The Ghost Ship

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This article is about the 1943 film. For other uses, see Ghost ship (disambiguation).
The Ghost Ship

theatrical poster
Directed by Mark Robson
Produced by Val Lewton
Written by Leo Mittler (story)
Donald Henderson Clarke
Starring Richard Dix
Russell Wade
Edith Barrett
Music by Roy Webb
Cinematography Nicholas Musuraca
Editing by John Lockert
Distributed by RKO Radio Pictures
Release date(s) 24 December 1943 (US)
Running time 69 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $150,000

The Ghost Ship (1943) is a black-and-white horror and crime film (with mystery film overtones) starring Richard Dix, Russell Wade, and Skelton Knaggs.[1] The film is about a young merchant marine officer who begins to suspect that his ship's captain is mentally unbalanced and endangering the lives of the ship's crew. The ship's crew, however, believes the vessel to be haunted and cursed. Several mysterious deaths occur. After the young officer files a negative report with the corporation which owns the ship, the captain fires him. But a shipmate, believing the officer to be AWOL, kidnaps the young man and returns him to the vessel. The captain becomes enraged, and attempts to murder the young officer. The film was directed by Mark Robson and produced by Val Lewton for RKO Radio Pictures.

Contents

[edit] Plot

Tom Merriam (Russell Wade), a young merchant marine officer, joins the crew of the ship Altair. At first, all seems well and Merriam bonds with the captain, Will Stone (Richard Dix). However, as the cruise continues, several crewmen die mysteriously. Some members of the crew believe the ship is haunted by the ghosts of its dead, and others that it is cursed. But Merriam believes that Captain Stone, who is obsessed with authority, is responsible. When they dock at the fictional Caribbean island of "San Sebastian" (which also appears in RKO's I Walked With a Zombie—another Lewton production—and Zombies on Broadway),[2][3] Merriam attempts to expose the Captain's madness at a board of inquiry. He is helped by the local company agent, but Merriam is discredited and subsequently dismissed from service.

After the inquiry, the captain admits to a female friend that he fears he is losing his mind. The perplexed friend dismisses the discussion. Soon after, Merriam is involved in a fight in port and knocked unconscious. One of his former shipmates (unaware that he was dismissed from the Altair) finds him and brings the unconscious man back aboard ship before the vessel departs. Merriam wakes up on the ship and fears that the insane Captain Stone may now attempt to kill him.

Merriam is scorned by the crew and given a cabin without a door lock. Merriam is confronted by Captain Stone when Merriam is caught trying to steal a gun from the ship's weapons locker. Stone dares Merriam to try to get the support of the crew, but Merriam is rebuffed in this effort. This changes when Radioman Wilson receives a radiogram asking if Merriam is on board. Captain Stone orders Wilson to lie, and reply that Merriam not aboard. The radioman tells Merriam that he now mistrusts the captain and will send a message to the company expressing his concerns about Stone's mental health. Wilson writes down his worries on a piece of paper and gives the paper to an illiterate crewman, Finn the Mute (Skelton Knaggs). The captain overhears Wilson's conversation with Merriam and kills Wilson.

Captain Stone now orders Merriam to send a radio message to the corporate office advising them that Wilson has been killed. The captain and Merriam fight, some crew members intervene, and the captain has the crew drug Merriam and tie the young man to the bunk in Merriam's quarters. Finn finally delivers Wilson' message to First Officer Bowns (Ben Bard), who can read. Bowns becomes deeply alarmed. The first officer talks to several other crew members, all of whom now begin questioning the captain's sanity.

