In December of 1872, a sailing ship called the Mary Celeste was found adrift and deserted in the Atlantic Ocean.  When the ship left New York in October, it had a captain and a full crew.  The captain’s wife was among the passengers sailing on the ship.  When the Mary Celeste was discovered, not only was no one on board but there was no evidence as to where everyone had gone or what caused them to abandon the ship in the first place.  The crew of the Mary Celeste appeared to have vanished into thin air and none of them were ever seen again.

As you might guess, this led to years of speculation about what happened.  Some people blamed pirates.  Some blamed food poisoning.  Some blamed ghosts and sea monsters.  More modern theorists have blamed UFOs.

First released in 1935 and originally entitled The Mystery of the Mary Celeste, Phantom Ship offers up a theory of its own.  It speculates about what happened during the final voyage of the Mary Celeste and why its crew vanished.  One of the members of the crew is played by Bela Lugosi.  Lugosi was still riding high from his starring role in Dracula when he starred in Phantom Ship and, playing a veteran sailor who appears to be a bit unstable, Lugosi gives an enjoyably over the top performance.  Admittedly, Phantom Ship has its slow spots and, at times, it threatens to get bogged down in a subplot about the love triangle involving the Captain, his wife, and the Captain’s best friend.  But Lugosi makes the film worth watching and, towards the end, there are some wonderfully atmospheric shots of the nearly deserted ship.

Along with being one Lugosi’s non-Dracula horror films, Phantom Ship is also well-known for being one of the first films to be produced by the British film company that would eventually become known as Hammer Pictures.

Enjoy!