The Mary Celeste was a real ship that was found adrift in good condition, with its cargo intact, in the Atlantic with no one aboard and no record of what happened to them. It's one of histories great mysteries of the sea. This film is very loosely based on this event but it has many of the facts wrong. The film cannot be viewed as a historically correct movie about the real Mary Celeste's voyage. As an example, the captain gets married just before they sail. In reality the Captain was married for some time and had a child that was on the voyage. The child was absent from the movie. There are many more inaccuracies. The accuracy of the personalities of the ship's crew is also very questionable. The movie has taken huge liberties with the facts. Ignoring that this is supposed to take place on the Mary Celeste, this is still a pretty good drama/mystery. I was happily surprised to find that this is one of the very early films from Hammer studios. The atmosphere and settings were great and the characters interesting. Overall the acting is good. Bela Lugosi really stands out with a great dramatic performance and is excellent in his role. The quality of the film and sound are not the greatest but acceptable considering it's age. This USA version is what remains of an earlier and longer British version which I presume is lost but it's still a decent movie. Hammer studios, Bela Lugosi, 1935, isn't that enough to have you take a look at this movie?
Review of Phantom Ship