Captain Stone overhears Bowns' conversation with the crew, and goes insane. He takes a knife and enters Merriam's cabin to kill the young officer, but Finn arrives to try to stop him. While the crew is up on deck singing, Finn and the captain engage in a desperate struggle in the dark—during which Finn kills the captain. After the captain's death, Merriam is reinstated and the ship returns to its home port of San Pedro.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Production

RKO had scored a major financial success with 1942's Cat People. The film, which cost $141,659, brought in almost $4 million in its first two years and saved the studio from financial disaster.[5] RKO wanted to move quickly on a sequel to build on the success of Cat People, but producer Val Lewton wished to make the fantasy-comedy story "The Amorous Ghost" instead.[2] As Lewton and studio wrangled, Lewton commenced production on The Seventh Victim (a horror-murder mystery film), and on May 12, 1943, RKO announced it was delaying production on the sequel The Curse of the Cat People due to the unavailability of key performers.[2] RKO production chief Charles Koerner did not want Lewton to be idle once filming on The Seventh Victim ended nor did he favor the idea of Lewton working on comedy, so Koerner suggested that Lewton direct a horror film set at sea (utilizing studio's existing ship set, built for the 1938 film Pacific Liner).[2] According to Robert Wise, a longtime collaborator with Lewton, it was this set that gave Lewton the idea for the film. "He would find what we call a 'standing set,' and then tailor his script to the set, whatever it was. That's how he made The Ghost Ship. He walked onto a set and saw a tanker, then cooked up the idea for this ship with a murderous captain."[6] One scholar has suggested that Lewton accepted the assignment in part because, as an amateur sailor himself, the ship captain's behavior mirrored Lewton's own views on how to manage a ship, but also because Lewton saw the plot as a way of criticizing his micro-managing superiors at RKO.[2] The budget, as with all of Lewton's films, was set at $150,000.[7]

At the time screenwriting began, Lewton claimed that the idea for the film was an original one attributable to himself.[2] Leo Mittler did the treatment and Donald Henderson Clarke wrote the script, although Lewton significantly revised the screenplay and wrote many lines of dialogue himself.[2]

Mark Robson was assigned to direct in June 1943.[8] Robson was the RKO director "most in tune with [Lewton's] idea of psychological terror".[9] Robson had just finished editing Orson Welles' Journey Into Fear, and there are distinct stylistic similarities between the two films.[2] Robson and Lewton chose to use single-source lighting throughout the film in order to make the sets and performances more interesting, and sets were designed to utilize this type of lighting.[10] The two men also agreed to continue Lewton's emphasis on unseen and implied terror.[7] Cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca, art directors Albert S. D'Agostino and Walter E. Keller, and composer Roy Webb all regularly worked with Lewton, and did so on The Ghost Ship as well.[7][11][12] Richard Dix was cast because he was already on contract with RKO to do several "quickie" pictures at a set fee per film, and doing The Ghost Ship would help fulfill his contract without much effort.[11] Russell Wade had provided a disembodied voice in The Leopard Man, and this was his first starring role in a Lewton production.[13] His performance here led him to be cast in Lewton's highly-regarded 1945 production, The Body Snatcher.[13] Edith Barrett, Ben Bard, Dewey Robinson, and Charles Lung all had worked with Lewton before.[2] Skelton Knaggs, Edmund Glover, and future film noir star Lawrence Tierney (whom Lewton had seen modeling clothing in a Sears, Roebuck catalog) all made their motion picture debuts in the movie.[2][14] Sir Lancelot, a well-known calypso singer (who later influenced the career of Harry Belafonte),[15] had already appeared in singing roles in three prior films (including I Walked with a Zombie).[16] He had already appeared in one Val Lewton production, but also his first non-singing role.[16]

Production began on August 3, 1943.[2] Many details about the performances, lighting, camera angles, action, and effects were worked out ahead of time in order to not only keep the film under budget but also help achieve suspense on such a low budget.[10] Dr. Jared Criswell, former pastor of the Fifth Avenue Spiritualist Church of New York City, served as a technical consultant on the film regarding psychic phenomena.[2] The picture's final fight scene between the Finn, Pollo, and the mad Captain was shot on a dimly lit set to heighten the suspense and keep the audience from guessing who the victor might be, similar to the way Jacques Tourneur and Lewton had shot a similar scene in Cat People.[2] A significant (for the time) amount of blood is seen during this fight.[2]

