Crime

Thriller

Out of the Fog

Warner Bros. Pictures

United States of America

English

Ida Lupino

John Garfield

Thomas Mitchell

Eddie Albert

George Tobias

John Qualen

Aline MacMahon

Jerome Cowan

Odette Myrtil

Leo Gorcey

Robert Homans

Bernard Gorcey

Paul Harvey

Murray Alper

Frank Coghlan Jr.

Jimmy Conlin

Alec Craig

Frank Darien

Charles Drake

Jay Eaton

Eddie Graham

Creighton Hale

Frank Mayo

Jack Mower

Mayta Palmera

Barbara Pepper

Charles Sherlock

Billy Wayne

Charles C. Wilson

Garland Smith

Walter Tetley

Jack Wise

James Wong Howe

Richard Macaulay

Anatole Litvak

Robert Rossen

Jerry Wald

Irwin Shaw

Rex Wimpy

Warren Low

Hal B. Wallis

Chuck Hansen

Everett Alton Brown

Perc Westmore

Audrey Scott

Lee Katz

Buster Wiles

Carl Jules Weyl

Howard Shoup

Henry Blanke

Heinz Roemheld

Out of the fog and into the briny.

Out of the Fog is directed by Anatole Litvak and collectively adapted to screenplay by Robert Macaulay, Robert Rosen and Jerry Wald from the play The Gentle People written by Irwin Shaw. It stars John Garfield, Ida Lupino, Thomas Mitchell, John Qualen and Eddie Albert. Music is by Heinz Roemheld and cinematography by James Wong Howe. 

The Brooklyn wharf-side is the setting for this melodrama tinted with noirish themes and players. The area is Sheepshead Bay and the local citizens are a gathering of people stuck in a rut they seem incapable of getting out of. Old gentlemen dreamers planning to buy a big boat and sail off to sunnier climes, the local lovely who's in a dull relationship with a dullard – who craves for something more spicy. Other patrons of Sheepshead just while away the hours playing cards in the local restaurant - that's the peak of their excitement, and others are just slaves to the grindstone. Then there's Jacob Goff (Garfield), a chiseller and racketeer, a man who stomps around the wharf like the cock of the hen-house, gathering protection money or casually setting fire to the boats of anyone who dares not to pay their dues… 

There's a wonderfully atmospheric feel to Out of the Fog, due to the claustrophobic setting of the story and Wong Howe's moody photography. Characterisations are enhanced by some well versed scripting that puts lyrical dialogue into the mouths of the principal players. Goff is the archetypal charming rogue, with a killer smile and sexy danger oozing from his pores, it's no wonder that frustrated Stella Goodwin (Lupino) spies an opportunity to escape her humdrum existence. Hell! Goff even does card tricks. But of course he is a sort of devil in disguise, or fascism in disguise as it happens, and as he tips the lives upside down of the Sheepshead residents, it brings threats and violence to this once quiet little waterfront. 

1941 was a key year for film noir, with the likes of The Maltese Falcon and I Wake Up Screaming lighting the touch paper of a film making style that would burn brightly for the next 20 years. Out of the Fog has made its may into some noir publications, which is understandable given the essence of the story and the presence of noir legends Lupino and Garfield, but it's not what I would call essential film noir by some margin. However, it's a comfortable recommendation to like minded noirphiles regardless. 7/10

Out of The Fog (Original Theatrical Trailer)

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Out of the Fog

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Cast

Ida Lupino

John Garfield

Thomas Mitchell

Eddie Albert

George Tobias

John Qualen

Aline MacMahon

Jerome Cowan

Odette Myrtil

Leo Gorcey

Box office

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