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Cult Review
Senior Film Conservator
If you have a thing for movies where you can’t see anything because of the fog, then this is definitely for you. It’s a 1929 flick, which means it’s right at the start of the 'talkie' era, and man, you can really tell they were still figuring out how to record people talking without it sounding like they were in a tin can.
You should watch this if you like old-school mysteries or if you just want to see how movies looked when they were first learning to speak. If you hate slow movies where people stand very still so the microphone can hear them, you will probably hate this one. 🚢
The whole thing takes place on a ship called the 'Mary Anne.' It’s supposed to be a fogbound ship, but it looks more like a studio set where someone left the dry ice machine on way too long. Honestly, the fog is the most consistent thing in the movie.
James Kirkwood plays a guy who is supposed to be a man of the cloth, a cleric, but he's actually a mad captain. He has this way of looking at the camera that makes you think he either knows a secret or he forgot what he was supposed to say next. It’s creepy, but maybe not in the way the director intended.
There is this one scene where a character is talking about the 'black waters' and the camera just sits there. It lingers for about ten seconds too long after they finish talking. You can almost hear the director behind the scenes whispering for them to keep standing still.
It reminds me a bit of Tenderloin in terms of how clunky the sound feels. It doesn't have the same energy as something like The Mystery Club, which felt a bit more sure of itself. But there is a charm to how messy it is.
The plot is a bit of a scramble. You have Noble Johnson in the cast, and he’s always great to see because he was such a pioneer, but he doesn't get enough to do here. He mostly just has to look ominous in the background while the white leads stumble around the deck.
John Loder and Mary Brian are the 'young couple' we are supposed to care about. They spend a lot of time looking worriedly into the fog. Mary Brian has this expression like she’s trying to remember if she left the stove on back at home.
I noticed a small detail in the background—one of the sailors in the back is clearly just leaning against a railing and staring at the floor for like three minutes. He looks like he’s waiting for his shift to end. It’s those little human moments that make these old movies better than the polished stuff we get now.
The dialogue is written by John Willard, who did *The Cat and the Canary*. You can tell he likes the 'spooky house' vibe, but putting it on a boat makes it feel smaller. It’s very cramped.
There is a weird bit where a guy gets thrown overboard and the splash sounds like someone dropped a heavy book into a bathtub. It’s great. It’s 1929, so we have to give them a break, but it’s still funny.
Not really. It’s more uncomfortable. The silence is the loudest thing in the movie. Since they couldn't really do background music easily back then, you just hear the hiss of the film and the occasional clomp clomp of boots on the wooden deck.
One reaction shot of Ben Hendricks Sr. lasts so long I thought my screen had frozen. He just stares. And stares. It becomes funny, then weird, then funny again. 🤨
It’s definitely better than some other stuff from that year like Married?, which is just a slog. At least here you have a madman on a boat. That’s always a decent starting point for a Friday night movie.
The ending feels very rushed. Like they realized they were running out of film and had to wrap up the mystery in about two minutes. The 'cleric' reveal isn't much of a shock if you’ve been paying attention to how much he sneers at everyone.
I liked the way the water looked in the few shots where the fog cleared up. It looked cold and oily. Very black waters. I guess the title is accurate at least.
Overall, it's a weird artifact. It's a movie that is trying very hard to be a thriller but doesn't quite have the tools to do it yet. It’s like watching a kid try to build a skyscraper out of wet sand. You appreciate the effort even if it collapses.
If you see it on a streaming service or a grainy YouTube upload, give it twenty minutes. If the fog doesn't charm you by then, it won't at all. 🌫️
IMDb —
1927
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