Ghost Ship (1953)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

the audience applauded

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Ghost Ship (1952) ** 1/2 (out of 4) This forgotten British "B" picture isn't the greatest film out there but it's unique enough to make it worth viewing by those who enjoy stories dealing with ghosts. Guy and Margaret Thornton (Dermot Walsh, Hazel Court) buy an old ship that has the reputation of being haunted because years earlier three people went missing aboard it. The duo don't pay any attention to the stories until one day the husband actually sees the spirit of a man and soon they call in a paranormal expert. GHOST SHIP has pretty much been forgotten by everyone over the last several decades except for fans of Court who will search out everything the cult actress has appeared in. While the movie isn't a complete success it does feature enough interesting moments and a rather nice story to make it worth viewing. With that said, there are still some major problems in the film including one very big one. The film runs just 71-minutes but it actually feels a tad bit longer due to some pacing issues. I think part of the problem could have been avoided how two very bad scenes been left on the cutting room floor. One sequence involves a party on the boat where we get a rather long sequence dealing with a drunk. I'm going to guess this was meant to be comic relief but it's just really bad. Another horrible sequence is when the couple invite the paranormal expert on the boat and we get a long sequence where the man tries to explain various "sounds" that we can't hear. I believe this entire sequence is meant to make the viewer believe in ghosts but I think this could have been achieved in a much better way. I do think the best thing going for its film is the actual backstory to the hauntings. Early on we get a sequence showing the court hearings, which explain what happened to the ship and how it was discovered after being thought to have sunk. Another sequence happens at the end when we learn what actually took place on the ship and the twist in the story is actually pretty effective. Another major plus is that both Walsh and Court are very good in their parts as they're easy to believe and both are effective. The actual hauntings in the picture are kept quite low and I will admit that the first time we see the ghost it's rather unspectacular and it really doesn't stand out. However, it almost seems as if director Vernon Sewell has no intention on building up any type of atmosphere instead it seems as if he just wants to tell a good story, get it on the screen and do very little else. GHOST SHIP isn't a masterpiece and it's easy to see why it has been forgotten but fans of the genre should enjoy it.

Dermot Walsh and Hazel Court decide to buy a 40 year old yacht. The salesman tries to talk them out of the purchase. He tells them a tale of how the locals believe the ship to be haunted. They get a laugh out of the story and buy the ship anyway. The two restore the boat and have a big party to celebrate. They take the yacht out for a short cruise. When they return to port, the engine room man swears he has seen a ghost and quits. The next engineer also quits after seeing the same ghost. Somewhat at a loss at what to do they call in a medium. They have a séance and the medium explains the reason for the haunting. The previous owner had shot and killed his wife and lover. He had then hid the bodies below the decks next to the outside hull. A somewhat effective thriller that starts out and finishes well. The middle does drag a bit, but for a low budget film it passes the time well enough. Always nice to Hazel Court in any sort of film.

A young couple (Dermot Walsh & Hazel Court) buy a steam yacht despite warnings from the salesman that it is haunted. They restore the boat and throw a party on board to celebrate its trial run along the Sussex coast. However, it looks as though the vessel may be haunted as two engine men resign claiming to have seen a ghost on board. The couple decide to call upon the services of a medium to get to the bottom of it. They hold a séance which reveals a horrifying secret about the previous owners of the yacht who disappeared from it in mysterious circumstances while at sea years before.All in all, Ghost Ship (not to be confused with the CGI laden effects blockbuster of 2002) is an unpretentious little second feature, which provides an hour of pleasant if undemanding entertainment. The acting is above the normal standard you would expect for this sort of thing even though Walsh's attempt at an American accent is questionable. Hazel Court offers a bright performance as his wife and she would go on to appear in a number of notable British horror films such as Hammer's groundbreaking Curse Of Frankenstein and Roger Corman's marvelous Edgar Allen Poe adaptation, The Masque Of The Red Death. The script was clearly a variation on the classic real life mystery of the Mary Celeste that comes off reasonably well though more in the general handling than in the script which includes a few plot inconsistencies and the film shows that quite a lot can be gained from a small budget.Director Vernon Sewell was an interesting though sadly neglected film maker who apart from a small handful never got many A features and spent most of his career turning out quota quickies such as this. A number of these featured his own steam yacht, The Gelert, which is the vessel featured in this film which he often managed to use as an excellent set. The cast of Ghost Ship includes Sewell's wife, Joan Carol.

You can't look at this movie and compare to the blockbusters, but as a B flick it's pretty good, even up at the top (in my mind). The story of the ghost is told in flashbacks and through a séance. The acting is pretty good, though the stars are not memorable. It's almost like watching an old TV show, though I more liken it to "The Woman Who Came Back" (1945). Someone just wrote a nice little mystery with some adequately spooky moments, and that is about all there is to it. It starts out with a couple trying to buy an older steamboat. The man selling it to them warns them of its haunting. You see moments of the inquiry and story that led to the haunting, but it is not until the séance that you start to get a clue as to what caused the haunting. This movie has nothing to do with movies of the same title, one from the forties and one from a few years ago.