Ghost Ship
                    
Director: Vernon Sewell
Year: 1952
Rating: 5.0
A very mild British horror film from 1952. So mild that whether it is a horror film is up for debate. Or whether there are ghosts. It isn't too surprising in that British made horror films had hit their low point in the 1940s and early 50's with very few being produced. And those that were had few chills. Part of the reason for this was the British Board of Film Censors (BBFC) that certified films and rated them. The Board had been around for a few decades and basically gave films a rating of recommended for everyone or for adults. But there was no prohibition of children watching adult films. That changed in the 1930s when they added "H" for horror and then later in 1937 prohibited children under 16 from seeing them. They also were quite severe in banning films found too horrible or forcing cuts. The 1932 Island of Lost Souls was not allowed to be shown uncut until 1958. Thus, producers did not want to cross the BBFC and get cuts or receive the H certificate. There is certainly nothing here that would.



It has its charms though primarily in the genial casting of Dermot Walsh and Hazel Court as a newly married couple full of affection for one another. Court would of course go on to be a mainstay in horror films on both sides of the ocean - The Curse of Frankenstein, The Masque of the Red Death - and acquired the sobriquet of The Queen of Scream. There is no screaming here. By her or the audience. She and Walsh were married at the time perhaps explaining their easy-going chemistry.



Newly married and still enamored of one another, they decide to buy a boat - or is it a ship - and live on it. The agent tries to talk them out of it before fessing up that there are whispers that it is haunted. A few years previously a husband, his wife and his friend went out and never returned and months later the boat was found drifting. There were a few owners since but they all sold it quickly afterwards. Walsh poo-poos this talk of ghosts, buys the boat, fixes it up and then his staff start quitting. And people smell cigar smoke. And a medium is brought on board to do her psychic thing. Ghost or no ghost?