Fuite dans la brume

Did I have a dream too, as the woman in this film? This is a short length Columbia Pictures thriller, where the villain is not George Mac Ready !! I can't believe it. Otto Kruger is however effective here, but in a role in the total opposite of what the villain character that George Mac Ready should have had. The villians here are of course Nazis; a couple of years later, it would have been the Commies.... Anyway, yes, Nina Foch is the predictable character for this cheap Columbia - but so effective though - film, but, I repeat, the usual villain Mac Ready is missing. So, even without him, this early Budd Boetticher programmer is worth the catch, as any other Budd boetticher's film anyway. Some Hitchcockian elements in this movie too.

"Escape in the Fog" is an intriguing 1945 B movie directed by Budd Boetticher and starring Nina Foch and Otto Kruger.

Foch is a nurse, Eileen Carr, honorably discharged from the service after a something akin to a nervous breakdown. She has a nightmare where she witnesses a man being attacked on the Golden Gate Bridge.

Once awake, she meets the actual victim in her dream, Barry Malcolm (William Wright) who is staying in the same place. There's an immediate attraction, and he offers to take her to San Francisco with him.

Once there, Malcolm, a special agent, gets orders from his boss, Paul Devon (Kruger) to go to Hong Kong to deliver a package to the Chinese underground. Devon's house has been bugged by the Axis, and they follow Malcolm to get the package.

When it's revealed that the people who picked up Malcolm were not sent by Devon, Eileen realizes her dream is about to come true, and she rushes to the Golden Gate Bridge. The rest of the story takes place from there.

This is a pretty preposterous tale, but entertaining nonetheless, with a strong performance by the lovely Foch. Baby boomers like myself remember her as an older woman and a constant television presence. Here she's young, and she and Kruger do an excellent job of holding this film together.

If you can overcome the plot holes, you'll enjoy this one.

Escape in the Fog is directed by Oscar "Budd" Boetticher and written by Aubrey Wisberg. It stars Nina Foch, William Wright, Otto Kruger and Konstantin Shayne.

Foch plays nurse Eileen Carr who dreams of a man being murdered only to wake and meet the man in real life...

Solid programmer out of Columbia, Escape in the Fog runs at just over an hour and gets by on its nifty spy like premise and a good sense of atmosphere. Boetticher himself would say that this early period in his career was all about a learning curve, and he shows some nice economical touches to mask the low budget nature of the production. Film is at its best when Frisco is fog bound, while the war time shenanigans amount to race against time espionage intrigue. Noir darling Foch is good value and Wright decent hero/romantic foil, and the skulduggery dealing villains are a fun product of the time. 6/10

Another wartime programmer that Hollywood was turning out by the hundreds. The only unusual angle is the mixing of espionage with psychic dreams, apparently an everyday occurrence in this scripted world. Except for the bland male lead (Wright), it's an excellent cast of stereotypes, including professional Hollywood Nazi, Ivan Triesault who made a career of these cruel types. There's also the incredibly smooth Otto Kruger playing a good guy, for once, but then who could do oily villains better than his smiling cobra. And what guy wouldn't like to partner-up with newcomer Nina Foch in an extended game of mixed doubles. With his penchant for cool blondes, I wonder why Hitchcock didn't enlist her obvious talents at some point. Anyway, cult director Boetticher helms in efficient style, the fog machine gets overtime, and a number of practiced players do their thing. (In passing, note how slickly Boetticher stages the shootout near movie's end—a foreshadowing of the classics to come. Note too, that Malcolm represents a generic federal agency and not the FBI by name. That way possible legal problems are avoided.) Nothing exceptional here, just a demonstration of how the studio assembly line turned out an entertaining product even under straitened wartime conditions.

On a foggy San Francisco night, dreamy Nina Foch (as Eileen Carr) takes a melancholy walk on the Golden Gate Bridge. The beautiful young woman is suddenly witness to a terrifying confrontation. Apparently, it ends with a murder, but Ms. Foch wakes up just before the deadly knife takes its final plunge. Fortunately, it was only a dream. Unfortunately, it begins to come true. Foch's wakening scream draws the attention of a man in the inn where she is staying. He looks exactly like the victim, William Wright (as Barry Malcolm), from her dream. Foch has never met the man before he appeared in her nightmare. He's a spy for the US, soon to receive a summons from agent Otto Kruger (as Paul Devon). After showing a romantic interest in Foch, Mr. Wright must deliver a top secret packet to Hong Kong...

With a skillfully conceived story by Aubrey Wisberg, "Escape in the Fog" is an entertaining spy thriller. Director Budd Boetticher gets attention with the nightmarish opening and Foch delivers a fine characterization. On the downside, her romance with Mr. Wright is not initially believable; perhaps, if the actors had more quality time, the coupling would click. Most interesting is the fact that Foch's character has a supernatural power (seeing future events in her dreams). The explanation appears to be post-traumatic stress suffered during her stint as a nurse in World War II. Although this aspect of Foch's character is dispensed with early, she maintains interest. Watch for young starlet Shelley Winters as a hotel taxi driver and veteran D.W. Griffith player and "Tarzan" portrayer Elmo Lincoln as a lawman.

****** Escape in the Fog (1945/04/05) Budd Boetticher ~ Nina Foch, William Wright, Otto Kruger, Konstantin Shayne