Fantastic!

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Jonah (Thomas Mitchell) and Olaf (John Qualen) are two poor, hard-working men who share a love of fishing and have both bought a half-share in a boat that allows them to follow their passion each night. However, they are bullied by Goff (John Garfield) into paying him protection money against the burning of their boat. Things get worse as Goff starts to date Jonah's daughter, Stella (Ida Lupino) and then demands all of Jonah's savings. The fisherman decide to fight back....This is a fun film to watch but it's a shame that it is played so much for comedy. It would have been far more effective if the fisherman played it straight. As it stands, the cast let down the proceedings apart from John Garfield and Thomas Mitchell. Garfield is excellent as the man we hate and Mitchell gives a realistic performance of a man who doesn't want trouble. He gives his character some depth as he holds information back from his daughter and tries to stand up against Garfield's character. At the other extreme are John Qualen and Ida Lupino. Qualen is sooooooo frustrating and such an annoying character that you will want to slap his head and Lupino is wasted as I know that she can do so much better. Her character also wasn't really involved and I think this was a waste of time for her standards of performance. It is maybe the fault of the script as ultimately, she, too, just frustrates.There are humorous moments, eg, when Jonah and Olaf are on the boat with Goff and Jonah keeps yelling out the signal for Olaf to make his move. The scene would fit perfectly into any comedy film and it is genuinely funny. Unfortunately, what Olaf does next highlights exactly why this film is a disappointment. Overall, the film is OK despite some wasted talent on show.

In Brooklyn, restless telephone operator Ida Lupino (as Stella) begins seeing racketeer John Garfield (as Harold Goff) while he uses terror tactics to extort $5.00 a week from her tailor father Thomas Mitchell (as Jonah Goodwin) and his Swedish immigrant friend John Qualen (as Olaf Knudsen). The men enjoy fishing in Sheepshead Bay, where Mr. Garfield burns boats owned by those who refuse to pay. Even after discovering Garfield is a violent gangster, Ms. Lupino remains aroused; he is much more exciting than milquetoast fiancé Eddie Albert (as George Watkins)...One of the problems with "Out of the Fog" is that the characters get too little scripted explanation for some of their actions (and lack thereof). God intervenes. Lupino helps by conveying slighted sexual desire. The film is artfully directed and photographed by dependable Anatole Litvak with James Wong Howe. The support team is in good form, with Mr. Mitchell and Mr. Qualen claiming most of the attention. Others featured include series regulars George Tobias ("Bewitched"), Bernard and Leo Gorcey ("The Bowery Boys"), and the admirable but underused Aline MacMahon.****** Out of the Fog (6/14/41) Anatole Litvak ~ Ida Lupino, John Garfield, Thomas Mitchell, John Qualen

Racketeer Goff extorts money from small boat owners like Jonah and Olaf, while romancing Jonah's daughter! With an equation like this, something's got to give.The movie's very much a product of the leftish 1930's. Note the way it lavishes praise on "ordinary" people, and how happiness is seen as coming to accept one's own ordinariness. Note also the words the vicious Goff is made to say— phrases like "superior people" and "only the strong" surviving. Clearly, Goff amounts to an enemy of ordinary people, and on the eve of WWII, that amounts to a stand-in for fascism. In fact, the movie itself amounts to an allegory of a fascist movement (Goff) that by 1941 had conquered much of Europe, holding its ordinary people either in thrall (Stella) or in fear (Jonah & Olaf).Now, there's nothing wrong with a sub-text like this, except the movie's pretty stagey (a single sound-stage set) and the characters one-dimensional, likely an unfortunate result of the allegorical sub-text. Anyway, there are helpful deposits of humor from the Jewish characters that apparently retains some flavor of the original play. However, the screenplay really cops out by having "God", instead of Goff's victims, take care of the oppressor. In fact, Olaf is made so meek and submissive he's almost craven and unworthy of his dreams. But, I suspect the writers were up against a Production Code that would insist on punishing the two fishermen had they gone through with their plan. Thus God is called in to do the job instead. To me, however, carrying through the plan would have shown that the oppressed can rise up and free themselves without metaphysical assistance, a valuable lesson, I believe, Code or no Code. All in all, the film remains very much a Hollywood adaptation of a much grittier New York play (IMDB Trivia), and a disappointment considering the talent involved.

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.