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Journey into Fear (1943 film)
Encyclopedia
Journey into Fear is an American spy film
based on the Eric Ambler
novel of the same name. The 1943 film broadly follows the plot of the book, but the protagonist was changed to an American engineer.
In addition to acting in and producing the film, Orson Welles
was to direct, but had to leave that aspect to Norman Foster
due to other commitments. Many of Welles' Mercury Theatre
associates were cast, including Joseph Cotten
, who played the lead role and also co-wrote the screenplay.
In 2005, an alternate cut was shown at a Welles film retrospective at the Locarno International Film Festival
in Switzerland. It was the original European release print, lacking the narration and ending of the U.S. version but including about six minutes of footage deleted by RKO.
nightclub, where he becomes attracted to dancer Josette Martel (Dolores del Río
). An attempt to murder him results in the death of an unfortunate magician instead. When Colonel Haki (Orson Welles
) of the Turkish police investigates, he discovers that Graham is vital to the upgrading of the Turkish navy
and that the Nazis have assigned Peter Banat (Jack Moss) to dispose of him.
Haki arranges a supposedly secret passage for Graham on a tramp steamer. Among his fellow passengers are Josette and her partner Gogo Martel (Jack Durant) ... and Banat. Unable to convince the captain (who doesn't speak English) to turn around, Graham is trapped aboard the ship, not knowing whom he can trust.
When the ship arrives in Batumi
, Banat and his confederates take Graham away in a car to murder him. A fortunate flat tire forces a stop in a crowded street, enabling Graham to escape. He makes his way through a thunderstorm to the hotel where his wife Stephanie (Ruth Warrick
) is waiting for him, only to find his enemies there also. Graham escapes through the hotel window where the climactic scenes play out with Graham, the Nazis and Colonel Haki (who has arrived to help Graham) in a tense chase and gun battle on the hotel ledge in the pouring rain.
that they were in such a rush to complete his scenes before Welles departed for Brazil to film It's All True
that the person directing was whoever was closest to the camera, but Welles also stated in the very same book that he did not direct any part of the film and his friend Foster was the director.
Welles did produce and design the picture and wrote the script with Joseph Cotten. Welles' main contribution as producer was the beginning pre-credit sequence showing the assassin listening to an old phonograph, which then starts to skip. The camera "floats" up to his apartment room from outside, much in the style of certain crane shots in Citizen Kane
. In the book This is Orson Welles, Welles states that he thought he was the first to come up with a scene before the credits; he later learned that there were a couple of movies that did this in the late thirties.
Spy film
The spy film genre deals with the subject of fictional espionage, either in a realistic way or as a basis for fantasy . Many novels in the spy fiction genre have been adapted as films, including works by John Buchan, John Le Carré, Ian Fleming and Len Deighton...
based on the Eric Ambler
Eric Ambler
Eric Clifford Ambler OBE was an influential British author of spy novels who introduced a new realism to the genre. Ambler also used the pseudonym Eliot Reed for books co-written with Charles Rodda.-Life:...
novel of the same name. The 1943 film broadly follows the plot of the book, but the protagonist was changed to an American engineer.
In addition to acting in and producing the film, Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
was to direct, but had to leave that aspect to Norman Foster
Norman Foster (director)
Norman Foster was an American film director and actor.Born John Hoeffer in Richmond, Indiana, Foster originally became a cub reporter on a local newspaper in Indiana before going to New York in the hopes of getting a better newspaper job but there were no vacancies...
due to other commitments. Many of Welles' Mercury Theatre
Mercury Theatre
The Mercury Theatre was a theatre company founded in New York City in 1937 by Orson Welles and John Houseman. After a string of live theatrical productions, in 1938 the Mercury Theatre progressed into their best-known period as The Mercury Theatre on the Air, a radio series that included one of the...
associates were cast, including Joseph Cotten
Joseph Cotten
Joseph Cheshire Cotten was an American actor of stage and film. Cotten achieved prominence on Broadway, starring in the original productions of The Philadelphia Story and Sabrina Fair...
, who played the lead role and also co-wrote the screenplay.
In 2005, an alternate cut was shown at a Welles film retrospective at the Locarno International Film Festival
Locarno International Film Festival
The Film Festival Locarno is an international film festival held annually in the city of Locarno, Switzerland since 1946. After Cannes and Venice and together with Karlovy Vary, Locarno is the Film Festival with the longest history...
in Switzerland. It was the original European release print, lacking the narration and ending of the U.S. version but including about six minutes of footage deleted by RKO.
Plot
Naive American engineer Howard Graham (Joseph Cotten) is taken by a fellow employee to an IstanbulIstanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
nightclub, where he becomes attracted to dancer Josette Martel (Dolores del Río
Dolores del Río
Dolores del Río was a Mexican film actress. She was a star of Hollywood films during the silent era and in the Golden Age of Hollywood...
