Journey Into Fear (1943) coming from Warner Archive

[whiteberry]

Coming from the Warner Archive Collection on September 30th!

New 2024 1080p HD master from 4K scan of safety preservation master positives from the Library of Congress.

JOURNEY INTO FEAR (1943)
68 Minutes
B&W
DTS-HD MA 2.0
Aspect ratio: 16x9 1.37:1 with side mattes
Subtitles: English SDH
NOT RATED

Cast: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotton, Dolores Del Rio, Ruth Warrick

SPECIAL FEATURES: Audio-only Orson Welles Mercury Theater Radio Broadcasts: DRACULA (7/11/1938), TREASURE ISLAND (7/18/1938), and A TALE OF TWO CITIES (7/25/1938)

SYNOPSIS: Orson Welles’ touches of cinematic brilliance make Journey Into Fear a stunning success. Joseph Cotton portrays am American gunnery engineer pursued by Gestapo agents. His adventures make him cross paths with an impressive array of characters portrayed by Dolores Del Rio, Ruth Warrick, Agnes Moorehead, Everett Sloane, Hans Conried, and Welles himself, who plays Colonel Haki, head of the Turkish Secret Police. The cinematography by Karl Struss in low—key and stylized, with a reviewer of the era pointing to its “Brilliant atmosphere, the nightmare of pursuit, and when the shock comes it leaps at the eye and ear”. Journey Into Fear is a thriller worthy of the cinematic master Orson Welles.

Eddie Muller's introduction to "Journey Into Fear" (1942) on TCM Noir Alley:

Eddie Muller's introduction to "Journey Into Fear" (1942) on TCM Noir Alley - YouTube

Eddie Muller's afterword to "Journey Into Fear" (1942) on TCM Noir Alley:

Eddie Muller's afterword to "Journey Into Fear" (1942) on TCM Noir Alley - YouTube

[Adam4Rizzel]

Nice! First time on disc!

[beamish13]

Originally Posted by whiteberry

Absolutely ridiculous to not include both the North American and international versions

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by Adam4Rizzel

Nice! First time on disc!

Wow, that's crazy. Any particular reason why it never came out on DVD in the US?

[beamish13]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

Wow, that's crazy. Any particular reason why it never came out on DVD in the US?

Guessing total indifference from WB, as this disc shows. It did have a VHS release in the early 90’s

[Areyakiddin]

Originally Posted by beamish13

Guessing total indifference from WB, as this disc shows. It did have a VHS release in the early 90’s

Considering all the super obscure movies that got released through the Archive on DVD, I doubt it was just indifference.

[Hammerlover]

Super underrated; has plenty of Wellesian touches.

[Richard--W]

Originally Posted by beamish13

Absolutely ridiculous to not include both the North American and international versions

My understanding is that the American version was
substantially cut prior to release. Welles insisted
that Norman Foster was the only director, and if the
film had not been so heavily cut audiences would
see what a fine film Foster had made. This was in
the long career interview by the BBC "Memories of
a Life in Film."

So, an international version implies longer, and it's
available somewhere?

[drush9999]

Is this the longer version at 68 mins?

Day 1 though.

[beamish13]

Originally Posted by drush9999

Is this the longer version at 68 mins?

Day 1 though.

Nope. The longer cut (which not only exists, but has screened in the past decade) is only slightly longer, but about 6 minutes of footage is completely different

[BudtheChud]

Glad to have an HD version of this finally, but very disappointed that the other cut will not be included. Hell I would be happy for an SD copy as a bonus if that's all they could do.

[Hammerlover]

Originally Posted by BudtheChud

Glad to have an HD version of this finally, but very disappointed that the other cut will not be included. Hell I would be happy for an SD copy as a bonus if that's all they could do.

WAC didn't give us the full version of DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (1941) either.

[bashfulstool]

Originally Posted by Richard--W

My understanding is that the American version was substantially cut prior to release.
So, an international version implies longer, and it's available somewhere?

Basically edited differently, so some scenes are longer, some are shorter, and runtime is about the same. There was a watchable (but crappy) PAL dvd release. You can read about this on an Orson Welles site: http://wellesnet.com/phpbb2/viewtopi...t=940&start=15

The "euro" version (supposedly before Orson edited it) starts like a normal movie with credits first. No voice-over which usually accompanied wipes (edits) of scenes, so those scenes are longer. Other scenes are shorter (eg, Haki does not recount the history of Graham's character in his office). There's additional scenes such as Haki with Graham's wife.

[u2popmofo]

I've never seen this, looking forward to checking the disc out.

[ShortFuse98]

Nice! Another one for my Orson Welles collection.

[Elvis_Tangerium]

One of the very few times I would have preferred they'd licensed a title out to Criterion, who might have given us both cuts.

Didn't I read somewhere that a reconstruction of the original ~90 min version was done by Stefan Droessler's team at the Munich Filmmuseum? Or am I confusing this with Merchant of Venice and the Deep?

For those who haven't seen this and are on the fence, Dolores del Rio in a cat outfit is worth the price of admission alone.

[Hammerlover]

Originally Posted by Elvis_Tangerium

One of the very few times I would have preferred they'd licensed a title out to Criterion, who would have surely given us both cuts.

Didn't I read somewhere that a reconstruction of the original ~90 min version was done by Stefan Droessler's team at the Munich Filmmuseum? Or am I confusing this with Merchant of Venice and the Deep?

For those who haven't seen this and are on the fence, Dolores del Rio in a cat outfit is worth the price of admission alone.

Hey Jack Moss ain't exactly chopped liver!

[Rayjg]

Originally Posted by Elvis_Tangerium

One of the very few times I would have preferred they'd licensed a title out to Criterion, who would have surely given us both cuts.

Didn't I read somewhere that a reconstruction of the original ~90 min version was done by Stefan Droessler's team at the Munich Filmmuseum? Or am I confusing this with Merchant of Venice and the Deep?

For those who haven't seen this and are on the fence, Dolores del Rio in a cat outfit is worth the price of admission alone.

Yup, caught this in NYC at MOMA about 8-9 years ago. It doesn't surprise me that the reconstruction with stills and subtitles for lost scenes isn't included but they could've at least included the international version. But as someone else pointed out about Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, WAC couldn't be bothered to include the international version either. After all this time a very disappointing and even insulting release for Welles fans.

[Elvis_Tangerium]

Originally Posted by Rayjg

Yup, caught this in NYC at MOMA about 8-9 years ago.

Thanks for confirming this. I knew I remembered hearing about it somewhere. Wish these Munich Filmmuseum reconstructions would get some kind of home video releases. Even if only Region B.

I think so far the only things available have been the Arkadin "comprehensive" edit, and some the extras on Criterion's F for Fake.

[Rayjg]

Originally Posted by Elvis_Tangerium

Thanks for confirming this. I knew I remembered hearing about it somewhere. Wish these Munich Filmmuseum reconstructions would get some kind of home video releases. Even if only Region B.

I think so far the only things available have been the Arkadin "comprehensive" edit, and some the extras on Criterion's F for Fake.

Quality wasn't the best. It was a SD projection I think. It was pretty surreal seeing scenes I've never seen before in the domestic release. Especially the long scene with Welles and Cotten's wife. You just aren't use to alternate cuts of classic Hollywood films for obvious reasons.