The Mystery of the Mary Celeste

The Mystery of the Mary Celeste
The Mystery of the Mary Celeste
Directed by	Denison Clift
Screenplay by	Charles Larkworthy (Scenario)
Story by	Denison Clift
Produced by	Henry Passmore
Starring	Béla Lugosi
Cinematography	Eric Cross; Geoffrey Faithfull;
Edited by	John Seabourne
Production; company	Hammer Film Productions
Distributed by	General Film Distributors
Release date	27 April 1935;
Running time	80 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	£80,000

The Mystery of the Mary Celeste is a 1935 British mystery film directed by Denison Clift and starring Béla Lugosi, Shirley Grey and Arthur Margetson.^[2] It is one of the early films from Hammer Film Productions.

It is based on the story of the Mary Celeste, a sailing ship that was found adrift and deserted in the Atlantic Ocean in 1872, and is an imagined explanation of the disappearance of the crew and passengers.^[3]

The version released in the United States, under the title Phantom Ship, is about eighteen minutes shorter than the original. It omits the original opening and closing sequences set in a maritime courtroom, which detail an investigation into what happened.^[4] It is believed that only the shortened version survives.^[5]

Plot

Captain Briggs and Captain Morehead are best friends. Morehead is in love with Sarah, and he brings Briggs to New York to meet her. However, Briggs and Sarah fall in love with one another. Both men propose to her on the same day. Sarah chooses Briggs. Sarah and Briggs reveal their marriage plans to Morehead and he gets furious with jealousy, and believes Briggs has deceived him. Briggs tells him that he will marry Sarah even if it means the end of their friendship.

As the couple plans to sail, Captain Briggs is short of crew. He asks Morehead to forgive him and help. Morehead agrees and sends a man, Volkerk Grot, not to help, but to do something to the ship. Briggs also recruits other men, including Anton Lorenzen, who is a sailor who has suffered a lot and is about to have a mental breakdown.

As the voyahe begins, the crew realizes that there is a murderer among them who is killing them off one by one. Meanwhile, a crew member tries to rape Sarah; Lorenzen saves her by killing the man. But then he cries because he cannot stand the pain of killing a man.

Soon, everybody has died or disappeared except 1st mate Bilson, Lorenzen and a third crew member, Ponta Katz. They decide that one of them must be the killer.

Katz realizes that Lorenzen could not kill because he is too soft, so he runs after Bilson. Bilson shoots Katz and then celebrates with Lorenzen on becoming the new captain of the ship, and makes plans for the future.

Lorenzen gets angry and tells Bilson that he was shanghaied six years before, on the same ship, and he committed the murders to get revenge. He shoots Bilson and throws him into the sea. Just after killing Bilson, Lorenzen is hit on the head by the ship's boom. He runs everywhere on ship in the hope of finding Bilson, and in his madness, he jumps off the ship.

The ship drifts with the wind until it is spotted by another ship. The ship is totally abandoned except for a black cat.

A final scene shows Morehead handing money to his man Grot, commenting "I am thinking of Briggs and her, dead!"

Cast

Béla Lugosi dual role as Anton Lorenzen and as A. Gottlieb
Shirley Grey as Sarah Briggs
Arthur Margetson as Capt. Benjamin Briggs
Edmund Willard as Toby Bilson
Dennis Hoey as Tom Goodschard
George Mozart as Tommy Duggan
Johnnie Schofield as Peter Tooley
Gunner Moir as Ponta Katz
Ben Welden as 'Sailor' Hoffman
Clifford McLaglen as Capt. Jim Morehead
Tom Bastable as Olly Deveau
Matt Ramage as Andy Gilling
Terence De Marney as Charlie Kaye
Edgar Pierce as Arian Harbens
Herbert Cameron as Volkerk Grot
Wilfred Essex as Horatio Sprague
James Carew as James Winchester
Monti DeLyle as Portunato
Alec Fraser as Commander Mahon
Mary B Mitchell as the ship Mary Celeste

Notes

^ See Talk page discussion of release date.

References

^ "The Theatres". Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate. No. 18, 420. New South Wales, Australia. 26 October 1935. p. 3. Retrieved 27 August 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
^ "BFI | Film & TV Database | The Mystery of the Mary Celeste (1935)". Ftvdb.bfi.org.uk. 16 April 2009. Archived from the original on 18 January 2009. Retrieved 29 May 2014.
^ Paul Begg (2006). Mary Celeste: The Greatest Mystery of the Sea. Pearson/Longman. p. 109. ISBN 978-1-4058-3621-0.
^ Sam Moffitt (23 June 2013). "Phantom Ship — The DVD Review". wearemoviegeeks.com. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
^ Jenn Dlugos (3 July 2005). "The Mystery of the Mary Celeste (1935)". classic-horror.com. Retrieved 27 March 2013.

External links

The Mystery of the Mary Celeste at IMDb

[1] See Talk page discussion of release date.

[2] "The Theatres". Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate. No. 18, 420. New South Wales, Australia. 26 October 1935. p. 3. Retrieved 27 August 2017 – via National Library of Australia.

[3] "BFI | Film & TV Database | The Mystery of the Mary Celeste (1935)". Ftvdb.bfi.org.uk. 16 April 2009. Archived from the original on 18 January 2009. Retrieved 29 May 2014.

[4] Paul Begg (2006). Mary Celeste: The Greatest Mystery of the Sea. Pearson/Longman. p. 109. ISBN 978-1-4058-3621-0.

[5] Sam Moffitt (23 June 2013). "Phantom Ship — The DVD Review". wearemoviegeeks.com. Retrieved 18 March 2024.

[6] Jenn Dlugos (3 July 2005). "The Mystery of the Mary Celeste (1935)". classic-horror.com. Retrieved 27 March 2013.

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