Fog Island

Watching this reminded me of staying up late at night in the early 50s after mom and dad went to bed. Cheaply made, mediocre acting, and a spooky soundtrack.

It was interesting to hear the Theme from "The Whistler" radio show in the first few moments after the opening credits. But there is no other mention of a conn3ction to the radio show in the film.

This crime/mystery drama is pretty murky in a number of respects, but it holds your interest most of the time with a tense and rather complicated story. George Zucco and Lionel Atwill are right at home in this kind of material, and the rest of the cast is solid if unspectacular.

The setup has Zucco as an ex-convict who has a mysterious home on "Fog Island", to which he lures an assortment of persons whom he holds responsible for framing him and for killing his wife. Zucco is convincing as a half-mad plotter, and although parts of his plan remain obscure or confusing, it's interesting in that his approach to revenge is not the usual one of direct confrontation.

Atwill and Veda Ann Borg are the liveliest of the supporting characters. John Whitney and Sharon Douglas are at least likable, but they are too plain to arouse much interest in their characters, who are significant to the story.

The fog and darkness that dominate the settings help to hide the low-budget production, and they also help in setting the atmosphere of confusion and distrust. There are a fair number of interesting moments, and although it doesn't all fit together as well as it could have, it's a fairly interesting offbeat feature of its kind.

Wow, Atwill and Zucco together at last. I was expecting crackling transformers, electrical arcs, and monsters galore. No such luck. They do have one minor face-off, but I don't think the producers knew what sinister potential they had in these two veteran madmen.

It's a typical PRC cheap budget— a big drawing room, some secret passages, and an underground room that becomes a swimming pool at inconvenient times. And that's about it. The plot's supposed to be about an island host (Zucco) using a ruse to get people who wronged him onto his island as guests so he can get revenge. Maybe the premise is not very original, but it does have potential. Trouble is there's very little development producing either suspense or mystery. Mostly, it's scattered dialog and playing hide and seek in semi-darkness. In short, the narrative's a series of individual occurrences that fail to build beyond themselves. Thus, we're left with a few interesting set-ups but little more. Too bad.

Oh yes, mustn't forget not just one spider woman, but two—Borg and DeWit. Both are tall, forceful, and attractive. Like Zucco & Atwill, they do have one minor face-off, but I guess I was hoping for an all-out catfight, or more aptly a lioness fight. Now that would have been memorable. Anyway, the film does have its moments, but fails to cohere into anything more.

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.