Out of the Fog (1941) is a Warner Bros. Film Noir starring Ida Lupino, John Garfield, and Thomas Mitchell.
A Brooklyn pier is terrorized by local gangster, Harold Goff (Garfield), when he starts burning boats – big or small – that don’t pay his 5-dollar protection fee. Jonah Goodwin (Mitchell) just wants to fish and be at peace with his friend, Olaf (John Qualen), but paying Goff his "protection" will ruin their plans to buy a boat and sail off to the Gulf Coast. To make matters worse, Goff has set his eyes on Jonah’s daughter, Stella (Lupino). Bored by stifling poverty and the lacklustre relationship with George (Eddie Albert), Stella starts dating Goff and buy into his irreverent philosophy towards life and people.
Goff becomes greedier by asking Stella to marry him and steal her father’s life's savings to take her to Cuba. This is a bridge too far for Jonah who hatches a plan to murder Goff to end his tyranny.
Not to be confused with the similarly named Film Noir, Out of the Past.
This film shows the following tropes:
- Abhorrent Admirer: Olaf’s boss, Caroline, is always asking him to marry her. Olaf is not interested.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: The reason Stella is interested in Goff. His personal philosophy interests her even when she finds out that he’s a racketeer that’s targeting her father and his friend.
- Allegory: A not-too-subtle allegory against fascism: Goff repeatedly states that he's entitled to the money because he's stronger and therefore can take it from the weak because of his position of power. He's foiled since the "weak" overtake him, and he ultimately dies at their hands.
- Chiaroscuro: There’s an eternal fog in this Brooklyn pier where everything occurs in nighttime shadows.
- Daddy's Girl: Stella has no relationship with her hypochondriac mother and truly cares for her father. Her love for him is put into question when she meets Goff.
- Dating What Daddy Hates: With good reason Jonah warns Stella about Goff and his racketeering. She’s so dazzled by his apparent wealth that she doesn’t really seem to care how he mistreats her father and others. It’s apparent that she doesn’t even seem to love him but rather what he offers her.
- Damn, It Feels Good to Be a Gangster!: This is the lifestyle that Goff sells to Stella. She's taken in by the glamour of restaurants, dancing, and his charm.
- Death by Falling Over: Jonah and Olaf take Goff to their boat with the intent to kill him. Olaf can’t do it and Goff finds out their plan. However, the boat rocks so much that he falls in the ocean, having only minutes before advised that he can’t swim.
- Film Noir: An early type of film noir from Warner Bros..
- Heads or Tails?: While in the sauna hatching their plan, Jonah and Olaf flip a coin to see who will kill Goff. The coin lands on heads and Olaf is selected for murdering Goff. He chickens out.
- Murder Is the Best Solution: Jonah and Olaf try a legal complaint against Goff that goes awry, and when Jonah finds out that Stella wants to run away and marry Goff, Jonah plans to murder him with Olaf.
- Ominous Fog: A perpetual fog lingers throughout the film and its events.
- Police Are Useless: The beat cop tries to help Jonah and Olaf when they make a formal complaint against Goff, but his phony “loan” agreement fools the night judge who doesn’t believe their claims for lack of evidence.
