Out of the Fog (1941)
Posted: May 16th, 2007, 2:42 pm
<i>Out of the Fog</i> has some claims to being one of the earliest examples of film noir. Made in 1941, it has not a single scene shot in sunshine. Everything is dingy interiors, or night clubs, or night scenes on the waterfront with more fog than you’ve ever seen and enough shadows to keep any noir fan happy. The movie is about a thug (John Garfield) running a small-time protection racket collecting money from owners of fishing boats. When he starts romancing the daughter (Ida Lupino) of one of his victims you know there’s trouble brewing. It’s really a reversal of the femme fatale thing that was such a feature of film noir. This time it’s Ida Lupino as a young woman who is basically just an ordinary decent person who is tempted by the glamour and freedom represented by racketeer Garfield. When you look at the lives of her parents and their friends, and when you look at her decent ordinary boyfriend (played by Eddie Albert) you can understand why she’s prepared to risk anything to avoid ending up like them. From her point of view anything is preferable to the dreary round of drudgery that comprises their lives. The other noirish element is the way the law is shown to be of no use at all in protecting ordinary people. There is no escape from injustice, unless you’re prepared to abandon the law yourself. And even the most honest people can be drawn into the web of corruption and greed.
The movie has some definite strong points. There’s Lupino’s performance - as so often teetering on the edge of hysteria but a compelling and believable portrait of the desperation of a woman who feels the walls of respectability and normality closing in on her. Garfield gives a wonderful portrayal of charming and seductive evil. And James Wong Howe’s cinematography is superb. Eddie Albert is quite good. The weak points – it’s much too talky overall, and the minor characters are remarkably annoying and just never stop talking. I think they’re supposed to be colourful and loveable and the salt of the earth. I just kept hoping Garfield would bump them off just to shut them up. It was adapted from a play, and the plot is driven entirely by dialogue. It’s beautifully and atmospherically photographed, but it’s like a beautifully and atmospherically photographed stage play. The ending is interesting – it’s cloyingly sentimental, but kind of cynical and film noirish as well, and the movie also suggests that the law is both ineffectual and corrupt, which is a little surprising for a post-Production Code picture.
The movie has some definite strong points. There’s Lupino’s performance - as so often teetering on the edge of hysteria but a compelling and believable portrait of the desperation of a woman who feels the walls of respectability and normality closing in on her. Garfield gives a wonderful portrayal of charming and seductive evil. And James Wong Howe’s cinematography is superb. Eddie Albert is quite good. The weak points – it’s much too talky overall, and the minor characters are remarkably annoying and just never stop talking. I think they’re supposed to be colourful and loveable and the salt of the earth. I just kept hoping Garfield would bump them off just to shut them up. It was adapted from a play, and the plot is driven entirely by dialogue. It’s beautifully and atmospherically photographed, but it’s like a beautifully and atmospherically photographed stage play. The ending is interesting – it’s cloyingly sentimental, but kind of cynical and film noirish as well, and the movie also suggests that the law is both ineffectual and corrupt, which is a little surprising for a post-Production Code picture.