[edit] Release and lawsuit

The film was released in theaters on Christmas Eve, 1943.[17][18] The poster art (depicted above) was most likely painted by William Rose.[19] The film did well at the box office[20] until Lewton was sued in February 1944 for plagiarism by playwrights Samuel R. Golding and Norbert Faulkner, who claimed that the script was based on a play that was submitted to Lewton for a possible film.[2][10][21] The Ghost Ship was withdrawn from theatrical release.[10] Lewton disputed the claim, but the court ruled against Lewton.[21][22] RKO paid the authors $25,000 in damages and attorney fees of $5,000, and lost all future booking residuals and the right to sell the film for airing on television.[2]

Elliot Lavine, a film festival programmer and film historian, says that losing the lawsuit deeply disturbed Lewton, left him depressed for a significant period of time.[14]

The film did not see release for nearly another 50 years due to the suit.[9][23] The Ghost Ship did make it into a package of RKO films sold by "C & C Television Films" to local TV stations, but it was quickly withdrawn.[2] When the film's copyright was not renewed and it entered the public domain in the 1990s, it began to be available again.[24]

[edit] Reception

At the time, most reviews were indifferent.[25] But Bosley Crowther enjoyed the film, calling it "... a nice little package of morbidity, all wrapped around in gloom."[26]

The script has come in for significant praise, with Captain Stone being compared to Captain Queeg in The Caine Mutiny, Captain Ahab in Moby-Dick, and Captain Wolf Larsen in The Sea Wolf.[2][14][27] Other critics have pointed out that Stone and Merriam seem to have a father-son relationship, but that the perverseness of the script is that the father-figure becomes so enraged at his "son's" failings that he seeks to murder him.[2][28]

Modern film critics have also praised the picture's acting, cinematography, and lighting, as well as its ability to scare. Actor Richard Dix is almost uniformly praised for bringing a depth of character, moodiness, and pathos to the role of Captain Stone.[2][14][29] The film's direction, cinematography and lighting, too, display a depth of artistry not usually seen in cinema. Cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca won high praise for his chiaroscuro lighting design.[30] Film historian Edmund Bansak has written one scene in particular which is highly effective:

An excellent set-piece early in the film showcases Robson's underrated directorial skill. Robson creates a dynamic sense of menace from a physical object: a massive giant hook hanging from upon an enormous chain, pendulumlike, inches above the deck. ... [The] hook remains unattended and unsecured. ... In a tightly directed, genuinely exciting scene, the monstrous hook sways back and forth in a direct path toward the camera, making one wonder how cinematographer, Nicholas Musuraca, kept his camera (and head) intact during the shooting. ... The lighting is also used to great advantage, the shadows and fog accenting the terror. Half the time the swinging hook is so hidden in the darkness that aside from the creak of its sway, there is no telling which direction it will take.[31]

The set design, too, has been praised for being "suitably claustrophobic."[32] Robson's direction has earned kudos for heightening the suspense by leaving certain actions and motives vague. In the scene in which Seaman Parker (Lawrence Tierney) dies, crushed by the anchor chain, Robson left it unclear whether Captain Stone committed murder by trapping Parker in the anchor chain locker or whether he merely shut the door.[33] The vagueness leaves the audience unsure whether to believe Merriam's accusations against the Captain, and builds an atmosphere of paranoia and doubt which is critical to the picture's success.[2][33] Contemporary critic Gary Giddins has pointed out that the film incorporates classic Lewton scare tactics but in new ways. "His trademark scare tactic, a high point in practically all of his films, is a long, dark, nightmarish walk, where every sound is magnified and every object threatening. In The Ghost Ship, that "walk" is transferred to the cabin of the victimized third officer ..."[27] Others have pointed out another Lewton device, the gradual stalking of a main character by a murderer, as another deft touch in the film.[14]

