IS a little abrupt, but it does little to diminish the impact of this film.

Eight out of 10.

Lesser-known Val Lewton film is engrossing, suspenseful story about a young man (Russell Wade) that signs up with a merchant ship whose obsessive captain (Richard Dix) may be going crazy. Fifth Lewton film at RKO is not quite a horror film but instead a psychological thriller. Despite not being a horror film or having any supernatural elements, it still has lots of spooky scenes and shadowy atmosphere. It also has Lewton's trademark plot ambiguity, this time surrounding the captain's intentions throughout the story. The first half of the film nicely builds up to the tense second half. Great performances by Wade and especially Dix. Quite possibly my favorite Richard Dix role. Also a memorably creepy performance by Skelton Knaggs as a mute. This is a very underrated film. Well directed by Mark Robson with fine performances all around. Definitely check it out.