You can't look at this movie and compare to the blockbusters, but as a B flick it's pretty good, even up at the top (in my mind). The story of the ghost is told in flashbacks and through a séance. The acting is pretty good, though the stars are not memorable. It's almost like watching an old TV show, though I more liken it to "The Woman Who Came Back" (1945). Someone just wrote a nice little mystery with some adequately spooky moments, and that is about all there is to it.

It starts out with a couple trying to buy an older steamboat. The man selling it to them warns them of its haunting. You see moments of the inquiry and story that led to the haunting, but it is not until the séance that you start to get a clue as to what caused the haunting.

This movie has nothing to do with movies of the same title, one from the forties and one from a few years ago.

Not to be confused with "The Ghost Ship," one of four (!) classic Val Lewton films from 1943, OR the 2002 horror fest "Ghost Ship," 1952's "Ghost Ship" is an obscure little British picture that should just manage to please. In it, real-life husband and wife Dermot Walsh and Hazel Court play Guy and Margaret Thornton, a Canadian couple living in England, who buy the Cyclops, a 40-year-old steamer yacht, and realize, after a series of freakish incidents, that the darn thing really might be haunted. An aged biddy of a medium (a pale knockoff of the marvelous character brought to indelible life by Margaret Rutherford in 1945's "Blithe Spirit") holds a seance on board and, via a series of flashbacks, the viewer is allowed to witness the events that led to the ship's current state, culminating in a surprise ending of sorts. A fast-paced 72 minutes, "Ghost Ship"'s major lure for modern-day audiences is perhaps Hazel Court, who over the next 10 years would become one of British cinema's reigning queens of horror. With a perfectly shaped mouth that might make Angelina Jolie envious and a pair of zygomatic bones that could turn Deborah Harry green with envy, Hazel was indeed luscious to look at on screen, especially in this relatively early role; sadly, her striking red hair and green eyes cannot be appreciated in this B&W film. The picture in question is a lighthearted affair that is not a bit scary (even an initial glimpse of the ship's ghost fails to raise any hackles) but always engaging, thanks to some pleasant performances, a crackling, no-nonsense script from director Vernon Sewell, and a sprightly score by Eric Spear. In all, a minor affair, but an entertaining one, presented here on a surprisingly crisp-looking DVD courtesy of Wham! USA.

This British low-budgeter does not have a good reputation within its subgenre – mainly because it is "singularly unfrightening", as one critic had remarked about SON OF FRANKENSTEIN (1939) but also since, as often happens, the manifestations prove to be just a hoax! It is harmless enough under the circumstances, but does take its time to get going (despite running only 71 minutes),eventually generating some interest during the second half with the parapsychology elements, the ghost's backstory (he is played by John Robinson – Professor Bernard Quatermass in the TV serial "Quatermass II" [1955]) and the twist ending. Hazel Court makes for a pretty and likable leading lady; however, Ian Carmichael – soon to portray the naïve hero of many a classic Boulting Bros. satire – has an extended and unfunny bit as a drunk at a party held on the titular vessel. Although, personally, I did not recognize any of them, the cast also includes Joss (1970's THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD) Ackland, Patricia (1958's THE FLY) Owens and Melissa (1958's HORROR OF Dracula) Stribling in bit parts.