JOURNEY INTO FEAR (1943)
Label: Warner Archive
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 68 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Fullscreen (1.37:1)
Duiector: Norman Foster
Cast: Joseph Cotton, Dolores Del Rio, Ruth Warrick
Spy-noir Journey Into Fear (1943) is directed by Norman Foster, based on the 1940 same-titled novel by Eric Ambler, with a script by les and co-star Joseph Cotton.
Spy-noir Journey Into Fear (1943) is directed by Norman Foster, based on the 1940 same-titled novel by Eric Ambler, with a script by les and co-star Joseph Cotton.
In it Cotton (Lady Frankenstein) stars as stars as Howard Graham an American gunnery engineer doing business abroad, he has brought his wife Stephanie (Ruth Warrick, Song of the South) with him, enroute to the U.S. via the Soviet Union, but during a stop-over in Istanbul things take an unexpected turn when he finds himself caught up in a murder investigation. While attending a magic show with his Turkish colleague Kopeikin (Everett Sloane, The Lady from Shanghai) who introduces him to dancer Josette Maretl (Dolores del Río, Madame Du Barry) and her partner Gogo (Jack Durant). During the performance the magician (Hans Conried, The Cat from Outer Space) is shot and killed, and Howard and his party are brought in for questioning by as Colonel Haki (Orson Welles, Touch of Evil) Turkish secret police who tells Howard that he was the intended target, and that an assassin named Banat (Jack Moss) working for Gestapo agent Muller, has marked him for death. Haki offers to send Howard's wife onto Batumi via land while he secretly ferrets The American engineer on a tramp steamer, alongside Josette and Gogo Also board are Turkish tobacco salesman Kuvetli (Edgar Barrier, The Giant Claw), German archeologist Prof. Haller (Eustace Wyatt) and bickering couple Matthews (radio personality Frank Readick) and his wife (Agnes Moorehead, Caged!, TV's Bewitched). During a stop to pick up more passengers the Nazi assassin Banat boards the ship, and the tensions are ratcheted up. All the while the dancer Josette is clearly attracted to Howard but for some reason he delays telling her that his wife is waiting for him at the next stop, but maybe it just skipped his mind given that there's a Nazi killer with a bullet with his name on it, and it seems that he cannot quite trust anyone to be who they say they are. At just sixty-eight minutes this is a pretty breezy albeit still convoluted spy noir-thriller, there's plenty of stylish lensing, and the finale that takes place during a monsoon storm on the outside ledge of building is absolutely pulse-pounding and terrifically staged. Like The Lady from Shanghai there are studio interference on the backend of the production and what we have here is the studio edit and not the longer European cut of the film.
Audio/Video: Journey Into Fear (1943) arrives on Blu-ray from Warner Archive in 1080p HD framed in 1.37:1 widescreen original aspect ratio. It's a wonderful looking restoration, sourced from a 4K scan of safety preservation master positives. The lensing from Karl Struss, who lensed quite a few classic genre pics, including Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931), Island of Lost Souls (1932), and The Fly (1958). Overall it looks quite good with sharp detail and nice looking textures, blacks are largely deep and inky, occasionally looking milkier during certain lighting scenarios. Grain levels appear healthy, though at times the source quality seem to take a slight step down, but overall an impressive showing on Blu-ray.
Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 2.0 dual-mono with optional English subtitles. The clean-up sounds good, dialogue comes across well, and the score from Val Lewton alum Roy Webb (The Leopard Man, I Walked with a Zombie, The Seventh Victim, Cat People, The Curse of the Cat People, Bedlam, The Body Snatcher) is quite supportive of the thriller-noir elements.
Extras include three audio-only extras that are quite a treat for fans of Orson Welles, three of Orson Welles' Mercury Theater Radio Broadcasts of Dracula (7/11/1938), Treasure Island (7/18/1938), and A Tale of Two Cities (7/25/1938), all broadcast in July of 1938. The single-disc release arrives in a standard keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork featuring the original movie poster artwork.
Special Features:
- (Audio only) Three Orson Welles Mercury Theater Radio Broadcasts: Dracula (7/11/1938), Treasure Island (7/18/1938), and A Tale of Two Cities (7/25/1938)
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