''Fog Island'' is a 1945 American mystery-suspense film directed by
Terry O. Morse. The film stars
B movie
A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature ...
horror film
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes.
Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...
regulars
George Zucco
George Zucco (11 January 1886 – 27 May 1960) was a British character actor who appeared in plays and 96 films, mostly American-made, during a career spanning over two decades, from the 1920s to 1951. In his films, he often played a suave ...
and
Lionel Atwill
Lionel Alfred William Atwill (1 March 1885 – 22 April 1946) was an English stage and screen actor. He began his acting career at the Garrick Theatre. After coming to the U.S., he subsequently appeared in various Broadway plays and Hollywood f ...
.
It was based on the 1937 play ''Angel Island'' by Bernadine "Bernie" Angus.
Plot
A recent ex convict named Leo Grainer lives secluded on Fog Island with the daughter of his murdered wife. Seeking to learn who murdered her, and to exact revenge on those who framed him and destroyed his business, he invites his former associates to his creepy island mansion on the pretext he may share a hidden fortune with them.
Prior to their arrival he rigs the mansion with secret passages and a trap. Then, once his guests arrive, he gives each a clue, including his step daughter and butler. This successfully pits everyone against the others and plays on their greed. What then transpires is conflict, revealed mysteries, sudden death, and an unlikely resolution.
Cast
*
Lionel Atwill
Lionel Alfred William Atwill (1 March 1885 – 22 April 1946) was an English stage and screen actor. He began his acting career at the Garrick Theatre. After coming to the U.S., he subsequently appeared in various Broadway plays and Hollywood f ...
as Alec Ritchfield
*
George Zucco
George Zucco (11 January 1886 – 27 May 1960) was a British character actor who appeared in plays and 96 films, mostly American-made, during a career spanning over two decades, from the 1920s to 1951. In his films, he often played a suave ...
as Leo Grainer
*
Jerome Cowan
Jerome Palmer Cowan (October 6, 1897 – January 24, 1972) was an American stage, film, and television actor.
Early years
Cowan was born in New York City, the son of William Cowan, a confectioner of Scottish descent, and Julia Cowan, née Palm ...
as Kavanaugh
*
Sharon Douglas
Sharon Douglas (born Rhoda-Nelle Rader; October 16, 1920 – June 18, 2016) was an American film and radio actress, most active in the 1940s and 1950s.
Early life
The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. L.M. Rader, Douglas was born in Stephens County, Okla ...
as Gail
*
Veda Ann Borg
Veda Ann Borg (January 11, 1915 – August 16, 1973) was an American film and television actress.
Early years
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Gottfried Borg, a Swedish immigrant, and Minna Noble, Borg became a model in 1936 before winni ...
as Sylvia
* John Whitney as Jeff
*
Jacqueline deWit as Emiline Bronson
*
Ian Keith
Ian Keith (born Keith Ross; February 27, 1899 – March 26, 1960) was an American actor.
Early years
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Keith grew up in Chicago. He was educated at the Francis Parker School there and played Hamlet in a school p ...
as Dr. Lake
*
George Lloyd as Allerton - Butler
Production
The rights to the play on which the film was based had been sold by ''
The New York World-Telegram
The ''New York World-Telegram'', later known as the ''New York World-Telegram and The Sun'', was a New York City newspaper from 1931 to 1966.
History
Founded by James Gordon Bennett Sr. as ''The Evening Telegram'' in 1867, the newspaper began ...
'' for $30,000 dollars. But, this is highly suspect as it became a
PRC Release and the studio would only give less than $200 to writers for the final script. The film's sets were designed by the
art director
Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games.
It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...
Paul Palmentola
Paul Palmentola (1888–1966) was an Italian-born American art director.Stephens p.233 He designed the film sets for more than two hundred productions during his career, much of his work during the 1930s and 1940s at low-budget studios such as Ma ...
.
Soundtrack
* Sharon Douglas and Karl Hajos - "Liebestraum (Love's Dream)" by
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...
.
Critical reception
Allmovie
AllMovie (previously All Movie Guide) is an online database with information about films, television programs, and screen actors. , AllMovie.com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by RhythmOne.
History
AllMovie was founded by popular-cult ...
noted "An early low-budget spin on ''
Ten Little Indians
"Ten Little Indians" is a traditional American children's counting out rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 12976. The term "Indians" in this sense refers to Indigenous North American peoples.
In 1868, songwriter Septimus Winner adapt ...
''," calling it "cheap but entertaining."
[
]
References
External links
Review of film
at ''Variety''
*
*
*
1945 films
1945 horror films
American mystery films
American black-and-white films
Producers Releasing Corporation films
American films based on plays
1945 mystery films
American horror films
Films scored by Karl Hajos
1940s English-language films
1940s American films
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