The Ghost Ship was put together because RKO pictures wanted another film to be made using the existing sets from their earlier film, Pacific Liner. This shows somewhat, as the film has something of a rushed and unfinished feel to it; but there's nobody better than Val Lewton for the task of putting together an eerie thriller, and considering the reasons why this was made; he hasn't done a bad job at all. The film isn't up there with his best work - films such as Cat People, I Walked With a Zombie and The Body Snatcher - but I still rate this as a successful production credit for the man, and as an eerie sea bound thriller; it definitely works. The plot is simple (probably as a result of the reason that the film was made) and it follows a ship whose third mate suspects that the captain may be the one murdering the crew, some members of which have been dying under mysterious circumstances. We then follow a familiar psychological drama formula, which is fleshed out by some set pieces typical of Lewton's films.
The atmosphere, as usual with Lewton, is right on cue and makes up the backbone of the movie. The smoky setting compliments the isolation of being at sea nicely, and the film always seems interesting and foreboding for this reason. The story is weak and somewhat dull for the first half hour of the movie - and this is somewhat due to the lack in atmosphere. The first half does treat us to the film's best set-piece - a man being crushed by a huge chain (no less!) - but you'll have to wait until the second half before the movie really picks up. As you would expect from Lewton, the film is never gratuitous, but during the second half the story starts to pick up, and as the tension mounts, director Mark Robson allows the film to reach it's climatic conclusion. Mark Robson isn't the best director that Lewton worked with - and all of his movies have been lesser entries in the great producer's list of film credits, but he knows what he's doing and this is another decent film from him. On the whole - you'll probably want to see the Jacques Tourneur collaborations, along with The Body Snatcher first - but after you've seen those, this is a good place to go next.
The atmosphere, as usual with Lewton, is right on cue and makes up the backbone of the movie. The smoky setting compliments the isolation of being at sea nicely, and the film always seems interesting and foreboding for this reason. The story is weak and somewhat dull for the first half hour of the movie - and this is somewhat due to the lack in atmosphere. The first half does treat us to the film's best set-piece - a man being crushed by a huge chain (no less!) - but you'll have to wait until the second half before the movie really picks up. As you would expect from Lewton, the film is never gratuitous, but during the second half the story starts to pick up, and as the tension mounts, director Mark Robson allows the film to reach it's climatic conclusion. Mark Robson isn't the best director that Lewton worked with - and all of his movies have been lesser entries in the great producer's list of film credits, but he knows what he's doing and this is another decent film from him. On the whole - you'll probably want to see the Jacques Tourneur collaborations, along with The Body Snatcher first - but after you've seen those, this is a good place to go next.