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

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

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.

I have no idea what I have just seen.Two ship captains want the same woman and we are quickly thrown into a soap opera style drama that doesn't make much sense.This woman has no reason to be in the movie and her part just takes away from the story. So the guy who loses the girl pays one of his sailors to sail with and kill the guy who got her.Does that guy ever get on the other ship?I don't have a clue.All the men are so boring and interchangeable that they could have switched roles mid-movie and I wouldn't have noticed. We never really see how the people die, probably because this was based on a true mystery.But that raises one huge question.Why even make the movie if you will only speculate half of the story?They had no problem fabricating the set up, why not show us the killer? Still better than anything Vince Vaughn has ever done.

Well I woke early this morning and just finished viewing Image Entertainment's "Phantom-Ship" Bela Lugosi (1935). I must say I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was a pretty good. Especially since the only copies I've every seen for sale are unusually @ 'The Dollar Store" or in the Walmart 2$ bin, sandwiched in a triple feature combo DVD with the likes of "Coffin of Dr. Blood" and "The Screaming Skull".The DVD transfer was pretty good. I suspect it was made from a good 35mm print. I would have like to seen a special feature or 2 (Commentary, Maybe a small Feature on the "Making of" or the "Restoration of", like Image did with Kino on some of the other older films. On a Side-Note: Is it just me or is Edmund Willard (who played Toby Bilson) a spitting image of Lon Chaney Sr. I bet that wasn't by accident.I must say that the more Odd-ball rolls I've seen lately that Bela did in his lifetime. The more impressed I am with his acting. And the more disappointed I am in the Hollywood of the 30's. I single out the 30's from the 40's - 50's because that was where I think they missed the boat. (no pun intended) Bela had so much more to offer us.Today's Hollywood is always giving actor's a 2nd or 3rd chance to show us the greatness they are capable of. Look at Mickey Rourke in "The Wrestler". If Tom Hanks work in the 30's would we have ever seen anything from him after "Turner & Hooch"? He would be stuck making "Beethoven 6 in 3D" or "Marley & Me, Pt.II".Im not saying it's a great film, It has many flaws. But it was enjoyable to watch. As I watched the "Phantom Ship" especially Bela in the (I've killed one of my fellow men) scene. It started me thinking, what could Bela have done with the Spencer Tracy roll in "Captains-Courageous"? I suspect Hollywood owes Bela and the rest of the "Viewing Public" an apology.

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.