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.
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.