Out of the Fog (1941)

“The man that collects the money always comes.”

            Out of the Fog was really boring. I think I grew bored with the film like ten minutes into it. The story was not too great and John Garfield or his character was just outrageously annoying. You know what now that I think about it both actor and character were annoying to no end. There were too many aspects of the film that were bothersome to sit through there was really nothing I liked about it.

            The story takes place on the docks of Brooklyn. Jonah Goodwin (Thomas Mitchell) and his friend Olaf Johnson are fishermen. They dream of owning a large boat that is for sale so they can sail down to the Gulf of Mexico and catch all the large fish they can possibly find.

            On the pier a man named Harold Goff (Garfield) sets fire to a boat to convince some of the fishermen to buy protection from him. Harold eventually corners Jonah and Olaf and forces them to buy his protection for five dollars a week. Harold sees Jonah’s daughter Stella (Ida Lupino) in a local restaurant and starts following her around. He hears that she wants more out of life she does not want to stay around the pier and have a typical life with her boyfriend George (Eddie Bracken).

            Stella starts going out with Harold having no idea what he is doing to her father and Olaf. At some point Stella told Harold that her father was giving her one hundred and ninety dollars to go away to Cuba to get away. Harold just hears the money and goes to Jonah and Harold for it. Jonah gets fed up and calls for the police but nothing happens to Harold because he pulls out a contract he forced the men to sign at gun point.

            Jonah realizes the only way to get Harold off their back is to kill him. He and Olaf take Harold out into the middle of the harbor where they make like their engine has seized. Harold starts getting upset and nervous because he cannot swim. He stands up and accidentally goes overboard.

            I think the police find Harold’s death was an accident I am not sure because by this time I just zoned out and lost track of what was going on.

            Thomas Mitchell, John Qualen, and Ida Lupino were the only good actors in the whole film. Lupino was not even really that good she was a little too over dramatic but still she was good compared to most of the others. She was barely in the film and she gets top billing. Warners was dumb they knew who drew in the money for the studio. John Garfield as I said was annoying I could not stand him after one minute of him being on the screen.

            Out of the Fog is not a long film, but because it was slow and boring it felt like it took forever. Humphrey Bogart was supposed to have John Garfield’s part but Ida Lupino did not want to work with him again and got her way (at twenty- three years old she had a lot of pull at Warner Bros.). Bogart was upset but I think after the film was released he should thanked her because he would not have been right for the role at all. Out of the Fog is only a film I would recommend seeing if you are a huge fan of Ida Lupino or John Garfield other than them skip it completely.