Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Fog was a frequently used device in the "B" thrillers of the 1930s and '40s. It was a way to disguise the cheap sets while adding an element of menace. In this low-budget tale of enemy agents on the dark, glistening streets of San Francisco, the fog is almost one of the stars. Nina Foch plays a World War II military nurse whose dream about a murder allows her to anticipate the real-life actions of the bad guys. It was just a single dream -- never really explained -- and otherwise she has no psychic powers. (She can't detect a spy hiding a few feet from her.) She's also not particularly smart, though no dumber than the federal agents she helps.The heroine's love interest, as well as the subject of her dream, is a a kind of G-Man played by William Wright. He and his boss, portrayed by Otto Kruger, are at work on a plan to boost the war effort against Japan. Unfortunately, Nazi agents have compromised U.S. security and are on the verge of foiling the plan and committing some mayhem. The dreamer comes in handy. In some ways, this movie is less "patriotic" than you might expect. Unintentionally, it makes American home-front security in World War II look amateurish. Everybody seems awfully naive. Wright's character gets a lot of mileage out of the little badge he flashes to local authorities, but it looks like a prize out of a cereal box. Most people would probably ask for more ID, considering that the fate of the nation hangs on his being legit."Escape in the Fog" has its corny and improbable elements, like most such movies. But it's entertaining, and the cast is more than adequate. Foch is more vulnerable and appealing than in her later roles. Wright, who got his best breaks during the war years but died too young to make much of a career, does fine in a rather routine role. And it's nice to see Kruger, who often played icy Nazi sympathizers, as one of the good guys. This movie came out very late in the war, when the Nazis were already done for and the Japanese were only weeks from defeat. It does seem odd that Germans instead of Japanese are shown working as spies for Tokyo. My wild guess is that Asian actors, many of whom were still getting parts in films about the Pacific War, were not available for the average inexpensive "B" mystery. In this picture, even "Chinatown" has very few non-Caucasians, which actually prompts a subtle quip from one of the villains.

The film begins with a fight on a bridge, as evil men are attempting to kill someone. However, it all turns out to be a dream by Eileen (Nina Foch). But, if it is just a dream, why is Barry (William Wright) in the dream being attacked and who are the other men? Is this a dream or perhaps a pre-cognition--some psychic situation where Eileen can see the future? It turns out that Barry is an agent for the US government and his job is to coordinate the underground in an assault on the Japanese (the war is still on). His boss (Paul--played by Otto Kruger) briefs him on his mission, but only moments later a Nazi agent sneaks into the home and removes a recording device--and now the enemy knows many of the details of his mission.Just after Barry is taken prisoner, Eileen is run over by a passing car. While she's not seriously injured, she once again has one of those weird dreams. When she awakens, she goes to see Paul, but he acts as if he has no idea who Barry is or what her concerns are. Of course, considering he's on a secret mission, it's not surprising that he doesn't acknowledge more--plus what stock can you put in a woman's odd dreams or visions.When Paul won't listen, Eileen rushes to the same bridge where she saw the evil men trying to kill Barry in her first dream. That's because she hopes to rescue him--and that's EXACTLY what happens! So, there is SOMETHING to her crazy dreams--she can see the future! The only negative is that as the men try to kill Barry, he loses a very important package over the side of the bridge that they were trying to toss him over in order to kill him. Oops.Much of the rest of the film concerns both trying to recover the package as well as stopping the evil Nazi spies. And, to make matters worse, these evil dogs now have captured Eileen, so it's up to the good guys to find her, capture the spies and make the world safe.Towards the end, Eileen and Barry are captured and locked in a room. The bad guys then open up the gas valve and lock them in to die. The only problem is that they didn't tie Barry up and there was nothing stopping him from just closing the valve! Instead, he comes up with a scheme to get help! A very silly and obvious mistake in the film.Overall, a silly premise for a film, but considering that it's a cheap B-movie propaganda film, it is still not too bad and pretty watchable today. In fact, the actors tried hard and did decent work but the script was the biggest problem--too many goofy holes or bizarre plot ideas.

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.

This wartime thriller follows conventional plot directions, but the framing of its story in a dream of murder makes it pretty interesting. Foch is excellent and very sexy. The suspense lags after the dream occurs in real time, and we have to see Foch tied up as Kruger (excellent as always) tries to find a missing envelope. Nicely photographed and directed; if only more thought had gone into its conception.