ShangLuda Admirable film.

Tayyab Torres Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Lachlan Coulson This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

blanche-2 I love the early Bette Davis films, where no one was quite sure what to do with her. Here she has a showy role, as Arlene Bradford, a high society girl who slums by being involved in a stolen bond racket, using her boyfriend Spencer (Lyle Talbot), who is appalled.The problem comes when Arlene involves the good sister, Val (Margaret Lindsay), in her plans. Her father (Arthur Byron) becomes even more disgusted than he was before. But there's more trouble to come. One day, Arlene comes home in her car and minutes later leaves in a taxi. She leaves a note and an envelope for her sister and says she may send for it.This is a fast-moving film sparked by Davis' performance, even though she doesn't have that big a part. I'll be honest and say I'm kind of missing the Hitchcock connection here. I realize the story has a similarity to Psycho, but I didn't really feel this film was done in a Hitchcock style.Donald Woods plays an earnest newspaper man, and there's a good assembly of supporting players: Douglas Dumbrelle, Alan Hale, William Demarest and Hugh Herbert as Izzy the photographer. Herbert with that odd way of speaking is always funny.Enjoyable.

westerfield Look up lists of best murder mysteries and only three pre-1940 films appear: Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Thin Man. Both Morgue and Thin Man really stretch the point. There's no mystery in the former and the latter is really a comedy. It's not surprising that early films fail to make the list; they are infrequently seen. And when they are, modern sensibilities make them seem too old fashioned to rate high marks.Fog Over Frisco is a forgotten gem that deserves to be high on anyone's list. It takes over from the early Philo Vance films in complexity and adds original twists, tension and action. The Warner Brothers stock company players are uniformly good but Bette Davis is amazing. The film doesn't follow a standard mystery format and avoids most of the clichés found in such films. It is fresh, exiting and original. Fog Over Frisco is far and away the best of its kind made up to its time (1934) and perhaps through the entire 1930s.

marko-157 Mysterious crime, unconventional way of solving it, witty dialog, fast paced events, car chasing, unexpected resolution... are we watching just another detective action film starring Mel Gibson? No, it is 1934 film Fog over Frisco. It is amazing how little has this type of film evolved in last 70 years or so. The only "improvements" we see in modern versions of action films are slimy kissing and love-making scenes, two dozen explosions and rolling stock of a smaller country destroyed. Oh, yeah, done to include something for everyone and to extend the film time to standard one and a half hour.Well Fog over Frisco is what a good action film should look like. It is absolutely enough to have a bit more than a hour to tell everything. Of course, Dieterle could easily make a film a bit longer and the plot more understandable, but this amazing pace is what makes this film even more special. You are moving in the spiral of events so fast that it is necessary to see it twice to get everything straight.But this is not all. We see some really exceptional acting here. Bette Davis makes from one seemingly tiny role more than some leading character actors did in the whole acting career. She is absolutely convincing as Arlene, a spoiled and bored rich girl and you can never see Bette in another film to be so beautiful, glamorous, amusing and enchanting. No wonder that most men in film really seem to be in love with her. Margaret Lindsay, who plays a real head role of her step-sister Val, isn't match for Ms. Davis, however she did her part correctly. Other notable performances include Donald Woods playing Tony and Hugh Herbert playing Izzy, who are convincing as a witty reporter - funny photographer pair.This film is one of the most underestimated films in the whole history of Hollywood and is a must-see for 1930s film period.

MartinHafer If anyone out there is looking for Shakespeare or Ingmar Bergman, then this is NOT the film for you. FOG OVER FRISCO is not exactly "high art" and yet is quite thrilling and fun--just the sort of gangster film that Warner Brothers did best during the 1930s. So, naturally the film is sensationalistic, action-packed and a tad scandalous! Bette Davis (at her radiant best) is a rich girl who thrives on excitement and danger. Despite being very comfortable, she has a yearning for self-destruction and seems on a collision course with disaster, as she frequents dives, runs around with gangsters and steals security bonds for the excitement of it! So, it's hardly surprising that eventually she disappears and the police are called in to sort out the mystery.The first portion of the film which features Davis in the lead is actually NOT the best aspect of the film. I love seeing her on film, but the film really heats up when her step-sister and a hot-shot reporter investigate. Then, the film accelerates into high gear and is non-stop action and suspense.All in all, this is a great film for those who just want to turn off their brains and have fun.