âOutside off the fog âone night ton more remember one

The fog machine on the Warners Brother lot must have worked overtime for “Out of the Fog,” an enjoyable if not always successful 1941 drama set along the New York waterfront.Based upon an Irwin Shaw play “The Gentle People,” the film centers on racketeer Harold Goff (John Garfield), who bullies the waterfront folks into pay $5 per week for protection for their boats. His latest victims are Jonah (Thomas Mitchell) and Olaf (John Qualen).Meanwhile, Jonah’s beautiful daughter Stella (Ida Lupino) is sick and tired of her predictable life, including both her job at the telephone company and her sweet yet dull boyfriend George (Eddie Albert). She’s attracted to the dangerous excitement that Goff projects and begins t! o secretly date him (both are pictured below), even after Jonah discovers the romance and tries to warn his daughter.This is where the movie stumbles. The screenplay is co-written by Robert Rossen, who would go on to make some hard-hitting dramas as “All the King’s Men.” It’s also directed by Anatole Litvak, so it’s surprising that the film goes awry. If Garfield succeeds in making Goff loud and obnoxious, he fails to allow the audience to see any charm that would attract and keep Stella. She seems like a smart girl, but it’s so obvious what this guy is about. The fact that he’s different from her perceived dull life may be enough for the initial attraction. But is she really that weak or dim-witted? I don’t think so. She adores her father, and she has brains, so the fact that she insists upon this relationship with Goff and not someone else who can whisk her away doesn’t fly except that the story needs this to be so. Without seeing Goff’s charm â€" rega! rdless of whether it’s real or not â€" it’s hard for the a! udience to identify with Stella, which is crucial for the film to work.So the focus really turns to Olaf and Jonah, the latter hatching a scheme after Gimpy tries to shake the duo down for their life savings. Yet while the local cop would love to take down Gimpy, Jonah remains oddly silent at times. This makes no sense, either, except that the story needs this to be so.What does work is the ensemble cast. Mitchell is best, with veteran character actors Qualen and George Tobias working well. The wonderful Aline MacMahon plays Stella’s mom, but I get the feeling her part may be larger in the play, as the movie shows her overbearing nature in a few scenes and little more, which is a waste of MacMahon’s talent.There’s so much promise ! in “Out of the Fog.” Considering Warner Brothers’ reputation for atmospheric, hard-edged stories, my expectations were probably set too high. I enjoyed many moments of the film, but as a whole “Fog” lacks conviction.
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