Bedlam / The Ghost Ship (1943-1946) from WAC

[Akijama]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09FD2R9L4...es-tv&sr=1-470

[iamnoone]

I was hoping for this!

That only leaves "I Walked With a Zombie" and "The Seventh Victim", plus the documentary, without a Blu.

There has been speculation that Criterion has "Zombie" which would suck, as they sit on things for years and I'll be a zombie before they ever get to it.

Would much prefer a final double-feature from WAC.

[sb5]

Sweet. Frankly, we should have been getting these as WAC double features in the first place rather than having them spread out to Criterion and Shout, but I’ll take it if finally gets them all released.

If they’re doing these as double features, wonder if WAC will do the post-Races Marx Brothers MGM films as double features as well.

[filmlover22]

Fantastic news!! love these double bills!! Bring 'em on.

And yes, let's hope they do this for the Marx Brothers, too!

[ZzZzZzZ]

Wonderful!! So happy to get more Val Lewton on blu-ray!!!

[jshaide]

Originally Posted by iamnoone

I was hoping for this!

That only leaves "I Walked With a Zombie" and "The Seventh Victim", plus the documentary, without a Blu.

There has been speculation that Criterion has "Zombie" which would suck, as they sit on things for years and I'll be a zombie before they ever get to it.

Would much prefer a final double-feature from WAC.

Isn’t the documentary on the CAT PEOPLE disc?

[Aclea]

Originally Posted by jshaide

Isn’t the documentary on the CAT PEOPLE disc?

One of them is. The other is on Shout's The Body Snatcher.

[HuggyBear73]

Day 1

[Gunsnroses092789]

I wonder if this will be on 1 disc or 2. They're charging a little more than their single disc releases.

[Aclea]

Although this isn't the double-bill everyone was expecting, I'm delighted. The Ghost Ship has always felt like the most underrated of the Lewton chillers:



“As long as I wear these stripes, there isn’t a man in the crew who’ll believe you or help you. You’ll find them too lazy, too cowardly, too disinterested. That’s what I want you to learn, Merriman. Men are all worthless cattle. And a few men are given authority to drive them.”

Pulled from distribution for five decades because of a plagiarism lawsuit, the title of 1943’s The Ghost Ship and trailer-friendly lines like “A ship comes alive at sea” may promise a ghost story but, typically for producer Val Lewton, it’s got a lot more on its mind than genuine skulls and crossbones. Rather than a supernatural menace it’s a pertinent look at the initial appeal and dangers of charismatic authority figures that must have struck a particular chord with audiences in the middle of WWII and is sadly topical again.

Its lean 69-minute charts the gradual disenchantment and eventual battle of wills between Russell Wade’s bright eyed and bushytailed young first officer and experienced captain Richard Dix. At first their relationship is a typical paternalistic student-teacher one, but as the voyage takes them further away from civilisation and Dix’s skewed philosophy of command comes more and more to the fore with fatal consequences for those who slight or oppose his will - “In San Paolo, I was just another captain. At sea, I am the Captain” - Wade finds himself increasingly disturbed by the Captain’s ruthlessness and the crew’s complacency. Because he has responsibility for their safety, he feels it gives him rights over his crew’s lives, and the chain of command reinforces his ego at every turn. Even when he causes the death of a crewmember, his officers either regard it as none of their business or favour non-intervention to keep their own noses clear when they reach port. At first Dix simply ostracises him from the crew to neutralise the threat, something his rank and his apt summation of their worth makes only too easy. But as they get closer to port and his inevitable abdication of power on shore, he seeks a more permanent solution…



As anyone who has seen the 1931 version of Cimarron knows, Richard Dix could be a barnstorming ham, but here he reins it in as an initially likeable, soft-spoken man, leaving himself somewhere to go as his obsession with authority gradually develops into full blown paranoia. And thankfully either Dix or second-time director Mark Robson is smart enough to know that a line like “You know, there are some captains that would hold this against you” is all the more chilling when the calm delivery underlines the menacing context of his words. At a time when so many propaganda films were painting the Nazis as one-dimensional ogres, the film acknowledges that its own fascist protagonist is no obvious melodrama villain and that all too often the real threat is the “friendliness that tries to get you to thinking wrong.”

