Looks like Welles, feels like Welles....but isn't Welles

Arriving on the heels of The Magnificent Ambersons is the 1943 curiosity Journey Into Fear, a film that Orson Welles did not direct, at least not officially, but has his fingerprints all over it. The film has a troubled history, and the sixty-eight minute cut that exists today offers glimpses into what could have been a great film, instead of the better-than-average (but clunky) thriller that it is. There are conflicting stories about the film -- some claim Orson was set to direct it, but was busy in South America filming It's All True. Others insist that it was little more than a contractual obligation film, and Welles was happy to give it to Norman Foster, the credited director. Yet quite a few of Welles' signatures can be found -- from the distinctively Citizen Kane-ish title card, to the finale, set on a building ledge during a rainstorm. Most of his Mercury Theater group are in the film, as is Jack Moss (Welles' business partner), playing a Nazi assassin (pictured, left). The screenplay, written by Welles and star Joseph Cotten was meant to be "the opposite of an action picture", but RKO wasn't interested in anything so clever -- they wanted a suspense picture, and wound up removing anything not related to the already paper-thin suspense plot. (The film was so badly chopped up that an expository voiceover track was added just to make some sense of it.) The plot couldn't be any simpler -- Joseph Cotten plays Howard Graham, an American engineer sent to Turkey on business. After narrowly escaping from an attempted assassination, he is forced onto a ship by the almost Stalin-esque Colonel Haki (Welles), so as to protect him from his Nazi pursuers. The bulk of the film takes place aboard the ship, where we meet a gaggle of eccentric characters, including an exotic, flirty nightclub singer (Welles' girlfriend Dolores del Rio), a Turkish tobacco salesman, a "good" German, and a cowardly socialist. The entire sequence is actually quite comical, and we feel for the hapless Graham, thrust against his will onto this ship of fools. The cast of Welles regulars, including Agnes Moorehead, Ruth Warrick and the great Everett Sloane have fun with their roles, and Welles himself is totally over the top with his performance as the cunning but likeable Turkish Colonel. There are some wonderful moments in the film, particularly the opening, which finds the assassin preparing in his dilapidated little room while listening to a scratchy opera 78 that sticks on certain lines. It's a wonderful little device that sets the tone for the film, especially coming as it does before the opening credits roll. The grand finale on the building ledge is utterly Wellesian, and it's likely that he directed the sequence. (When asked about it years later, he responded that it was directed by "whoever was nearest the camera." Yeah.) The tacked on epilogue, while nowhere near as criminal as the studio-mandated butchering of The Magnificent Ambersons, is quite ridiculous. Still, with inspired cinematography (shades of Gregg Toland), a wonderful cast, and some great dialogue, Journey Into Fear, while not quite as Welles intended, has a lot to offer in just over an hour. Journey Into Fear is only available on a Region 2 DVD from France, but shows up on Turner Movie Classics fairly often.

Comments

[julio Mateus]

It's Joseph COTTEN, for Pete's sake!!

[Filmbrain]

See what happens when you let spell checkers take over?

[Lemmy Caution]

Julio, you gots to chill.

[Roving Flashlight]

Did you see this review of "Despite the System: Orson Welles Versus
the Hollywood Studios" in the NYTBR the other week? Pretty interesting.

[Roving Flashlight]

Duh, forgot to post the link:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0DE7DB1731F932A35756C0A9639C8B63&n=Top%2fFeatures%2fBooks%2fBook%20Reviews

[Filmbrain]

Thanks for the link -- looks like it's going to make for a great read.