journey into fear
Orson Welles had planned to produce, direct and star in RKO’s Journey Into Fear, but prior commitments compelled him to vacate the director’s chair in favor of Norman Foster. [1]
Journey Into Fear is a well-known 1940 spy thriller novel by Eric Ambler. [...] Film adaptations were released in 1943 and 1975. [2]
The very complex storyline was made even more so by RKO’s decision to pare the film down to 69 minutes; several resultant plot gaps had to be bridged by an ongoing offscreen narration, presented in the form of a letter written by Cotten to his worried wife Ruth Warrick. [1]
The protagonist is a British engineer traveling back from Turkey, where he had completed high-level technical talks which could help cement a Turkish-British alliance in the recently-started Second World War. [...] Most of the plot takes place on board an Italian ship, where the protagonist travels in company with his nemesis - a satanic yet believable German intellectual spymaster, accompanied by a Romanian hired killer - and with a rich cast of other characters, such as a Turkish secret agent, a Spanish courtesan and her pimp, and a French couple of which the husband is left-leaning and his wife a staunch reactionary. [2]
From the outset, it is no secret that Moss is a Nazi assassin. [3]
From Sam Waterston, to Zero Mostel. [4]
By that time, Orson Welles ‘ contract was terminated by a new studio head. [5]
Joseph Cotten, who starred as an American gunnery engineer up to his armpits in international intrigue, adapted the screenplay from the novel by Eric Ambler. [1]
The early part of the book has a significant appearance of Colonel Haki, the dour but basically likable head of Turkish Security, who already made his first appearance in The Mask of Dimitrios and who would return in later Ambler books as a general. [2]
His fellow passengers include dancer Dolores Del Rio and her gigolo partner Jack Durant; talkative Frenchwoman Agnes Moorehead and her browbeaten husband Frank Readick; German archaeologist Eustace Wyatt; and a secretive, obese, thick-spectacled gent, played by Orson Welles ‘ business partner Jack Moss. [3]
Most of the plot takes place on board an Italian ship, where the protagonist travels in company with his nemesis - a satanic yet believable German intellectual spymaster, accompanied by a Bulgarian hired killer - and with a rich cast of other characters, such as a Turkish secret agent, a Spanish courtesan and her pimp, and a French couple of which the husband is left-leaning and his wife a staunch reactionary. [1]
Fandango, the ultimate movie ticketing destination, is your source for movie tickets and movie times. [3]
Welles himself plays colorful Turkish police officer Colonel Haki, while Everett Sloane, Hans Conried and Edgar Barrier essay significant smaller roles. [1]
Sources:
[1] Journey into Fear 1942: Movie and film review from Answers.com (www.answers.com/topic/
[2] Journey into Fear (novel) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
[3] Journey into Fear Synopsis (www.fandango.com/
[4] Journey Into Fear (1975) (www.imdb.com/title/tt0073213)
[5] Journey Into Fear (1943) (www.imdb.com/title/tt0034922)