Fog Island

Leo Granger, falsely framed for embezzlement and living on Fog Island with his stepdaughter, invites the 4 persons who framed him and one of which is responsible for the murder of Granger's wife. The only reason for the 4 to go to the former pirate hideaway, is that they, along w/ Granger's former cellmate, believe that somewhere in the house is a stash of money, Granger accumulated. One of the four, Kingsley, is the son of the recently deceased person who framed Granger, and is only there for Gail, the step-daughter. At the island, Granger gives each a clue to ultimately get "what's coming to them", and he waits to see how the group's greed will get the best of them. The film has the right atmosphere and a good cast, but that's all to recommend it. Obviously with a PRC budget, you might have had a style similar to Clair's And Then There Were None. Morse's direction is uneven, very often breaking the tension. Still a good production from the studio. Rating, 5.

A pen for Emiline Bronson.

A small book of multiplication tables for John Kavanaugh.

A toy skull for Sylvia Jordan.

A chisel for Alec Richfield.

A knife for Jeff Kingsley.

And a key for Gail, whose last name we never learn.

These are party favors from Leo Grainger, a failed financier whose associates framed him with a fraud rap. He was sent to jail for five years. And someone murdered his rich wife. This night they are all gathered on Fog Island in Grainger's hulking mansion, amidst fog so thick you can lean against it. Grainger invited them with hints that from the money he was convicted of stealing, a fortune still remains buried somewhere in the mansion. However, Jeff Kingsley turns out to be the innocent son of one of the conspirators, a man who has died recently. And Gail is Leo Grainger's stepdaughter, a young woman who seems pouty and resentful, yet who appears to have respect for her stepfather. During this long night, Leo Grainger's party favors will lead to retribution and horrible death.

For fans of low-budget Forties' movies, especially those which feature mystery, death and strange animals, human and otherwise, roaming the moors, two names stand high in the pantheon of actors who deliver the goods: George Zucco and Lionel Atwill. They were born within a year of each other in England, Zucco in 1886 and Atwill in 1885. Both had distinguished stage careers. Zucco left Britain for Hollywood in 1935. Atwill arrived in America in 1915. Atwill was so confident and assured as an actor that it was easy to overlook how hammy he could be. Zucco's mad glare made it easy to overlook how good an actor he was, and how avuncular and reassuring he could be as a good guy. Both settled into strong character parts in the Thirties, often in A-level movies, and both, for different reasons, ended up in more and more low-budget mystery and horror programmers in the Forties...Zucco because as he got older he began to accept any roles offered to him; Atwill because he was involved in a scandal and could only find work in low-budget cheapies.

Fog Island is fun because it is one of the few films the two actors appear in together. Zucco is Leo Grainger, a man who will have his retribution. Atwill is Alec Richfield, one of the instigators of Leo's downfall and a prime suspect in the death of Leo's wife. The third major player, of course, is the glowering mansion set on this isolated island. We quickly learn, as Leo goes about setting his traps, that some of his guests are going to encounter the dank lower chambers carved in the living rock, rooms with hidden doors, pits covered with disguised lids and one water-tight room, deep in the bowels of the island, where horri...well, you need to see the movie.

The film features some barely adequate acting, gloomy and surprisingly rich-looking interiors, a lot of obviously one-take scenes, as well as a suspicious looking butler. And among the cast is that tall, blond specialist in dames you shouldn't trust, Veda Ann Borg. Those fans of low-budget programmers like me miss her.

First time of watching: entertaining low budget spooky house mystery with Zucco and Atwill at their eye-popping peaks. Terrible print - the negative must look transparent, so I would definitely recommend switching the lights off (or a cinema) for optimum viewing.

It's a PRC stagey mix of And Then There Were None (in this case, Two) and The Cat And The Canary, with a few extra twists, but with only nine characters. The butler was a short-lived oddball however, quickly dispatched with gusto from the plot to the cynical amusement of Zucco. To my cynical amusement it's at that moment that Zucco is reminded that he "blew his top" when he was in prison - not hard to imagine!

The male romantic lead was even more wooden, impetuous and prescient than the rest of the cast (Jerome Cowan was wasted yet again), but overall I enjoyed the film, nice atmosphere when the print allowed and an almost believable nasty-revenge storyline.

This genre of mystery film began in the twenties and ended in the early 1940's. It is a good late night movie to be seen before bedtime. It has none of the overkill of the movies of the 1990's.

Although "Fog Island" is very stagy (which is understandable, seeing as it was adapted from a play), and the acting is often atrocious, it's very enjoyable for its black and white mystery atmosphere. It reminded me of the kind of drama that used to be produced for the radio on shows like "Inner Sanctum." The admittedly contrived story takes place predominantly in an old dark mansion which is, we are told, located on an island where the fog is constant and overpowering. Lionel Atwill, who was framed and sent up the river by some shifty associates in his business, devises a scheme to lure the conspirators to his remote home and have them kill each other for the fortune they think is hidden there.

The creaky story relies on all of the characters being murderously greedy, and this is the kind of movie where booby traps exist alongside secret passages and hidden compartments. Did houses like this really exist anywhere other than the movies?

Interestingly, although the plot comes off as contrived, it's not entirely predictable, either. It also benefits from not being overly long, clocking in at just about an hour. The presence of Lionel Atwill helps immensely. Would be great on a double bill with "Secret of the Blue Room".