But the line between the villain and the hero is thinner than you might expect. Not only does Wade share a physical similarity to a younger Richard Dix, but others take his initial certainty as a sign that he’ll become like him. The Captain certainly sees his younger self in him, trying to mould him in his own image – or at least until he becomes a threat.

Not that there aren’t some frissons along the way, the film narrated by Skelton Knaggs’ mute and filled with ominous foreshadowing and a sense of dread right from the very opening shot of knives in a store window that pays off with a climax that sees its already ineffectual hero rendered disturbingly powerless. And, as always with Lewton, it has remarkable production values for a B-movie, making full use of the ship RKO built for Pacific Liner five years earlier with typically atmospheric cinematography from the great Nicholas Musuraca and an effectively understated score by Roy Webb that knows when to stand back and let the film do its work, as in a striking silent knife fight to the accompaniment of a distant offscreen calypso. Its lengthy exile in the vaults may have ensured it’s one of the least known of Lewton’s classics, but it’s certainly one of the very best.

[Gacivory]

This feels loosely on theme with my day. Watched Mark Robson’s Earthquake for the first time today. So curious to check these out!

[evilive]

A Val Lawton double feature disc?! Works me.

I just hope the remaining two aren't too far behind.

[snipemonkey]

Good news! A couple more off my All-Time Most Wanted list! Which means that they are saving the absolute best for last. Can't wait for Lewton's two greatest masterpieces, I Walked with a Zombie and The 7th Victim.

[Aclea]

It would be nice if they rounded out Lewton's RKO years with a double bill of the deserves to be better known Mademoiselle Fifi and the film he tried to get his name taken off and would rather was forgotten, Youth Runs Wild.

[mmarczi]

I'd rather they be released separately, but Val Lewton beggars can't be choosers, can they? Thrilled that these are coming out. Bedlam is I think Lewton's most underrated horror title. I'm very interested in revisiting The Ghost Ship, as I was somewhat down on it when I saw it and it's probably my least favorite. Ready for my opinion to change. But I hope they're truly saving what I consider to be the best for last, those being The 7th Victim and especially I Walked With a Zombie.

[drownsoda]

I am hoping and praying this means we get a Blu-ray release of The Seventh Victim in the near future.

[Brucaliffo]

I would have preferred an individual release for each.

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by Aclea

Although this isn't the double-bill everyone was expecting, I'm delighted. The Ghost Ship has always felt like the most underrated of the Lewton chillers.

Damn. This was along with Bedlam one of my lesser-rated Lewton films, but looks like I'll have to re-eval. I assume IWWAZ and (hopefully) 7th Victim have a more prestigious rep and will receive individual releases with more copious supplements (Constantine Nasr's involvement will be highly appreciated, that man has done some excellent work for Shout's releases of vintage flicks).

[Aclea]

If you can find a back issue or download it from their site (can't post a link while I'm on this device), a couple of years ago almost exactly The Dark Side magazine did an excellent article on The Ghost Ship (issue 203).

[Professor Echo]

Originally Posted by Aclea

Although this isn't the double-bill everyone was expecting, I'm delighted. The Ghost Ship has always felt like the most underrated of the Lewton chillers:

As anyone who has seen the 1931 version of Cimarron knows, Richard Dix could be a barnstorming ham, but here he reins it in as an initially likeable, soft-spoken man, leaving himself somewhere to go as his obsession with authority gradually develops into full blown paranoia. And thankfully either Dix or second-time director Mark Robson is smart enough to know that a line like “You know, there are some captains that would hold this against you” is all the more chilling when the calm delivery underlines the menacing context of his words. At a time when so many propaganda films were painting the Nazis as one-dimensional ogres, the film acknowledges that its own fascist protagonist is no obvious melodrama villain and that all too often the real threat is the “friendliness that tries to get you to thinking wrong.”

I totally agree that it's very underrated and really one of Lewton's creepier efforts. Characters in Lewton's films always seem to have mechanics going on in their heads that kept them short circuiting, sometimes from the very start, sometimes not until the climax. It's as integral a part of Lewton's shadows as all the literal ones.

As for Dick Dix, yes, he still had a bit of silent film ham to him in many of his roles and couldn't play a convincing drunk to save his life, but when he was on his game, he could be brilliant. Films like THE LOST SQUADRON, HELL'S HIGHWAY, THE PUBLIC DEFENDER and the gorgeous WHISTLER series all tap into his strange balance of mercurial and melancholic inner demons.