alexanderdavies-99382
"Fog over Frisco" is a pretty good yarn but the plot could have been stronger. The narrative feels a bit murky and the ending was rushed. Various aspects of the story don't quite gell and it left me feeling frustrated. Bette Davis being killed off early and being billed first in the cast, is a risky thing to do. After all, a film largely rests on the shoulders of the leading actor. Davis is the one to watch when she is in the film and a lot more effective than Lindsay or Woods. Alan Hale is good as the police officer. The final solution comes as no surprise whatever and I was disappointed with it. Bette Davis is the black sheep in her wealthy family as she is mixed up with a local gang in stolen bonds. She is a feisty, care-free character who doesn't immediately know that she is in over her head. It makes a welcome change to actually see a film made where it is based. San Francisco was used extensively throughout shooting and gives "Fog over Frisco" some added scale. Then again, "Warner Bros" didn't need to have generous budgets in order to make great films. An interesting film but flawed.
mark.waltz
Rising up quickly in the period of one year, Bette Davis appeared in a string of B pictures that showed off her pop eyed versatility. She's involved with men involved in obvious criminal activity, and pays dearly for it, almost dragging her stepsister Margaret Lindsay down with her. Surrounded by a versatile cast of Warner Brothers contract players, top billed Bette gets a surprising exit, and this changes the focus of the story. Bette had played bad girls before, but here, she's as bad as she would be when she was at her worst. That being said, you can see that it was only a matter of time before she hit her stride, and that came the same year on a loan out and a cockney accent. This for the most part is standard Warners B fare, but Bette makes it a must.
classicsoncall
The mark of a good actor (or actress) is how they either gain the viewer's empathy or conversely, elicit one's disgust for their character. In this film, Bette Davis does both, even though she doesn't make it to the end of the picture. Fans who are only familiar with Davis's later film roles might be surprised to see what a looker she was in her very early movies, an observation I've made note of as well regarding contemporaries like Joan Blondell, Angela Lansbury, and Barbara Stanwyck.The story starts out about a scheme involving securities fraud and turns into a murder mystery about half way through. Arlene Bradford (Davis) fancies herself a high flying society gal but is mixed up with the wrong crowd to the consternation of her father (Arthur Byron) and sister Val (Margaret Lindsay) who looks to her older sibling for inspiration. At just over an hour you would think the story would whiz right by but there's a decent amount of character development along with the set up involving the stolen securities.Once invested in the story though, a couple of head scratchers did turn up to puzzle this viewer. The first was when we learn that Arlene Bradford was already married to the heel Mayard/Buchard (Douglas Dumbrille) shortly after he throws her over. The difference in their ages was more than noticeable and seemed out of character with the way Davis's role was written. The other was the revelation in the final minutes that butler Thorne (Robert Barrat) was actually a police informant. So how'd he get on the family payroll?
HerrDoktorMabuse
I saw this at the Stanford Theatre in Palo Alto last week on a double bill with Of Human Bondage. At any rate, nothing really groundbreaking about this movie except that it was a fast paced, low budget bill-filler made before Bette Davis had broken through as a big star. The real treat here is the location shooting in San Francisco, showing the city before they built the bridges and a car chase that predates the one in Bullitt, except never exceeding 35 miles per hour. I also give the scriptwriters high marks for authentic use of forgotten place names ("Butchertown," "South of the Slot"). I'll admit my admiration is parochial, but you could do worse if it ever turns up on TCM or a streaming video service.BTW: I can't recommend the Stanford highly enough. Beautifully restored movie palace featuring live intermission organ music on weekends and the cheapest date in town at only $7/ticket for a double bill. Google Stanford Theatre for the latest program.
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