Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

utgard14 Fictionalized account of the Mary Celeste, a ship found adrift in 1872 with no trace of the crew. Well the mystery is solved now: Bela Lugosi did it. Backtracking a bit, the movie starts with a love triangle involving the captain of the ship, his friend another captain, and a woman they both propose to. She chooses the Mary Celeste's captain. Then the ship sets sail with the captain's wife on board and crazy one-armed Bela as part of the crew. Things are fine for a little while, then Bela saves the wife from being raped by another crew member. After that he seems to snap and then we get the 1930s equivalent of a slasher film, with everyone being killed off one by one.It's a little stiff, of course, given the time in which it was made. The main reason to see it is Bela, who hams it up nicely. His speech after killing the rapist should have earned him an Oscar. And again later when he recounts how he lost his arm, a second Oscar for that. Not really but it's fun to think of a world in which that happened. Unfortunately the static direction and creaks & groans make this a rough watch. Business picks up once the killing starts. Too bad we'll never see the original British version, as all that's left is this shortened American version. Maybe it was better. Then again, maybe it was worse and all that was cut was a lot of unnecessary stuff from before the ship even set sail. I can imagine some schlub thinking that drama about the captain's wife was interesting.One final note: I was a little surprised to hear one character utter a couple of racial slurs, including the N word. As a fan of classic films I'm used to "how things were" and all that, but there generally seemed to be a line and a sense of decorum about what could be shown and said in films, even in the Pre-Code days. Perhaps it's because this was a British-made film, but that wouldn't explain how it made it into the American cut. Anyway, to be fair, the line is in fitting with the character who uses it as he's a rough, mean-spirited sort of cuss.

Coventry "The Mystery of the Mary Celeste" is a much cleaner-sounding and more suitable title for a dramatic story that is based on the true events of what is widely considered as the greatest maritime mystery of all times. The alternate title, "Phantom Ship" merely just cashes in on the successful horror movie reputation of its lead player Bela Lugosi and makes this film sound like a bona fide ghost story, which it definitely ain't. The journey of the Mary Celeste is pretty much doomed from the beginning, at least according to its superstitious crew members, because the newlywed captain brings his wife on board. The women aboard omen turns out to be true when the ship successively encounters devastating thunderstorms and inexplicably sinister accidents with deadly casualties among the crew members. Could the Mary Celeste really be cursed or is there simply a whole lot of foul play involved, like for example sabotage by the man whose marriage proposal was recently rejected by the captain's lovely wife? "The Mystery of the Mary Celeste" is a really ancient film – nearly 75 years old now – and that is noticeable in literally every tiniest detail. Probably this film already looked dated in the 40's already, what with its very rudimentary decors and hideously abrupt editing. For fans of that typically 30's style, the film is definitely worth checking out, as it bathes in ominous atmosphere and cheap awkwardness. The psychedelic ending is definitely far ahead of its time and I can image it must have upset a lot of tender souls back when the film played in theaters. Of course, the writers had to come up with some sort of sudden and abrupt twist in order to remain faithful to the Mary Celeste mystery and leave the several possible theories wide open. The immense ship was found floating around unmanned in the Atlantic Ocean in 1872. There wasn't any material damage or signs of struggle, but none of the crew members was ever seen or heard from ever again. The ideal scary cinema concept, in other words.

MartinHafer In 1872, the Mary Celeste (that is the correct spelling) was found adrift. All of the crew were gone and to this day no one knows what happened to them. This film is a fictionalized account of what might have occurred. It stars a variety of little-known actors other than Bela Lugosi in a supporting role as a...well...rather crazy man. Because he acts pretty weird AND because he was the big-name actor, it came as no surprise that he was the man who killed off the unfortunate crew. Sure, other people could have been the guilty party, but I really think this surprise ending wasn't all that much of a surprise.As far as the film goes, it's a decent little B-movie--made on a slight budget with few of the usual frills a "bigger" film might get. The use of minimal incidental music might be seen as a minus, but considering the mood they were looking for, the sea chanteys and occasional music worked well. The biggest minuses were Lugosi's over-acting and the lack of the element of surprise. Still, it's a decent time-passer and stands up pretty well after all these years.

Witchfinder General 666 Denison Clift's "The Mystery Of The Mary Celeste" aka. "Phantom Ship" of 1935 is a great movie starring Bela Lugosi in a great though atypical role. Many people seem to dislike this movie and I don't really see why. Maybe some people have mixed feelings about "Phantom Ship" because Lugosi's character is not the ingenious super-villain he often played, but an unshaven and scruffy sailor. In my opinion, however, Lugosi's role not being typical doesn't downgrade his excellent performance, and "The Mystery Of The Mary Celeste" is a highly atmospheric Horror Mystery and, by the way, one of the first movies produced by the legendary Hammer Film Productions.The fictional story, which was inspired by the tragic case of the real-life ghost-ship 'Mary Celeste', is of course not historically accurate. Some characters have the names of real-life members of the "Mary Celeste" crew, but the rest of the story is pure fiction. I don't see this as negative either, however. First of all, movies don't always have to be historically accurate to be good. Second, this movie doesn't claim historical accuracy, the beginning clearly says that the story was only inspired by the tragedy of the Mary Celeste.The great Bela Lugosi is, once again, brilliant in his role, and some of the other cast members, such as Edmund Willard or the heavily tattooed Gunner Moir also deliver great performances."The Mystery Of The Mary Celeste" is impressively filmed, and the dark, sometimes haunting atmosphere and menacing character of the sea are excellently brought to screen. The film's musical score is also great, occasional songs sung by characters contribute to the movie's atmosphere, and the background score in some other scenes contributes to the suspense."The Mystery Of The Mary Celeste" is a highly atmospheric, excellently shot and vastly underrated movie. Lugosi fans can't afford to miss this. Highly Recommended! 8/10