Say, Dr. Hermes...

Dr. Hermes: You posted the review below a couple of years ago... do
you happen to remember if one of the female characters tried to pin the
goings on on a ghost in one scene? I'm going crazy trying to i.d. a
movie I saw on the Bay Area Creature Features almost 30 years ago. My
recollections of it most resemble Fog Island, though it may have been
an even more obscure closed-circle mystery set on an island made in the
same era. Thanks either way!

g kenyon

>>From: Dr Hermes - view profile
Date: Thurs, Oct 21 2004 6:10 pm
Email: drher....RemoveThis@webtv.net (Dr Hermes)
Groups: alt.movies.monster
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Dir: Terry Morse

Lionel Atwill and George Zucco stalking each
other and a handful of other shady characters in a dreary isolated
mansion, with a constant heavy fog outside. This is a neat, enjoyable
little chiller that unfairly seems to have been pretty much forgotten.


Despite the low budget (c'mon, it's from PRC, which means it's
practically a home movie), there is lots of mood and suspense,
interestingsets and a surprisingly gruesome ending. Based on the play
"Angel Island" by Bernadine Angus , which accounts for some of its
claustrophobic airless feeling, FOG ISLAND is the story of the twisted
revenge of Leo Grainer (Zucco) on the people he blames for framing him
on financial misdeeds and sending him to the slammer for five years.
(If
tha's not enough of a grudge, he suspects them of killing his wife
while
he was in jail, too.) As soon as he gets out, Zucco sends his ex-pals
an
invitation to join him for the weekend on his murky island off Florida
(which looks as its soil is mae of dry ice) and they accept because
they
know he has a fortune stashed away and they can't resist another chance

to snatch some of it.


The mansion was built by pirates way back when,
so it's naturally packed with sliding panels and little hiding places,
secret passages in the walls that open when you pull the 'Oboe' tab on
the organ,a crypt in the cellar with a pit containing a few
skeletons...
really fun place. Zucco gives each of his uneasy guests a token which
is
a clue to the treasure's hiding place (a key, a book,a tiny table,
etc.)
and then lets them harass each other as he gloats. After that, it's
just
a lot of sneaking around in the middle of the night, people shadowing
each other, enigmatic glances and veiled threats and snarky remarks as
they search for the boodle.


What they don't know (but which we see early on)
is that Zucco has prepared a grisly deathtrap to which the clues
actually lead and he intends for his guests' greed to lead them to
their
doom. Things quickly get grim, and frankly, I wouldn't bet too much
money on anyone getting off that island in good condition. Even though
there are two innocent bystanders caught up in this, Zucco's
stepdaughter and the son of one of his enemies (he came to the party
because his father had died recently), it doesn't even look certain
they
will get a chance to straighten out their little romantic subplot.