Fog Over Frisco

Infobox Film
name = Fog Over Frisco


caption = Theatrical poster
director = William Dieterle
producer = Henry Blanke (uncredited)
Robert Lord (uncredited)
writer = George Dyer (story)
Robert N. Lee
Eugene Solow
starring = Bette Davis
Donald Woods
Margaret Lindsay
Hugh Herbert
Lyle Talbot
Irving Pichel
Alan Hale
William Demarest
music = Leo F. Forbstein (music supervision)
cinematography = Tony Gaudio
editing =
distributor = Warner Bros.-First National Pictures
released = June 2, 1934
runtime = 68 min
language = English
budget =
country = USA
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0025129

"Fog Over Frisco" is a 1934 American drama film directed by William Dieterle. The screenplay by Robert N. Lee and Eugene Solow was based on the short story "The Five Fragments" by George Dyer.

Plot

Arlene Bradford (Bette Davis) is a spoiled, bored, wealthy socialite who finances her extravagant lifestyle by exploiting her fiancé Spencer Carlton's (Lyle Talbot) access to her stepfather's brokerage firm and using her connection to steal security bonds for crime boss Jake Bello (Irving Pichel). When she disappears, her sister Val (Margaret Lindsay) steps in to discover what happened to her with the help of society reporter Tony Sterling (Donald Woods) and photojournalist Izzy Wright (Hugh Herbert). After discovering Arlene's body, Val is kidnapped by her sister's criminal cohorts, leaving Tony and Izzy to rescue her before she suffers the same fate as Arlene.

Principal cast

*Bette Davis ..... Arlene Bradford
*Donald Woods ..... Tony Sterling
*Margaret Lindsay ..... Val Bradford
*Hugh Herbert ..... Izzy Wright
*Lyle Talbot ..... Spencer Carlton
*Irving Pichel ..... Jake Bello
*Alan Hale ..... Chief C.B. O'Malley
*William Demarest ..... Spike Smith

Background

Bette Davis, anxious to portray the slatternly waitress Mildred in the RKO Radio Pictures production "Of Human Bondage", accepted the relatively small role of Arlene in the hope her cooperation would convince Jack Warner to lend her to the rival studio for the film. Her ploy worked, and when Warner received word about her dynamic performance in "Bondage", he elevated her to top billing in "Frisco". ["The Girl Who Walked Home Alone: Bette Davis, a Personal Biography" by Charlotte Chandler, Simon and Schuster (2006), pp. 98-99 ISBN 0743289056]

Part of the Warner Brothers release was filmed on location in San Francisco. It was remade as "Spy Ship" in 1942.

Critical reception

In his review in the "New York Times", Mordaunt Hall described the film as a "ruddy thriller" and opined, "What [it] lacks in the matter of credibility, it atones for partly by its breathless pace and its abundance of action. As the story of murder and robbery passes on the screen it scarcely gives the spectator time to think who might be the ring-leader of the band of desperadoes." [ [http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9A05EED9153CEE3ABC4F53DFB066838F629EDE "New York Times" review] ]

"Time" stated, "Brisk to the point of confession, "Fog Over Frisco" is not the best of Director William Dieterle's pictures." [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,747505,00.html?promoid=googlep "Time" review] ]

Film historian William K. Everson considered the film to be one of the fastest-moving crime melodramas of the 1930s.

References

External links

*imdb title|id=0025129|title=Fog Over Frisco
*tcmdb title|id=133164|title=Fog Over Frisco