bnwfilmbuff George Zucco and Lionel Atwell in a thriller - how can you go wrong? This highly atmospheric and dark drama features a good cast but a weak script and uneven direction drag it down. The plot is solid and complex: Zucco is freshly out of prison, wrongly serving time for embezzlement, and invites his accusers for supposedly a dinner of reconciliation at his island home. Additionally, he suspects one of the invitees of having murdered his wife. Unfortunately, any time that some tension starts to build, director Morse seemed driven to relieve it with the ill-timed interjection of the love interest between Zucco's step daughter, shapely Sharon Douglas, and the son of one of the deceased invitees. At just a little over 68 minutes long there isn't much time for character development or allowing some of the eerier aspects of the film to play out like the séance or exploration of the secret passages. Still it's watchable but could have been much better with a little more budget and better direction.

Cristi_Ciopron Involuntarily surrealist parody ; Zucco's other aficionados need to get used with me That legendary 40s had their share of bad and very bad movies, a category they did not avoid so strictly; FOG ISLAND is a no—budget thriller about the revenge/ retribution of a man who has been double-crossed by a bunch of his associates—Zucco invites the crooks on his island to avenge the death of his beloved wife whom he calls his ideal—it's like AND THEN THERE WERE … without the whole mystery and suspense. Clumsiness might seem a courteous term for the flick's ineptitude. It's more like a surrealist delirium, viscous and outrageous.Zucco, with his face molded in bronze and the air of an ancient Roman senator slightly deranged, delivers the part with Machiavellian dignified malice and ready—made brio; he did not look so much British as Latin. He was indeed a strongly Latin type, a Roman or Renaissance character aged in evil deeds. His imperturbable and phlegmatic stoicism lead him through many such flicks.Zucco got here another leading role, as the vengeful master of the Fog Island, where he lives with his step—daughter (chastely, of course) after he was released from the jail--shady but providential, not unlike the inn-keeper from BLACK RAVEN, to name another of his '40s leading roles, in an absurd flick that looks like a surrealist parody. For an agile and fresh mind, FOG ISLAND offers generously plenty of occasions to laugh and have fun. If you know yourself to be a Zucco aficionado, as I do, enjoy a deliciously absurd short trip on the FOG ISLAND. Zucco pulls his routine with skepticism and ability. FOG ISLAND seems bad in a wholly a-temporal way—the way movies from all eras are bad, nothing especially '40s.

lost-in-limbo A modestly crisp, but unspectacular black/white low-budget murder-mystery / revenge yarn (adapted of the stage play "Angel Island") with certain horror elements.After being framed and serving time in prison. Leo invites a group of people (old work buddies) to his secluded mansion on an island to seek revenge and single out the one who killed his wife. The temptation is there for the group, as hints are given to a possible hidden fortune to be found if they stay over the weekend.The old dark, creaky house set-up is made to good use as it's implanted on an remote foggy island (which the mist could play out like a metaphor for the growing unease and not knowing what lays ahead for these guests) and the involving material stays calculative. Moments tend to get blurry, but it's an interesting setting has above-average looking production. Sometimes the pace can flounder and the script gets dubious, but a strong cast (led admirably by a neurotic George Zucco, headstrong Lionel Atwill and classy Veda Ann Borg) seem to rise for the occasion. Director Terry O. Morse ('Unknown World (1951) 'and the American version 'Godzilla, King of the Monsters (1954) ') demonstrates a serviceable slow-burn style and lets the odd assortment of possibilities play out with well-placed suspense. Karl Hajos' moodily potent score seems to suit the growing actions and atmosphere rather well.Simple, but amusingly staged b-fodder.

Michael O'Keefe Nothing like an old, low-budget mystery. Leo Granger(George Zucco)has been released from prison after being framed for embezzlement by his once trusted associates. He decides to invite them to his hideaway haven on Fog Island intimating it is a chance to even the score for his stay in prison as well as the murder of his wife. In the name of justice due, he hopes his guests will accept the invitation in hopes of sharing in the embezzled funds. But instead he has devised a death-trap for those that ill advised and urged some of his past bad behavior. The fog lends to an atmosphere of mystery. Plus the fact that the guests don't exactly trust each other let alone their host causes a degree of suspense. The abrupt climax serves justice. Veteran villain Lionel Atwill leads the supporting cast of Jerome Cowan, Sharon Douglas, Veda Ann Borg and John Whitney.