The Ghost Ship and Bedlam are two films produced by Val Lewton and directed by Mark Robson. Lewton at the time was producing many great semi-horror themed films without showing much in the way of horror as we see it today. The films have been paired together in a Warner Archive Val Lewton double-feature Blu-ray. Slowly but surely all his films he produced are making their way towards Blu-ray with only I Walked with a Zombie and The Seventh Victim being the remaining films still only on DVD.

The Ghost Ship is a creepy psychological thriller that stars screen legend Richard Dix (The Whistler) as Captain Will Stone, commander of a ship, the Altair. Tom Merriam (Russell Wade, The Body Snatcher) joins the crew as the Third Officer in charge. At first all is well at sea but suddenly the crew starts to dwindle as some of them are found dead. Merriam is the only one who has noticed that Captain Stone is unhinged and feels that he is killing the crew members who he disliked. The crew believes the ship is simply haunted and start to shy away from Merriam after he accuses Stone of being unfit to command. Nobody wants to help Merriam who finds himself in grave danger.

Bedlam stars the iconic Boris Karloff as Master George Sims who runs an asylum for the mentally ill, named Bedlam. When a friend of Lord Mortimer (Billy House, Smart Money) dies trying to escape the asylum, Mortimer’s protégé Neil Bowen (Anna Lee, Flesh and Fantasy, Jack the Giant Killer) goes to Bedlam to see how Sims’ patients are being treated and discovers that they are being treated poorly. Unfortunately, both Mortimer and Sims have teamed to have Neil committed and she finds herself in the asylum with the other patients, but is soon released, but Sims still has evil plans for her.

I prefer The Ghost Ship between these two as I enjoy the horror elements and atmosphere that the film has but both make for a great double-feature. The Ghost Ship is an eerie tale, with a feeling of creepiness throughout and Skelton Knaggs (Isle of the Dead) as Finn the Mute doing some narration during the film as only he can. Lawrence Tierney in an uncredited role, is one of the films’ victims.  

Bedlam is an entirely different animal dealing with mentally ill patients being mistreated. The film is certainly enjoyable, especially with Boris Karloff in another sinister role. Anna Lee, whose career lasted for nearly 70 years, has a great role playing a strong female who stands up for the patients being mistreated. The film is also not without atmosphere which makes these pictures so good.

Bedlam was the last film in the series of Val Lewton produced films. Other films in the horror themed series include Cat People, The Curse of the Cat People, The Seventh Victim, I Walked with a Zombie and The Body Snatcher.

Much to the delight of fans, these two low-budget gems have been given a Blu-ray release on a single disc. Both films look marvelous with excellent black levels, shadow detail, film grain. The cinematography by Nicholas Musuraca for both films shine with great depth and rich textures. The boost in contrast has these films looking the best that they have ever looked, BUT there is one flaw in The Ghost Ship where the moth shown at the beginning of the film that Dix refuses to kill has been vanquished. You can clearly see that moth on the DVD. There is talk of a replacement disc, so we’ll see. While it is just a moth, it is an important scene for the film as we learn a little something about Captain Stone.

Warner Archive uses English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono for both movies on their Blu-ray and the dialogue coming in clearly and other action noises come in clearly. The audio is not overpowering or subtle and does the job. English subtitles are offered for this release.

In the extras department, Tom Weaver provides a commentary for Bedlam and a theatrical trailer is all we get.

Outside of the issue with the missing moth in The Ghost Ship, this release is an easy pick-up with excellent, top-notch audio and video quality to go with an always entertaining commentary track by Tom Weaver. Recommended!

The Ghost Ship / Bedlam

Director- Mark Robson

Cast- Richard Dix, Russell Wade, Boris Karloff

Country of Origin- US

Distributor – Warner Archive / Warner Home Video

Number of Discs – 1

Reviewed by – David Steigman

Date –11/11/21