Lucybespro It is a performances centric movie

ChanBot i must have seen a different film!!

Contentar Best movie of this year hands down!

Stoutor It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

JohnHowardReid Director: VICTOR HALPERIN. Screenplay: George Wallace Sayre, Harvey Huntley. Suggested by the 1899 short story, "A Thousand Deaths", by Jack London. Photography: Jack Greenhalgh. Film editor: Holbrook N. Todd. Art director: Fred Preble. Music director: David Chudnow. Sound recording: Hans Weeren. Producers: Sigmund Neufeld, Ben Judell. A Sigmund Neufeld Production.Not copyright by Producers Distributing Corporation. No recorded New York opening. U.S. release: 28 October 1939. 57 minutes. SYNOPSIS: A mad doctor experiments on a ship full of criminals.COMMENT: Even in its truncated 48-minutes version (the opening scenes have been deleted), this little movie is bound to disappoint Halperin admirers who thrilled to his highly imaginative direction of White Zombie and Supernatural. Mind you, it's competent enough, but so ordinary that for all intents and purposes producer Neufeld might well have achieved the same results by using their services of his brother, good old Sam Newfield, instead. Best thing about the film is the skillful performance of Irving Pichel as the mad doctor. Worst thing is the unattractively wan appearance of the normally lovely Julie Bishop who looks positively anorexic here, thanks to Greenhalgh's unflattering lighting and photography. Her costumes and make-up don't help either. Yet another sore point is the continued presence of Eddie Holden as a comic steward. A little Eddie goes a long way-- far too long in this case. If broadcasters thought the movie was too long at 57 minutes to keep the attention of restless night owls, surely the scissors would have been better employed removing Holden's part. Instead a lot of necessary exposition has been jettisoned, making the plot difficult to follow and the characters just barely possible to place.

MovieResearch The Alpha Video release seems to be fairly complete with the entire story intact (except for some splicy sections in what was probably a 16mm television print: The story does make sense in this version which has the entire explanation of why the criminals are on the ship in the first place and what the doctor's motivations are.It is mysterious that the film runs about 63 minutes when the main IMDb description has it released at 57 minutes. That's probably incorrect and doesn't represent the original theatrical release, but rather some random individual's timing from a DVD or VHS tape that wasn't complete in the first place.

kidboots Dr. Herbert Stander (Irving Pichel) is working on some experiments to cure the criminal mind. He buys a boat and on the premise of a cruise (that's what it seemed liked to me!!!) takes a variety of criminals on board to conduct his experiments.One of the criminals, Poison Mary (Sheila Bromley), fights with her secretary, Joan Martel (Jacqueline Welles) and manages to convince the ship's crew that Joan is just as much of a criminal as all the rest. Bob Bennett (Lyle Talbot) believes in her innocence. After one of the criminals goes out of his mind and creates mayhem on the boat Dr. Stander decides to experiment on people free from criminal taint. Bob, who was knocked out in the scuffle is the first victim. Bob awakes a changed man - he tries to attack Joan but his uncle, Dr. Stander, subdues him. When the drug wears off, Bob fills the syringe with distilled water and "fakes" his sickness, while trying to send messages to the mainland. He then gathers the rest of the criminals together and takes over the ship. The criminals have other ideas - they want to kill off all the doctors, starting with Dr. Stander. Bob then organizes the doctors and together they overthrow the criminal mutineers by an ingenious method. Poison Mary has also been injected with serum but she has been a success - she asks Joan's forgiveness and says she feels like a new person!!!With a plot based on a Jack London story, this film was always going to appeal to me. It was considerably shorter than 57 minutes . My copy started with the criminals on the ship planning to take over and then the fight between Mary and Joan. You can pick up the story though. A good cast makes the film work. Lyle Talbot, still looking good, plays kindly Bob. Irving Pichel, who was a top notch villain and also a reasonable director ("The Most Dangerous Game" (1932)) plays Dr. Stander. Jacqueline Welles, before she changed her name to Julie Bishop plays Joan Martell. Sheila Bromley, who also went by the name Sheila Mannors and appeared in a few westerns was Poison Mary. She was probably the most exciting and lively person in the whole film. Russell Hopton appeared as Harry the Carver.Recommended.

Michael_Elliott Torture Ship (1939) ** (out of 4) A mad doctor puts criminals aboard his ship so that he can do strange experiments on them trying to figure out what's wrong. This film was directed by Victor Halperin who previously made White Zombie, Supernatural and Revolt of the Zombies. Overall the film isn't too bad but there's really not too much action or horror in the film's short 50-minute running time. Lyle Talbot plays the hero and he always brings some "B" movie charm to a film but that's about it. Mixing the horror, sci-fi and gangster genres together should have worked better. Based on a story by Jack London.