Modern critics have also pointed out that the film, unlike so many motion pictures of the 1940s, has an almost exclusively male cast and avoids the trope of a man "redeemed by the love of a good woman."[2] The picture is "entirely concerned with male conflict," one critic noted, and at the end of the film a woman appears only in shadow and fog "as the possibility of salvation" rather than bringing emotional closure.[27] Other film critics have made sustained arguments that the film is a lengthy if coded study of repressed homosexuality, similar to that in Herman Melville's novel, Billy Budd.[34] Indeed, the focus on men and men's problems has led one modern critic to declare the film "one of the most homoerotic films Hollywood ever made."[35]

Contemporary film programmers seem to have a high opinion of the film as well. A 1993 Film Forum series, "Val Lewton: Horror Most Noir," screened The Ghost Ship 42 times, while I Walked With A Zombie screened only 10 times and Cat People a mere eight.[9] Film director Alison Maclean chose The Ghost Ship for a retrospective of classic RKO films, arguing that the film was "genuinely eccentric" and a cinematic revelation.[36] When The Ghost Ship was shown on French cable television in the late 1990s, it was introduced as a prime example of Val Lewton's genius at presenting "unseen horror."[33]

[edit] DVD release

The film was released as part of the Val Lewton Horror Collection DVD set in 2005.[37]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ At least one film historian questions whether The Ghost Ship is a horror film, concluding that it is merely a murder mystery. See: Miller, Don. "B" Movies: An Informal Survey of the American Low-Budget Film, 1933-1945. New York: Curtis Books, 1973.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa Bansak, Edmund G. Fearing the Dark: The Val Lewton Career. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2003. ISBN 0786417099
  3. ^ Kay, Glenn. Zombie Movies: The Ultimate Guide. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2008. ISBN 1556527705; Hallenbeck, Bruce G. Comedy-Horror Films: A Chronological History, 1914-2008. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2009. ISBN 0786433329; Russell, Jamie. Book of the Dead: The Complete History of Zombie Cinema. Godalming, England: FAB, 2005. ISBN 1903254337
  4. ^ a b Ben Bard and Sir Lancelot were part of an informal stock company whose members frequently appeared in Lewton productions. See: Siegel, Joel E. Val Lewton: The Reality of Terror. New York: Viking Press, 1973. ISBN 0436099306
  5. ^ Fujiwara, Chris. Jacques Tourneur: The Cinema of Nightfall. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001. ISBN 0801865611
  6. ^ Quoted in Lovell, Glenn. "Chillmaster Classic Fright Movies Suggest Rather Than Show Evil." San Jose Mercury News. November 1, 2000.
  7. ^ a b c Worland, Rick. The Horror Film: An Introduction. Indianapolis, Ind.: Wiley-Blackwell, 2007. ISBN 1405139013
  8. ^ "Screen News Here and in Hollywood." New York Times. June 5, 1943.
  9. ^ a b c James, Caryn. "Old Hollywood Horror, but With Depth and Flair." New York Times. July 2, 1993.
  10. ^ a b c d Viera, Mark. "Darkness, Darkness: The Films of Val Lewton." Bright Lights Film Journal. November 2005.
  11. ^ a b Mank, Gregory William. Hollywood Cauldron: 13 Horror Films From the Genres's Golden Age. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2001. ISBN 0786411120
  12. ^ Stephens, Michael L. Art Directors in Cinema: A Worldwide Biographical Dictionary. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 1998. ISBN 0786403128
  13. ^ a b Dyson, Jeremy. Bright Darkness: The Lost Art of the Supernatural Horror Film. London, Wash.: Cassell, 1997. ISBN 0304700371
