A film that may well qualify as a cheap thrill ride. It has a mix of mediocre, but also some pretty good scenes. Orson Welles is listed as an uncredited director, one can assume that he has had some influence here. Although Welles is barely in the film, and with one of his more mediocre performances, he still out acts all the others, even Cotton.
The film's main problem is that it does not bother to go particularly deep into things. It seems like they were in an awful rush just to make something. Characters fly from side to side, and nobody seems to know exactly what to do with them. It tries to build up a little humor, but it usually falls rather flat.
Despite all this, Journey Into Fear is an entertaining movie. The climax scene is phenomenal, and it has many good scenes to back it up. A couple of not too surprising twists makes it exciting enough, but not more than your usual B-crime movie. A not too long running time makes the problems not bother me as much as they otherwise would, albeit some extra scenes and more innovations could have done it some good. But as I said it's entertaining enough. Good enough to relax to after a tiring day when you do not care to think.
The film's main problem is that it does not bother to go particularly deep into things. It seems like they were in an awful rush just to make something. Characters fly from side to side, and nobody seems to know exactly what to do with them. It tries to build up a little humor, but it usually falls rather flat.
Despite all this, Journey Into Fear is an entertaining movie. The climax scene is phenomenal, and it has many good scenes to back it up. A couple of not too surprising twists makes it exciting enough, but not more than your usual B-crime movie. A not too long running time makes the problems not bother me as much as they otherwise would, albeit some extra scenes and more innovations could have done it some good. But as I said it's entertaining enough. Good enough to relax to after a tiring day when you do not care to think.