Ida Lupino Attempts To Stay Afloat: ‘Out Of The Fog’ Reviewed
by Rachel Bellwoar
Warner Archive provided me with a free copy of the Blu-Ray I reviewed in this article. The opinions I share are my own.
To Jonah (Thomas Mitchell) and his best friend, Olaf (John Qualen), work might be a daily grind … but as long as they can look forward to fishing together on their boat, they can get through it. Enter John Garfield‘s Goff, a racketeer who shows up the same day another boat is burned to a crisp to tell them if they don’t start paying him protection money, their little vessel is next. As if things weren’t bad enough, Jonah learns Goff has been seeing his daughter, Stella (Ida Lupino), and is desperate to make her realize he’s bad news. The trouble: Stella already knows that but, given the choice between her boring routine and the excitement Goff offers, she’d rather choose excitement.
The trailer for Anatole Litvak‘s Out of the Fog would suggest the film is all about their romance — the good girl who can’t resist the bad boy and maybe thinks she can change him. In truth, though, the suggestion that Goff could ever change is never courted by the movie and it’s to Garfield’s credit that he never attempts to paint Goff out as anything but despicable. Is there psychological depth to his performance — the bully who lashes out because he doesn’t know how to make friends? Absolutely! But just the fact that Goff sees no moral dilemma in courting Stella while making her father’s life miserable is a problem. This is not a guy who has a conscience and Garfield wastes time trying to make him likable.
Mitchell and Qualen are the real stars of the show, even if their names might not have sold tickets like Garfield’s or Lupino’s. The real travesty is that Qualen’s doesn’t even make the film poster. Instead George Tobias’ name is on it when his character barely has any scenes and is strictly background.
Maybe there are those who would’ve preferred a more realistic, filmed on-location movie over the Brooklyn docks via a soundstage that Out of the Fog offers, but as someone who loves the painted backdrops and fog machines of classic era Hollywood, there’s something so much more magical about buying into the manufactured but dreamlike sets (plus, to anyone familiar with the career of cinematographer James Wong Howe (Seconds), you know the quality of image he delivers).
The film’s treatment of Stella is probably the most interesting and controversial aspect of the movie. Based on an Irwin Shaw play, Richard Macaulay, Jerry Wald, and Robert Rossen‘s screenplay is definitely on the side of her father and thinking her staying with Goff is a huge mistake. While it would’ve been easier and more obvious to play Stella as the rebellious daughter who is just dating this monster out of spite, Lupino and the film refuse to villainize her. If anything, watching the movie through modern eyes is fascinating because yes, Goff sucks, but also it’s hard to blame Stella for not wanting to accept her ex-boyfriend (Eddie Albert) and father’s domestic estimation of her worth. They might not mean anything by their words, like telling Stella she’s not extraordinary or important. It’s hard to imagine a world where those words could be taken a right way, but their intent does not come across as cruel, and yet they are making her feel boxed into two choices instead of realizing she doesn’t have to settle.
Warner Archive’s Blu-ray comes with two cartoons and they’re both excellent. “The Heckling Hare” deals with some of the same themes as Out of the Fog (the law abiding [though also a hunting] dog who’s driven to violence by an unscrupulous rabbit) and features an older version of Bugs Bunny. The animation is uglier or less commercial than later Bugs, but the gags are fantastic. “Hollywood Steps Out” is one of those cartoons full of Hollywood caricatures that are a joy to watch. Some of the faces are immediately recognizable. Others are not – if it weren’t for someone saying his name, Henry Fonda neither looks or sounds like Henry Fonda. Cartoon Jimmy Stewart, on the other hand, is Jimmy Stewart down to the hand gestures.
Out of the Fog is available on Blu-ray now from Warner Archive and to purchase from Movie Zyng.
