Out of the Fog

John Garfield is a sadistic, heartless thug in "Out of the Fog," starring Ida Lupino, Thomas Mitchell, John Qualen, and Eddie Albert. Garfield's life centers around intimidating scared, weak people into coughing up "protection" money so that he won't set their boats or businesses on fire or beat them to a pulp. Ida Lupino plays Stella, a young woman who's bored with her boyfriend (Eddie Albert) and sick of her life, and when she meets Garfield, she sees a chance for excitement. Little does she know that he's shaking down her father (Mitchell) and his partner in a fishing boat (Qualen).

This drama was interesting, had a rich atmosphere and a good cast. That, however, doesn't mean I enjoyed it. Garfield was so mean he was disgusting, John Qualen was so lily-livered I wanted to slap him, and all I could do was pity poor Thomas Mitchell. How Lupino could have had anything to do with Garfield after she found out he was demanding money from her father is beyond me.

The point of the film, brought home by Eddie Albert and Mitchell, is that Stella is just an ordinary girl and she shouldn't want or reach for anything special. Well, maybe she shouldn't have wanted or reached for any special via John Garfield, but how's that for a nice sexist 1940s message. However, the ending (not liked by at least one of the posters commenting here) does indicate that Stella will be able to achieve a balance in her life, so in that way, it was very satisfying.

The best characters were played by Mitchell and Qualen who, not surprisingly, give the best performances. They had a lot more to work with, Mitchell especially, and he gave it everything he had. Garfield's role was one-dimensional, and we learn nothing about how he came to be such a rat, so all you can do is hate him. Lupino's role is strictly ingénue - she found a better niche later on.

Interesting movie that, whether you like it or not, will hold your interest.

This odd little film effectively weds comedy and drama and works in practice in a way that you'd never believe if someone just laid out the plot for you on paper.

John Garfield takes some chances here with his fan base as he plays a very one-dimensional hood, Goff, who goes for the easy pickings. Rather than go to the big city where he would most probably have to contend with gangsters rougher and smarter than himself, he moves in on a fishing community and chooses to shake down the peace-loving and gentle populace.

Thomas Mitchell and John Qualen play pals Jonah Goodwin and Olaf Johnson, who live for the nights they go fishing - they both have day jobs. They comprise most of the comedy and the most touching parts of the drama as they gradually come to realize that the law won't help them get the ruffian Goff out of their lives, and they may just have to take action themselves. With someone like Goff, there is only one action that will work - murder.

Ida Lupino plays a rather one-dimensional character herself - Jonah Goodwin's daughter Stella - and as such she is just made for Goff, whom she desperately wants on any terms regardless of what he is doing to her own father. She finds existence in the fishing village boring and is looking for a way out when Goff comes along and sweeps her off her feet by dazzling her with dollars and his devil-may-care attitude. I have to really applaud John Garfield's performance here - he shows not a shred of humanity. Considering he had already built up a reputation as playing sensitive loners, this was quite a chance he was taking.

The end pulls punches compared to the story it is based upon, but you have to lay the blame for that at the feet of the censors at the time, not Warner Brothers. Highly recommended.

I found "Out of the Fog" to be a dreary film, in part because it takes place entirely at night (in a Hollywood studio's version of the slums of Brooklyn), and in part because its take on human nature is bleak.

John Garfield, as a small-time gangster, offers up no redeeming qualities; he's pure evil in a smarmy sort of way, and so not very interesting. According to TCM's Robert Osborne, Humphrey Bogart was considered for this role. Though Garfield was strong in other movies, I believe Bogie would have brought more to the table in this one than we see from Garfield.

Ida Lupino as the working class girl who wants to see a bigger, brighter world, falls equally short. She's sweet and kind to her father, yet dates Garfield's Goff character even after learning that Goff is shaking down dear old Dad. Her acting fails to reconcile these two facts (although the screenplay may equally be to blame).

Though "Out of the Fog" apparently had its roots in socialist perspective, it comes off as patronizing; the working class folk should be happy with their lot, it suggests, and when their pleas for help are ignored by their government (represented by the court here), their only ally is the working class cop who walks the local beat.

"Out of the Fog" fails as a film noir crime drama and as a morality tale. The ending is happy -- though everyone we're supposed to care about returns to their bleak existence -- but it is an unsatisfying resolution.

In Brooklyn, fishing is the hobby of the workers Jonah Goodwin (Thomas Mitchell) and Olaf Johnson (John Qualen) and they use to fish every night in their old boat. Jonah's daughter is the twenty-one year-old telephone operator Stella Goodwin (Ida Lupino), who is an ambitious young woman that dreams on leaving her neighborhood. She is the sweetheart of the worker George Watkins (Eddie Albert), a simple man that dreams on marrying her.

When the smalltime gangster Harold Goff (John Garfield) arrives in Brooklyn, he extorts money from Jonah and Olaf to "protect" their boat from fire and dates Stella. Jonah tries to convince his daughter that Goff is a racketeer that takes money out of poor ordinary people but she does not care to her father since she sees Goff as her chance to have a comfortable life and visit new places. When she discloses to Goff that her father has savings, Goff demands the money to Jonah. Now the old man is convinced that the only chance to get rid off Goff is to fight back.

"Out of the Fog" is a good drama with John Garfield performing a cold racketeer and Ida Lupino kind of lost in a contradictory role of a silly young woman that seems to love her father but even after knowing that her boyfriend is extorting him, she continues to date the racketeer. Despite the bleak and amoral conclusion, "Out of the Fog" is a great classic. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Quando a Noite Cai" ("When the Night Falls")

What a treat! I just watched this movie, and apart from the ending which makes things come into place a little too neatly and quickly for my taste, I loved it. Not least the sense of style that Litvak and cameraman par excellence Wong Howe use to make this not very inspiring script come to life. The huge set, a provincial fishing village in Brooklyn, is wonderfully lit and photographed, only partly visible through the fog that weigh on young lusty Ida Lupino's mind as she dreams of better things, of Cuba and crystal-clear water, of glamorous, dangerous men who take what they want and make no excuses for themselves. At times the story is so downbeat that it takes a small miracle here and there to rise above it, but nearly all is ultimately forgiven. John Garfield is deliciously wicked as the racketeer who sets out to destroy everybody's lives in order to eke out his own beastly living, Thomas Mitchell and Anthony Qualen are brilliant in the real starring parts as the two old-timers who finally realize that they have to make a stand against the evil of this world. In a small, but significant part as a hilarious, bankrupt man in a sauna, George Tobias shines. If it ever comes your way, you should see it. It's the real thing.