The Ghost Ship

The Ghost Ship

The Ghost Ship is a 1943 American black-and-white psychological thriller film, with elements of mystery and horror, directed by Mark Robson, starring Richard Dix and featuring Russell Wade, Edith Barrett, Ben Bard and Edmund Glover, along with Skelton Knaggs. It was produced by Val Lewton for RKO Radio Pictures as part of a series of low-budget horror films. The film can be seen as a "low-key psychological thriller", a "suspense drama", and a "waterlogged melodrama". The film is about a young merchant marine officer who begins to suspect that his ship's captain is mentally unbalanced and endangering the lives of the ship's crew. The ship's crew, however, believes the vessel to be haunted and cursed and several mysterious deaths occur. Upon its theatrical release on Christmas Eve, 1943, the film was a box office success but received a mixed critical reception. However, in February 1944, Lewton was sued for plagiarism by playwrights Samuel R. Golding and Norbert Faulkner, who claimed that the script was based on a play that was submitted to Lewton for a possible film. Because of the suit, The Ghost Ship was withdrawn from theatrical release and not shown for nearly 50 years. It was not until the film's copyright was not renewed and it entered the public domain in the 1990s, that it began to be available again, and was released as part of the Val Lewton Horror Collection DVD set in 2005. The film, with its predominantly male cast, has been argued by several film critics to have homosexual undertones.

Production: RKO Radio Pictures
  2 nominations.
 
IMDB:
6.7
Rotten Tomatoes:
71%
APPROVED
Year:
1943
69
617 Views

Captain Will Stone:
[He's just caught Merriam getting into the arsenal locker; he pulls his revolver on him] Hold it! Move, and you'll get a bullet through the abdomen. Not a pleasant or quick death, either. Perhaps you've never seen a man die that way? But I want you to live! I want you to learn the great lesson that I thought I'd taught you: authority *cannot* be questioned!

3rd Officer Tom Merriam:
That's crazy talk.

Captain Will Stone:
Well, I've never felt more sane in my life than I do at this moment... Who's crazy? You, who defied me and are helpless? Or I, who control your destiny and the destiny of the 'Altair' and all the lives on board?

3rd Officer Tom Merriam:
I wish Bowns... I wish the crew could see what I see now, could hear you talk.

Captain Will Stone:
You think I'm insane?

3rd Officer Tom Merriam:
Yes, and they would too if they could see you now, raving and ranting...

Captain Will Stone:
I'm captain. As long as I wear these stripes there isn't a man in the crew that'll believe you or help you. You'll find them too lazy, too cowardly, too disinterested... That's what I want you to learn, Merriam! Men are worthless cattle! And a few men are given authority to drive them.

3rd Officer Tom Merriam:
You can't prove that to me, even with a gun, Captain. I know people aren't that way. They're good, kind. They help each other. It's only hard to get them to understand.

Captain Will Stone:
I'll give you a chance to make them understand. You go out there. Go any place you want on board ship. Talk to them. SEE if you can get them to help you. SEE if they'll stand up with you against authority. Even your friend Sparks won't help you. Go ahead, get out! TRY and get help against me! Try! Try! Try!


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