A film which takes a stab at providing a story of why the Mary Celeste yielded a vanished crew. Bela Lugosi stars as weary and browbeaten Anton Lorenzen whose mental state has been devoured after having been shanghaied on board the Mary Celeste many years prior to another invite aboard that damned ship. He seeks revenge on the man who roped him and threw him overboard for the sharks, Capt. Benjamen Briggs' assistant Toby Bilson(Edmund Willard)and will change his name joining the crew(he has only one arm which might serve as an example of that ill-fated day). Briggs(Arthur Margetson)has on board his soon-to-be bride Sarah(Shirley Grey)as they sail for another location on the plans of matrimony, but someone on board is killing the crew one by one. Briggs will have to find the madman before there's no one left to guide the Mary Celeste. Clasping the bible into his bosom, Anton seems trustworthy, if a bit off-kilter..he does save Briggs' wife from a near-rape by a member of the captain's crew and seems sorrowful for the taking of a life. But, when someone tries to shoot Briggs, the film really becomes a series of bodies being found until nearly everyone is gone..including several leads who just disappear from the screen. Soon it's down to three people and we get a clear indication who it just might be.
We're not far removed from the silent era and that transition truly shows in the poor delivery of dialogue by many of the cast members. It wasn't a quality print that I watched, but it didn't detract too much from the experience. The film never lost my interest thanks to the mind-boggling performance from Lugosi..I can't put his performance into words. Lugosi's all over the map leaping from trustworthy sea-farer to complete loony in a single take. He's always interesting, that's for sure. I'm not sure I'd call him awful, but it's almost hard to describe..certainly a change-of-pace role where he has an opportunity to take his character into depths of sorrow and madness at a moment's notice. I didn't think it was that well directed or acted, I did feel the film should've showed more action than is shown particularly the fates of leads Arthur Margetson and Shirley Grey as the proposed couple to be wed. I'd say this is a film best recommended to Lugosi enthusiasts and the curious in general.
We're not far removed from the silent era and that transition truly shows in the poor delivery of dialogue by many of the cast members. It wasn't a quality print that I watched, but it didn't detract too much from the experience. The film never lost my interest thanks to the mind-boggling performance from Lugosi..I can't put his performance into words. Lugosi's all over the map leaping from trustworthy sea-farer to complete loony in a single take. He's always interesting, that's for sure. I'm not sure I'd call him awful, but it's almost hard to describe..certainly a change-of-pace role where he has an opportunity to take his character into depths of sorrow and madness at a moment's notice. I didn't think it was that well directed or acted, I did feel the film should've showed more action than is shown particularly the fates of leads Arthur Margetson and Shirley Grey as the proposed couple to be wed. I'd say this is a film best recommended to Lugosi enthusiasts and the curious in general.