  14. ^ a b c d e Stanley, John. "Val Lewton Retrospective." San Francisco Chronicle. November 14, 1993.
  15. ^ Randall, Annie Janeiro. Music, Power, and Politics. New York: Routledge, 2005. ISBN 0415943647
  16. ^ a b Thompson, Dave. Reggae and Caribbean Music. Milwaukee: Hal Leonard Corporation, 2002. ISBN 0879306556
  17. ^ "Of Local Origin." New York Times. December 24, 1943.
  18. ^ Nemerov, Alex. Icons of Grief: Val Lewton's Home Front Pictures. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 2005. ISBN 0520240995
  19. ^ Smith, Grey; Breitbarth, Brad; and Halperin, Jim. Heritage Vintage Movie Posters Signature Auction #607. Dallas: Heritage Capital Corporation, 2004. ISBN 1932899359
  20. ^ Weaver, James B. and Tamborini, Ronald C. Horror Films: Current Research on Audience Preferences and Reactions. Florence, Ky.: Routledge, 1996. ISBN 0805811745
  21. ^ a b Lindey, Alexander. Plagiarism and Originality. New York: Harper, 1952.
  22. ^ Golding v. RKO Radio Pictures, Inc., 193P. 2d 153, 162 (Cal. App. 1948) affd, 35 Cal. 2d 690, 221 P. 2d 95(1950).
  23. ^ Thomas, Tony. The Cinema of the Sea: A Critical Survey and Filmography, 1925-1986. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 1988. ISBN 089950342X
  24. ^ Hurst, Walter E. and Baer, D. Ricahrd. Film Superlist: Motion Pictures in the U.S. Public Domain, 1940-1949. Hollywood, Calif.: Hollywood Film Archive, 1992. ISBN 0913616273
  25. ^ Siegel, Joel E. Val Lewton: The Reality of Terror. New York: Viking Press, 1973. ISBN 0436099306
  26. ^ Crowther, Bosley. "A Chilly Christmas." New York Times. December 25, 1943.
  27. ^ a b c Giddins, Gary. "How Val Lewton Made Horror Movies Into Fine Art." New York Sun. October 11, 2005.
  28. ^ Coyle, William. Aspects of Fantasy: Selected Essays From the Second International Conference on the Fantastic in Literature and Film. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1986. ISBN 0313246084
  29. ^ Sullivan, Jack. The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural. New York: Viking, 1986. ISBN 0670809020; Hardy, Phil. The Encylopedia of Horror Movies. New York: Harper & Row, 1986. ISBN 0060961466; Jewell, Richard B. The RKO Story. New York: Random House, 1985. ISBN 0517546566
  30. ^ Turner, Geroge. "Wrap Shot [Origins of Film Noir]." American Cinematographer. October 1997; Naremore, James. More Than Night: Film Noir In Its Contexts. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 1998. ISBN 0520212940; Sultanik, Aaron. Film, A Modern Art. Bridgewater, N.J.: Associated University Presses, 1986. ISBN 0845347527
  31. ^ Bansak, Fearing the Dark: The Val Lewton Career, 2003, p. 208-209.
  32. ^ Fischer, Dennis. Horror Film Directors, 1931-1990. Jeffeerson, N.C.: McFarland, 1991. ISBN 0899506097 p. 627.
  33. ^ a b c Humphries, Reynold. The American Horror Film: An Introduction. Edinburgh, Scotland: Edinburgh University Press, 2002. ISBN 0748614168
  34. ^ Benshoff, Harry M. Monsters in the Closet: Homosexuality and the Horror Film. Manchester, U.K.: Manchester University Press, 1997. ISBN 0719044731; Barrios, Richard. Screened Out: Playing Gay in Hollywood From Edison to Stonewall. New York: Routledge, 2003. ISBN 0415923298
  35. ^ Feingold, Michael. "The Ghost Ship." The Village Voice. July 13, 1993.
  36. ^ Klady, Leonard. "RKO Pix In Spotlight." Variety. April 18, 1995.
  37. ^ Lovato, Todd Eric. "DVDs Are Delightful." Albuquerque Journal. December 16, 2005.

[edit] External links

v • d • e
The films of Mark Robson
1940s
1950s
1960s
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v • d • e
Val Lewton, film producer and screenwriter
Films
Documentaries
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