). An attempt to murder him results in the death of an unfortunate magician instead. When Colonel Haki (Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
) of the Turkish police investigates, he discovers that Graham is vital to the upgrading of the Turkish navy
Turkish Navy
The Turkish Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the Turkish Armed Forces.- Ottoman fleet after Mudros :Following the demise of the Ottoman Empire in the aftermath of World War I, on November 3, 1918, the fleet commander of the Ottoman Navy, Liva Amiral Arif Pasha, ordered all flags to be...
and that the Nazis have assigned Peter Banat (Jack Moss) to dispose of him.
Haki arranges a supposedly secret passage for Graham on a tramp steamer. Among his fellow passengers are Josette and her partner Gogo Martel (Jack Durant) ... and Banat. Unable to convince the captain (who doesn't speak English) to turn around, Graham is trapped aboard the ship, not knowing whom he can trust.
When the ship arrives in Batumi
Batumi
Batumi is a seaside city on the Black Sea coast and capital of Adjara, an autonomous republic in southwest Georgia. Sometimes considered Georgia's second capital, with a population of 121,806 , Batumi serves as an important port and a commercial center. It is situated in a subtropical zone, rich in...
, Banat and his confederates take Graham away in a car to murder him. A fortunate flat tire forces a stop in a crowded street, enabling Graham to escape. He makes his way through a thunderstorm to the hotel where his wife Stephanie (Ruth Warrick
Ruth Warrick
Ruth Elizabeth Warrick , DM, was an American singer, actress and political activist, best known for her role as Phoebe Tyler on All My Children, which she played regularly from 1970 until her death in 2005....
) is waiting for him, only to find his enemies there also. Graham escapes through the hotel window where the climactic scenes play out with Graham, the Nazis and Colonel Haki (who has arrived to help Graham) in a tense chase and gun battle on the hotel ledge in the pouring rain.
Cast
- Joseph CottenJoseph CottenJoseph Cheshire Cotten was an American actor of stage and film. Cotten achieved prominence on Broadway, starring in the original productions of The Philadelphia Story and Sabrina Fair...
as Howard Graham - Dolores del RíoDolores del RíoDolores del Río was a Mexican film actress. She was a star of Hollywood films during the silent era and in the Golden Age of Hollywood...
as Josette Martel - Ruth WarrickRuth WarrickRuth Elizabeth Warrick , DM, was an American singer, actress and political activist, best known for her role as Phoebe Tyler on All My Children, which she played regularly from 1970 until her death in 2005....
as Stephanie Graham - Agnes MooreheadAgnes MooreheadAgnes Robertson Moorehead was an American actress. Although she began with the Mercury Theatre, appeared in more than seventy films beginning with Citizen Kane and on dozens of television shows during a career that spanned more than thirty years, Moorehead is most widely known to modern audiences...
as Mrs. Mathews - Jack Durant as Gogo Martel
- Everett SloaneEverett SloaneEverett Sloane was an American stage, film and television actor, songwriter, and theatre director.-Early life:...
as Kopeikin - Eustace Wyatt as Professor Haller
- Frank Readick as Matthews
- Edgar BarrierEdgar BarrierEdgar Barrier was an American actor who appeared on radio, stage, and screen. In the 1930s he was a member of Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre and played Simon Templar on The Saint radio show....
as Kuvetli - Jack Moss as Peter Banat
- Stefan SchnabelStefan SchnabelStefan Schnabel was an actor best remembered for having portrayed Dr. Stephen Jackson for sixteen years on the CBS soap opera The Guiding Light, on which he appeared from 1965 to 1981...
as Purser - Hans Conreid as Oo Lang Sang, the magician
- Robert Meltzer as Steward
- Richard BennettRichard Bennett (actor)Richard Bennett was an American actor who became a stage and silent screen matinee idol over the early decades of the twentieth century.-Early Life:...
as Ship's Captain - Orson WellesOrson WellesGeorge Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
as Colonel Haki
Production
The film was directed by Norman Foster, but many have speculated that there was directorial input by Orson Welles. Welles told Peter BogdanovichPeter Bogdanovich
Peter Bogdanovich is an American film historian, director, writer, actor, producer, and critic. He was part of the wave of "New Hollywood" directors, which included William Friedkin, Brian De Palma, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, Michael Cimino, and Francis Ford Coppola...
that they were in such a rush to complete his scenes before Welles departed for Brazil to film It's All True
It's All True (1942 film)
It's All True was the title of an unfinished Orson Welles feature film of three stories about Latin America. "My Friend Bonito" was shot in 1941 and both "The Story of Samba" and "Four Men on a Raft" in 1942...
that the person directing was whoever was closest to the camera, but Welles also stated in the very same book that he did not direct any part of the film and his friend Foster was the director.
Welles did produce and design the picture and wrote the script with Joseph Cotten. Welles' main contribution as producer was the beginning pre-credit sequence showing the assassin listening to an old phonograph, which then starts to skip. The camera "floats" up to his apartment room from outside, much in the style of certain crane shots in Citizen Kane
Citizen Kane
Citizen Kane is a 1941 American drama film, directed by and starring Orson Welles. Many critics consider it the greatest American film of all time, especially for its innovative cinematography, music and narrative structure. Citizen Kane was Welles' first feature film...
. In the book This is Orson Welles, Welles states that he thought he was the first to come up with a scene before the credits; he later learned that there were a couple of movies that did this in the late thirties.