Review of Ghost Ship

Many important observations about this minor ghost story have already been made by others. The plot has a gaping plot hole and two long, irrelevant sequences - Ian Carmichael's drunk act and Hugh Burden's demonstration of unusual vibrations - that must have been added merely to increase the running time. The film is one of several shot on director Vernon Sewell's own yacht and the story has a flavour (wife encourages her lover to kill her husband) of Sewell's later film "Rogue's Yarn" (1957), shot in the same Shoreham boatyard. Most interesting, however, is that this is the third film Sewell made of Pierre Mills and Celia de Vylars' one act play, "L'Angoisse." The first was "The Medium" (1934), now lost. Then came "Latin Quarter" (1945). After "Ghost Ship" Sewell had one more crack at the tale, "House of Mystery" (1960). The common factor, apart from the psychic gobbledygook, is the sadism of the murders. I'd like to point out that none of this information comes from me. It was first pointed out as long ago as 1973 in David Pirie's book "A Heritage of Horror". Jonathan Rigby added more details in his 2000 book "English Gothic."