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5.8/10
Archivist John
Senior Editor
A definitive 5.8/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Caught in the Fog remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
So, you want to know about Caught in the Fog? Look, if you’re not already knee-deep in early silent comedies, this one’s probably not for you. It’s a 1928 farce, a sort of proto-screwball thing with a simple premise that spirals into utter chaos. Hardcore silent film buffs, especially those with a soft spot for physical gags and exaggerated expressions, might get a kick out of its sheer silliness. Everyone else? You’ll likely find it a bit of a slog, a lot of forced laughs and a plot that keeps tripping over its own feet.
The whole setup is pretty classic: wealthy Bob (Conrad Nagel) goes to his mother’s houseboat to grab some jewels, only to find it already crawling with other, less legitimate, visitors. A bobbed-hair bandit (May McAvoy) and her male accomplice are there, then an elderly couple, also burglars, show up. Everyone pretends to be someone else – Bob as the butler, the bandit as the maid, and so on. Then the cops arrive, and a literal fog descends. It’s a recipe for a good time, theoretically.
But the execution… well. There are moments, sure. May McAvoy, with her distinctive bob, has a certain spark. She’s got a good wide-eyed, 'oh dear' expression down. And when she’s paired with Nagel, who plays the flustered Bob with a sort of resigned charm, you can almost see the glimmers of what this film could have been. Their back-and-forth, even without sound, sometimes works, mostly because they’re both trying to keep their secret identities straight while also dealing with everyone else’s nonsense.
Then there’s Mack Swain. He’s one of the detectives, and if you know his work from Chaplin films like The Gold Rush, you know he’s a master of physical comedy. Here, though, it feels a little… muted. Or maybe just too much. His character is supposed to be idiotic, but the gags often just repeat, like him constantly bumping into things or misunderstanding obvious clues. One bit where he keeps trying to open a door the wrong way goes on about 15 seconds too long, and the audience in my head just started sighing.
The pacing is a real killer. The film takes an age to get going. There’s a lot of running around the small houseboat set, a lot of hiding behind curtains, a lot of people peering around corners. It feels like the director, Charles R. Condon, was trying to stretch a very thin premise across a full feature run time. You can almost feel the movie trying to convince you that each new revelation, each new burglar, matters, but it just adds more noise to an already crowded scene.
And the fog. Oh, the fog. It's supposed to trap everyone, heighten the tension, but it mostly just looks like someone blew a lot of smoke into a miniature set. It doesn’t feel ominous; it just feels like… well, a stage effect. The way it rolls in feels less like a natural phenomenon and more like a cue card saying 'Insert Plot Device Here.' Visually, it's not particularly convincing, and the interior shots with the 'fog' often just make everything look murky.
Some of the intertitles are a bit clunky, too. They try for wit, but sometimes they just state the obvious or over-explain a visual gag that would have been funnier left to its own devices. It’s like the film doesn’t quite trust its audience to follow along.
The funniest moments, surprisingly, often come from the background. There’s a scene where one of the elderly burglars, for no apparent reason, keeps adjusting a small, framed picture on the wall, even as chaos erupts around him. It’s a tiny, almost blink-and-you-miss-it detail that feels more genuinely human and absurd than most of the main gags.
The whole thing feels a bit like a stage play that hasn’t quite figured out how to translate to the screen. The confined space of the houseboat, while central to the plot, also contributes to a feeling of claustrophobia, not in a good way. You just want everyone to get off the boat and for the fog to clear, both literally and figuratively.
Caught in the Fog is a curious artifact. It’s got a decent cast for the era, and the idea of a house full of burglars mistaking each other for more burglars is solid gold. But it just never quite coalesces. It’s a series of missed opportunities, of gags that don’t quite land, and a general feeling of being… well, caught in a bit of a creative fog itself. If you’re a completist for silent comedies, go for it. Otherwise, there are much sharper, funnier films from the same period that will give you a better idea of what early cinema could really do.
IMDb —
1926
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