Journey into Fear (1943)

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Powerful

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

Don't Believe the Hype

This is a wonderful treat for the experienced cineast, full of details, a brilliantly innovative script full of unexpected turns, Joseph Cotten rehearsing his character for "The Third Man", Orson Welles enjoying his part as a Turkish secret police chief speaking fluent Turkish to the full, a number of intriguing ladies, delightfully original fellow passengers, a murderer out of this world all the more scary for his total silence, in close association with a very treacherous traitor, marvellously exotic surroundings in Istanbul and Batumi, a film couldn't really get more exotic, and a lady waiting for her husband with not the slightest suspicion of what is going on, while he strenuously tries to explain it to her through the entire film, which in the end comes to a typical Wellesian/Amblerian surprise... A perfect thriller of thoroughly sustained entertainment until the very end.

. . . "Ian F." was interviewed "off-the-record" by that ubiquitous Hollywood gadfly of the late 1900s, "Peter Fogbottom," about his second most famous creation--"James Bond"--Mr. F. confessed that "Secret Agent 007" was based upon JOURNEY INTO FEAR's U.S. traveling salesman character "Howard Graham" more than anything else. As Ian told Pete, "Howie isn't afraid to take on a quartet of heavily-armed Nazi thugs when he himself is equipped merely with an umbrella," referring to the JOURNEY INTO FEAR bit just BEFORE Mr. Graham drives the Gestapo staff car through a store front. "Seeing Howie charging the Third Reich assassin on a high-rise window ledge through a drenching rain bearing nothing more than a pocket comb got me to thinking," continued novelist Ian. "If an American could be so brave and foolhardy, surely an Englishman enjoying a large support bureaucracy backing him up with high tech gadgets might be able to pull off some of Graham's daring do stunts, if they were sufficiently down-sized." Of course, as they say, "the rest is hearsay."

While in Turkey with his wife, Navy engineer Howard Graham (Joseph Cotten) finds himself pursued by Nazi agents out to kill him for reasons that aren't so clear to him (or us). Colonel Haki (Orson Welles) of the Turkish secret police puts him on a steamship to get him out of the country safely. On board he meets an assortment of colorful characters before realizing the assassins have followed him onto the ship.This is one of those movies Welles acted in that has so many of his directorial touches, yet another person is credited as director. In this case, Welles' friend Norman Foster. There are conflicting reports on who actually directed the film, including different statements from Welles himself. What we know for sure is that Foster directed at least some, if not most or even all, of the picture. Welles was set to direct but had to back out. He did co-write the screenplay and his notes for when he was going to direct were likely still used by Foster. This looks nothing like Foster's other films yet it does have that Welles feeling so, whatever the truth about who stood behind the camera, I think it's safe to say creatively the movie is more Welles than anybody.A blend of film noir and a WW2 espionage tale, the story doesn't always make a lot of sense but it's such a good-looking movie that it kept my interest throughout. It's also a short movie; about the same length as the average B picture of the time. The cast backing up the always-good Cotten and Welles features some entertaining Mercury Theatre regulars like Agnes Moorehead and Everett Sloane. Dolores del Rio is fine, as well. It's got a nice atmosphere and a reasonable amount of tension. As I said, it certainly looks great. In many ways, this feels like a Hitchcock imitator. But don't expect that kind of pacing or tight storytelling. It has suspenseful moments but the confusing plot brings the momentum to a halt at times. Welles fans will probably enjoy it more than most.

Considering the turmoil in the aftermath of Kane one could suppose that we're lucky to have even a truncated second/third film from old Awesome. It was, of course, always going to be a problem following Kane even if everything was running smoothly, as it was, Welles was here, there, and everywhere initially trying to decide on a project, then leaving a second masterpiece in the hands of the abattoir known as RKO whilst off in Rio on an aborted project and somewhere in the middle of all this deciding on an Eric Ambler novel - all his life Welles was a sucker for espionage thrillers - rounding up his Mercury players, assigning Jo Cotton - who had never written anything more ambitious than a Christmas card - to adapt the novel, playing only his second ever acting role on screen, albeit a brief one, coming up with another collection of 'signature' shots and handing the directing credit to Norman Foster. Okay, it's less than perfect - in one sense it resembles a blueprint for Mr. Arkadin - but even imperfect Welles is light years better than, for example, overrated 'pure' Hitchcock. If ultimately disappointing it is at the same time fascinating.