THE GHOST SHIP (1943)

It's October again, and time for a month of horror, sci-fi, fantasy, and mystery. This Val Lewton B-thriller is usually lumped in with the horror films he did for RKO (CAT PEOPLE, I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE, etc.), but except for its foggy, gloomy atmosphere, it doesn't really belong in that category. If you adjust your expectations from horror to psychological thriller, you may find this enjoyable. Russell Wade, young and inexperienced, joins the crew of the Altair as 3rd officer to the middle-aged captain, Richard Dix. There are immediate omens of bad luck: Wade learns that his predecessor died of mysterious convulsions in his cabin, and a crew member is found dead (apparently of a heart attack) just before they leave port. Wade soon discovers that behind Dix's calm exterior lies a lonely person who feels it is his lot in life to remain isolated from others. Dix also has a thing for authority and can mete out sadistic punishment when he thinks it's needed. One crew member (Lawrence Tierney, later a star of many hardboiled B-noirs) dies in an apparent accident, crushed by the ship's anchor chain, though Wade suspects that Dix was responsible (because Tierney questioned the captain's authority). On shore, Wade brings charges against Dix but they don't stick and when the Altair leaves, Wade is kept a virtual prisoner by Dix. Things come to a boil in a graphic knife fight involving Dix and a mute sailor (whose voice-over thoughts have functioned like a Greek chorus throughout). Like the other Lewton/RKO movies, its budgetary shortcomings are obvious but interesting style and atmosphere (lots of well-placed shadows and fog) help; a scene involving a gigantic and deadly anchor hook that swings wildly about the deck one rough night is especially well done. Wade is fine, though Dix, toward the end of his career, is rather boringly one-note. Edmund Glover gives stand-out support as an intellectual who sides with Wade (for a while). Calypso singer Sir Lancelot, who sang throughout I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE, gets in a few sea chanteys along the way. Directed by Mark Robson, who did several other Lewton B's. This movie was out of commission for almost 50 years due to legal entanglements, and therefore has a strong reputation, which it doesn't completely live up to. [Laserdisc]