JOURNEY INTO FEAR was one of the original five mystery - spy - thrillers of Eric Ambler, and while not as strong as A COFFIN FOR DEMETRIOS is a better then average story. He introduces his head of the Turkish Secret Police, Col. Haki, who would reappear in DEMETRIOS. He also continued looking (as Ambler did) on the precarious but desperate attempt to keep Turkey neutral in World War II.
The story is simple. Turkey in 1940 has hired an American engineer, Howard Graham, to help do some rearmament work on their ships and fortifications in the Black Sea and the Dardenelles. Graham can get away with this (supposedly) because in 1940 the United States (like Turkey) was still neutral. But Nazi agents are interested in these changes. Graham (who is traveling with his wife) finds that both are endangered, especially after there is an attack on his life at a nightclub. He sends Mrs. Graham ahead to Baku from Ankara, and he takes a boat to hopefully trap the German agents. The only person who knows what he is up to is Col. Haki, who has an agent on the same tramp steamer as Graham is on. But the agent is murdered, and Graham (in the close confines of the steamer) is constantly facing the two Germans who are involved, and there are no apparent people he can turn to. Or are there?
He reaches Baku, and just manages to evade the Germans. But how long can he do so, without endangering his wife or himself? Will Col. Haki show up to help?
The film has gotten into the Welles' legend as an example of how KANE's after effects led to Welles losing control over films and being branded a second-rater. He was to produce and direct JOURNEY INTO FEAR but he was also producing and directing THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSOMS and then sent by the government to Latin America to do IT'S ALL TRUE. AMBERSONS was cut to ribbons by Robert Wise and a new ending tacked on. IT'S ALL TRUE was abandoned when pressure from the Brazilian dictator, Getulio Vargas was applied in Washington (Welles had taken a dim view of Vargas and his so-called populism regarding fisherman in poor communities on the northern coast of Brazil - the third section of the film dealt with a visible protest by the fisherman).
JOURNEY was filmed in 1942. Welles later was gracious, and said the film was directed by Norman Foster, but there seems evidence that Welles did more than produce the film. Certainly he had an affect - scenes are shot showing ceilings, and special camera angles appear. Also his agent Jack Moss was used to play the part of a Nazi assassin (a silent, but effective part). So were Mercury players from Broadway, Radio, and CITIZEN KANE: Joseph Cotton (as Graham), Agnes Moorehead, Ruth Warwick, and Everett Sloan, and one Mercury player from AMBERSOMS (Richard Bennett). A dancer - adventuress was played by Dolores Del Rio, who at the time was having a love affair with Welles. While a producer could arrange for his girlfriend to pop up in a bit part in a film (or if she is a good actress in a better part), it's rare for producers to put most of their friends into a film unless they size up the roles fit the friends. It is obvious that Welles had more to his role as producer than just watching the balance sheet.
The acting is good, Welles being his usual commanding "man of mystery" here, with twisted nose and astrakhan hat. Cotton is sufficiently increasingly nervous (especially for wife Ruth Warwick)to make the claustrophobia of the ship scenes more realistic. There are great set pieces, such as the introduction of the film where Moss is shown preparing for his assassination mission in his hotel room, carefully grooming his untidy self, to a broken record, and then leaving his rooms. In it's length to the conclusion it resembles how Welles planned to originally open TOUCH OF EVIL with the assassination of Rudy Linnaker. The shooting at the nightclub (involving Hans Conried in an early good performance) was pretty good too. It is not the greatest thriller, but it is more than ordinary in it's production and result and worth watching.
The story is simple. Turkey in 1940 has hired an American engineer, Howard Graham, to help do some rearmament work on their ships and fortifications in the Black Sea and the Dardenelles. Graham can get away with this (supposedly) because in 1940 the United States (like Turkey) was still neutral. But Nazi agents are interested in these changes. Graham (who is traveling with his wife) finds that both are endangered, especially after there is an attack on his life at a nightclub. He sends Mrs. Graham ahead to Baku from Ankara, and he takes a boat to hopefully trap the German agents. The only person who knows what he is up to is Col. Haki, who has an agent on the same tramp steamer as Graham is on. But the agent is murdered, and Graham (in the close confines of the steamer) is constantly facing the two Germans who are involved, and there are no apparent people he can turn to. Or are there?
He reaches Baku, and just manages to evade the Germans. But how long can he do so, without endangering his wife or himself? Will Col. Haki show up to help?
The film has gotten into the Welles' legend as an example of how KANE's after effects led to Welles losing control over films and being branded a second-rater. He was to produce and direct JOURNEY INTO FEAR but he was also producing and directing THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSOMS and then sent by the government to Latin America to do IT'S ALL TRUE. AMBERSONS was cut to ribbons by Robert Wise and a new ending tacked on. IT'S ALL TRUE was abandoned when pressure from the Brazilian dictator, Getulio Vargas was applied in Washington (Welles had taken a dim view of Vargas and his so-called populism regarding fisherman in poor communities on the northern coast of Brazil - the third section of the film dealt with a visible protest by the fisherman).
JOURNEY was filmed in 1942. Welles later was gracious, and said the film was directed by Norman Foster, but there seems evidence that Welles did more than produce the film. Certainly he had an affect - scenes are shot showing ceilings, and special camera angles appear. Also his agent Jack Moss was used to play the part of a Nazi assassin (a silent, but effective part). So were Mercury players from Broadway, Radio, and CITIZEN KANE: Joseph Cotton (as Graham), Agnes Moorehead, Ruth Warwick, and Everett Sloan, and one Mercury player from AMBERSOMS (Richard Bennett). A dancer - adventuress was played by Dolores Del Rio, who at the time was having a love affair with Welles. While a producer could arrange for his girlfriend to pop up in a bit part in a film (or if she is a good actress in a better part), it's rare for producers to put most of their friends into a film unless they size up the roles fit the friends. It is obvious that Welles had more to his role as producer than just watching the balance sheet.
The acting is good, Welles being his usual commanding "man of mystery" here, with twisted nose and astrakhan hat. Cotton is sufficiently increasingly nervous (especially for wife Ruth Warwick)to make the claustrophobia of the ship scenes more realistic. There are great set pieces, such as the introduction of the film where Moss is shown preparing for his assassination mission in his hotel room, carefully grooming his untidy self, to a broken record, and then leaving his rooms. In it's length to the conclusion it resembles how Welles planned to originally open TOUCH OF EVIL with the assassination of Rudy Linnaker. The shooting at the nightclub (involving Hans Conried in an early good performance) was pretty good too. It is not the greatest thriller, but it is more than ordinary in it's production and result and worth watching.