Journey Into Fear - Warner Archive Collection

After Citizen Kane and The Magnificent Ambersons, Orson Welles took a break from directing (or did he?) and merely produced and acted in Journey Into Fear...at least that's what the credits would like us to believe. Though Norman Foster is listed as the director of this tidy, somewhat disjointed World War II espionage flick, rumor has it Welles had his hand in that cookie jar as well. Many shots come straight from the Welles playbook and it's widely known Welles collaborated on the screenplay with actor Joseph Cotten, who receives sole screen credit. Unraveling who did what and when and with whom and why on any Welles movie is often more difficult than guessing whodunit in an Agatha Christie mystery.

Beginning with an eerie prologue in the cramped apartment of a rotund, oily, and bespectacled assassin, Journey Into Fear chronicles the efforts of Howard Graham (Cotten), an American ballistics expert, to evade Nazi operatives tasked with killing him. On his way to confer with Soviet allies in Batumi, Graham and his wife Stephanie (Ruth Warrick) stop over in Istanbul, where Graham survives an assassination attempt in a Turkish nightclub. Colonel Haki (Welles), a local official, persuades Graham to flee the country on a cargo ship rather than by train as originally planned to get the hitmen off his trail.

Without time to notify his wife, Graham boards the ship, which is populated by a motley group of passengers who may or may not be trusted. As the journey progresses, the danger Graham faces increases, ultimately forcing him to confront his fear and fight his foes instead of hide from them.

Adapted from a novel by spymaster Eric Ambler, Journey Into Fear moves along at a brisk clip and requires close attention to follow the plot's twists and turns. Plenty of atmosphere enhances the film, from the dank, cramped confines of the steamer to the exciting climactic showdown on the ledges of a hotel during a driving rainstorm. A fair amount of tension and suspense keeps us engaged throughout, and though the wartime intrigue is a bit complex, the nuts-and-bolts cat-and-mouse game between Graham and those intent on bumping him off put the politics on the back burner.

Journey Into Fear stands as Cotten's only screenwriting credit, and the script isn't half-bad. (How much is Cotten and how much is Welles, however, remains open for debate.) The film runs a mere 68 minutes, and like many Welles movies (especially The Magnificent Ambersons, which directly preceded it), it's tough not to get the impression Journey Into Fear was butchered during the editing process. The narrative often feels choppy, with some characters - namely Graham's wife - receiving short shrift, making us suspect there might have been more to their roles than what ended up on screen.

After featured parts in Citizen Kane and The Magnificent Ambersons, Cotten was on the cusp of stardom and Journey Into Fear would help loft him onto Hollywood's A list. (His next picture would be the Alfred Hitchcock classic Shadow of a Doubt.) Always affable and genuine, Cotten is quite relatable here as a businessman caught in an asphyxiating web and ill-equipped to combat both professional killers and a regime determined to bring him down.

Welles, at just 28 years of age, is a hoot as the bombastic, beleaguered middle-aged colonel who always seems on the verge of collapse. His nondescript accent, unkempt appearance, military regalia, and eagerness to steal every scene in which he appears make him a magnetic presence, but his attention-grabbing antics occasionally take us out of the film. Dolores Del Rio, who was Welles' girlfriend at the time, supplies some exotic sex appeal as a dancer who helps Graham keep a step ahead of his adversaries, and such Welles favorites as Warrick, Agnes Moorehead, Everett Sloane, and The Magnificent Ambersons patriarch Richard Bennett in his final film role add color and spice to this noir-ish exercise.

No matter what his level of involvement in any capacity, almost every Welles movie is a fascinating cinematic specimen and Journey Into Fear is no exception. It's hardly perfect, but several stimulating sequences make this otherwise pedestrian thriller worth watching and examining. Because it's been out of sight for years, the re-emergence of Journey Into Fear on the U.S. home video scene is a notable event that inspires renewed interest in a film that has sat on the shelf for far too long. It's high time Journey Into Fear joined the digital catalog of Welles classics, and Warner Archive has produced an edition that would make even its persnickety producer-director-writer-actor-and-all-around-megalomaniac proud.

Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-ray
Journey Into Fear arrives on Blu-ray packaged in a standard case. Video codec is 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 and audio is DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono. Once the disc is inserted into the player, the static menu without music immediately pops up; no previews or promos precede it.

Along with Mr. Lucky, Journey Into Fear is another 1943 film that never received a U.S. DVD release. Welles fans have been clamoring for a digital upgrade forever and Warner Archive has finally granted their wish. Sourced from safety preservation master positives from the Library of Congress, the new 4K restoration yields a very good 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 transfer. Some rough patches still exist - some shots sport excessive grain and softness - but the overall presentation is quite impressive. The film-like image faithfully honors the noir-ish cinematography of Oscar-winner Karl Strauss and is distinguished by excellent clarity, contrast, and shadow delineation (silhouettes are especially striking). Inky blacks, bright whites, and a pleasing grayscale produce a balanced picture, background elements are easy to discern, costume textures and patterns are well defined, and sharp close-ups highlight Welles' bushy eyebrows and mustache, Moorehead's angular features, and Del Rio's flawless complexion. Any print damage has been repaired and no digital anomalies could be detected. This may not be a perfect transfer due to the available elements, but it will certainly thrill fans of this rare movie.

The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track supplies clear, well-modulated sound with a couple of effective jolts. A wide dynamic scale provides the music score by seven-time Oscar-nominee Roy Webb plenty of room to breathe, while sonic accents like clanking silverware, the cracking of saltine crackers, car and boat horns, gunshots, shattering glass, and thunder are distinct. Subtleties like footsteps and the howling wind are crisp, all the dialogue is easy to comprehend, and no age-related hiss, pops, or crackle disrupt the tense atmosphere.

Three classic literary adaptations performed on the radio by the actors in Orson Welles' Mercury Theater Group during a three-week period in 1938 comprise the disc extras.

• Dracula (Broadcast on 7/11/1938) (59 minutes)
• Treasure Island (Broadcast on 7/18/1938) (64 minutes)
• A Tale of Two Cities (Broadcast on 7/25/1938) (59 minutes)

Journey Into Fear is far from a perfect film, but anything Wellesian deserves our attention and this World War II thriller grabs it and holds it throughout its brief running time. A taut plot, fine performances, and stylish direction (from either Foster or Welles) distinguish the film, which earns a Blu-ray release at long last. A stellar transfer struck from a 4K scan of safety preservation master positives, remastered audio, and a trio of Welles radio adaptations of classic literary works make this release a feast for hungry Welles fans. Highly Recommended.