Arrogant, cocky, and brutal, racketeer Harold Goff (John Garfield) makes his living extorting money from the residents of a small fishing community. Calling himself the fishermen's protector, Goff demands a weekly payment from each man, and those that cannot---or will not---pay, suffer the consequences, generally in the form of a destroyed boat, but sometimes in the form of a beating. Rarely does anyone stand up to Goff, but Jonah Goodwin (Thomas Mitchell) is determined to do so. However, Jonah's bravado is short-lived as he and his partner are bullied into signing a loan contract. Telling Goff that he will never live to be an old man, Jonah is determined to beat Goff at his own game.
Meanwhile, Jonah's daughter, Stella (Ida Lupino), hates her boring, same-old same-old existence. Wanting riches and excitement, she dumps her "average Joe" boyfriend, George (Eddie Albert), and begins seeing Goff. Despite Jonah's warnings that Goff is a racketeer, Stella, who finds the man exciting, will not be swayed. Telling her father that if Goff has a disease, it's one she wants to catch, she makes plans to go away with him. Jonah, however, will do whatever it takes to prevent that from happening.
Does Stella go away with Goff? Does Jonah break free of Goff's extortion? Does Goff get his comeuppance? These are the questions that play out through the remainder of this dark, foggy film.
Out of the Fog is an interesting, exciting, well-acted film. Both Miss Lupino and Mr. Garfield were totally terrific in their roles...Garfield especially. While he often took on---and excelled at!!---cynical, hardened, anti-hero roles, here he was even nastier and more of a rebel than usual, and I think he was completely sensational. I really love to see his performance in roles like this. Thomas Mitchell was equally wonderful in his role. Rarely have I seen him give such a commanding performance. With nearly every scene of this film taking place on a thickly shrouded pier, Out of the Fog sets the classic film noir mood. Oh, and for those who are fans of the Dead End Kids, Leo Gorcey is in a few scenes of this film...and he is his usual wisecracking, disrespectful self.
Out on DVD, I think this film should be quite easy to track down. Happy viewing!!
