THE GHOST SHIP (1943, Warner Archive):
This was the fifth film produced at RKO by Val Lewton after an impressive four-classic streak - CAT PEOPLE (1942), I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE (1943), THE LEOPARD MAN (1943), and THE SEVENTH VICTIM (1943) - and continues with the latter film's director, Mark Robson. Though it doesn't quite attain the level of those past accomplishments, this film conjures a mood all its own, alternating between the grounded emotions of people on dry land and the fears aroused by otherworldly mystery of the open sea.
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| Full speed ahead into mystery, with Richard Dix (right) as Captain Stone. |
When new naval academy graduate Tom Merriam (Russell Wade) joins the ship Altair as its new 3rd Officer, he is genially welcomed by the well-named Captain Will Stone (Richard Dix), whose gentlemanly courtesy at dry dock turns more cold and merciless as they head out to sea. There, Stone - who insists on a tight ship, a clean ship - revels in an authority he has accepted as his personal philosophy; he believes his command over the crew is justified because their security is entirely dependent upon him, his judgment. When a brash young crewman (an uncredited Lawrence Tierney) is horribly killed in what outwardly appears to have been an accident, Merriam finds himself in position to know that Captain Stone was responsible. At the next port, he leaves the ship and files an official complaint prompting a murder investigation at the next port; when the charge is dismissed by a maritime judge friendly to Stone, it is arranged that Merriam be subdued and brought back aboard where he finds himself at the Captain's mercy, as the frightened crew all look the other way.
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| Ship mate Skelton Knaggs. |
THE GHOST SHIP occupies a place in the great tradition of ominous stories set at sea, from the legend of the Flying Dutchman to Melville's MOBY DICK to such films as Michael Curtiz's THE SEA WOLF (1941, possibly a commercial impetus) and John Carpenter's THE FOG (1980). It could also be said that its unusual storyline reflects the tenor of its times. In 1943, the number of US Army and Navy personnel doubled over the previous year and many were now living at sea; meanwhile, those who remained behind saw paranoia spreading throughout the home front, fueled by war-endorsed propaganda, the wholesome, all-embracing symbol of Uncle Sam giving way to uglier expressions of governmental authority such as the recently founded House Un-American Activities Committee and Japanese interment camps.
The film belies its cash-grab title by eschewing any and all aspects of the Supernatural, finding quite enough to occupy its running time in exploring the outré mindsets of men who elect to spend their lives on the open sea, a voluntary society of men apart from the society of women. Our hero Merriam is sketchily delineated as a loner, someone who's never known a real home or a real friend, and he quickly warms and conforms to the camaraderie of the crew and the Captain who provides the Altair, his new home, with what initially sounds like a strong moral code, a reassuring center of gravity. The initially warm relationship between the Captain and his 3rd Officer eventually sours when their shared personal intimacy reaches a philosophic impasse, and it's only at this point that a female presence (or female option) finds its way into the story. She's a correspondent of Captain Stone played by the bird-like, neurotic-looking Edith Barrett, a veteran of I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE (and also the first Mrs. Vincent Price). When she mentions to Merriam the existence of a sister, she seems to be throwing her to him like a life preserver - and when he meets this sister at the end of the film, we are only shown her shadow on a crate, a mystery in female form defined just enough for us to accept her as whatever might be lacking in Merriam's life - someone warm and caring enough to counter his urge for going.
As with earlier Lewton films, there are a couple of classic set-pieces, including a marvelous PIT AND THE PENDULUM-like sequence as the crew attempt to secure a menacing swinging cargo hook that has come unmoored in a storm, and a crewman's awful fate while securing a heavy length of chain in one of the ship's holds. The cast brings back Sir Lancelot from I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE and the later THE CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE, as well as the ominous Ben Bard from THE SEVENTH VICTIM. It also plays host to a remarkable gathering of uncredited supporting players, including the aforementioned Tierney, Cliff Edwards (PINOCCHIO's Jimmy Cricket), Preston Sturges' favorite Dewey Robinson, Herb Vigran (familiar from several ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN episodes), and Skelton Knaggs (whose role as a mute, observing crew member has a distinct parallel to the mute asylum inmate in BEDLAM). However, the film is dominated by Dix's effective central portrayal, which becomes quite ogreish in the final third and led to his being hired by Columbia to head their new film franchise based on radio's popular mystery-suspense series THE WHISTLER. Owing to an unresolved copyright claim against the production, THE GHOST SHIP was quickly removed from circulation and never released to television; in fact it was withheld from public view for 50 years.
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| 3rd Officer Tom Merriam (Russell Wade) at the mercy of Captain Stone. |
Roy Webb's brooding score captures our interest from the very start, and what follows is splendidly photographed by Lewton series ace Nicholas Musuraca. Warner Archive's double feature Blu-ray (which pairs it with Robson's final Lewton production, BEDLAM, 1946) is a beauty, but of course it comes with certain consequences. While the 1080p presentation works wonders with textures, depth, and detail, it also reveals many rear-screen projection shots as exactly like what they are, which detracts from the semi-realism the film had when it was bootlegged in coarser 16mm transfers, while also enhancing its considerable achievement as a work of filmed theater.
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