I primarily know Richard Dix from the run of Whistler movies he did, and he had an odd screen presence in those. That slightly off demeanor servers him well in 1943’s The Ghost Ship.
In this, he is the authoritarian captain of a large cargo vessel. He makes such statements as “In San Pedro, I was a captain. At sea, I’m the captain.” He’ll tell new third officer Russell Wade, “That’s what I want you to learn—that men are worthless cattle. They need men of authority to drive them.”
Wade detects something is amiss when he sees his berth is still a mess from the last person in the position. He’s informed the former third officer “didn’t want to die”, as if there’s anybody who does.
Almost immediately, he is at odds with Dix, as the captain gives contradictory orders which result in a huge hook swinging free across the deck. Later, Wade will have to perform an emergency appendectomy on a crew member when Dix finds himself lacking the courage to make the incision. Still, Dix will get the credit.
Eventually, there will be a gruesome murder, with a man in the hold getting crushed to death by a giant, heavy chain after Dix blocks the exit hatch. When Wade confronts Dix, the captain denies responsibility and tries to emphasize what he sees as the benefits of a complainer no longer being under his command: “No more insolence. No more noisy complaints.”
At the next port, Wade reports Dix’s actions and the captain is put on trial for incompetence. Alas, the entire crew testifies in favor of the captain, even the guy whose life was actually saved by Wade on the impromptu operating table.
The instructions for that surgery were sent through a radio operated by Edmund Glover. This radio man was the closest person to a friend Wade has on board, but even that relationship will be severed when the man is back on the ship as persona non grata.
Ironically, Wade hadn’t meant to be back on the ship. He was knocked unconscious when defending fellow crewmember Sir Lancelot from getting beat up by a large group of guys. When he came to, he was on board as a “guest” of the captain, where he is to be the only person on the boat without any duties.
Unfortunately, he also doesn’t have a lock on his cabin door anymore. Dix keeps insinuating he could kill Wade at any moment, so this leads our hero to concoct some interesting jury-rigged devices to at least confuse or stun an intruder.
One odd element of this film is a mute character played by Skelton Knaggs. I have only seen this actor in two movies so far, but he has a very unique visage that has wondering why I haven’t seen him in more pictures. This is a guy with a face for minor roles in low-budget noir. What is unusual here is what little narration there is will be this quite minor character’s thoughts. I can understand the perspective being from a character always on the periphery and going unnoticed by others, but it is a bizarre choice nonetheless.
I mentioned Sir Lancelot earlier, and I was glad to again see this actor from Brute Force and I Walked with a Zombie. He does the same shtick here, singing almost every line in a calypso rhythm, but it’s a good shtick. I was also intrigued to see Edith Barrett as Dix’s women at this particular port. It was good to see them cast a woman near his age in the role. Also, this real-life wife of Vincent Price is rather distinctive looking and not traditionally beautiful.
This film was produced by Val Lewton, and this has a similarly off-kilter and low-key vibe as Isle of the Dead and The Seventh Victim, which share a director in Mark Robson.
The Ghost Ship is an interesting and intensely suspenseful movie, though I found it a bit difficult to suspend my disbelief. I’m not sure why that is, and perhaps it is because I don’t want to believe it possible for somebody to have so much power over their subordinates that they could literally get away with murder.
Dir: Mark Robson
Starring Richard Dix, Russell Wade, Edith Barrett
Watched on Warner Archive blu-ray