Voyage au pays de la peur

Original title: Journey Into Fear

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Joseph Cotten, Dolores Del Río, Jack Moss, and Ruth Warrick in Voyage au pays de la peur (1943)

An American ballistics expert in Turkey finds himself targeted by German agents. Safe passage home by ship is arranged for him, but he soon discovers that his pursuers are also on board.An American ballistics expert in Turkey finds himself targeted by German agents. Safe passage home by ship is arranged for him, but he soon discovers that his pursuers are also on board.An American ballistics expert in Turkey finds himself targeted by German agents. Safe passage home by ship is arranged for him, but he soon discovers that his pursuers are also on board.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.5/10

4.9K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

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14 heures

Storyline

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Trivia
The great stage actor Richard Bennett had been brought back to films by Orson Welles for "The Magnificent Ambersons". Although his performance as old Major Amberson has become legendary, it was achieved with great difficulty, as Bennett, by then an old man near death, found it hard to remember his lines and his eyesight was too poor for him to be able to read them off cue-cards. Welles's patience in dealing with these problems has been widely described. When he cast Bennett in this film as the ship's captain, he overcame the problems very simply, by giving Bennett no dialogue at all, although the character has several memorable scenes. It was to be Bennett's final film role.

Goofs
During the chase outside the hotel in the rain, Banat's pistol, a P-08 "Luger" runs out of ammunition, but the action closes normally after he fires the last shot. This particular pistol was designed so that the action stays open after the last round is fired, giving a clear indication to the user that the gun is empty.

Quotes
Colonel Haki: Ah, you have this advantage over the soldier, Mr. Graham. You can run away without being a coward.

Alternate versions
In 2005 an alternate cut was shown at the Welles film retrospective in Locarno, Switzerland. It was the original European release print, lacking the narration and ending of the US version but including about eight minutes of footage later deleted by RKO, reportedly for political and censorship reasons. This alternate version, assembled by Stefan Droessler of the Munich Filmmuseum, was shown at the Museum of Modern Art on Sat, Nov 21, 2015

Connections
Featured in Terminus... the Theater of Science Fiction: Journey into Fear (1970)

Soundtracks
C'est mon coeur
(uncredited)
Written by Steven Morgan

User reviews67

Featured review

6/10

The Emperor's wearing no clothes in this one

Joseph Cotten plays an American armaments engineer on the run from the Nazis in "Journey into Fear," a 1943 film with a script by Cotten (from a story by Eric Ambler) and costarring Orson Welles and Delores del Rio. Cotten is working on a deal to supply Turkey with weapons to fight the Axis. The Nazis don't want the deal made and are trying to stop Cotten from getting back to the U.S.

There are some very exciting scenes in this extremely atmospheric film, in particular on the ledge of a building between Cotten and the terrifying assassin. Most of the film takes place on board a dingy ship where Cotten is taken, thus beginning his Kafka-esquire nightmare.

This is an entertaining film for sure, but I've always been troubled by it. First of all, it seems like there are scenes missing. Second, it's on the confusing side since there are irrelevant characters thrown in. Third, you can drive a truck through some of the plot holes. Fourth, the ending to me has always felt abrupt.

Suspenseful? Yes. Intriguing? Yes. Ultimately disappointing? Yes. Cotten is good as a man blundering through something he can't quite figure out - the problem is, the audience can't quite figure it out either. Welles has a small but effective role as Dr. Haki.

Strong on style, weak on substance.