The Worst Film Ever

Great Film overall

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

....but his signature is all over it. Yes, I know he wrote and produced but I've seen enough of his films to know his trademarks, like the unwitting American who has stumbled into international intrigue with bumbling results (Cotten is perfectly cast here), the ridiculous laughter of the captain and his "boom-booms," and the many quirky supporting players. There's much more Welles going on here than simply the writer and supporting role.Despite the film's short length, it never felt rushed and I was not aware of any missing scenes that many have alluded to. However, we can only hope that one day an expanded edition might be released. This is a very entertaining film even in shortened form.

JOURNEY INTO FEAR is not as good as it could have been, probably because the studio trimmed some segments. Granted, it was not as much of a butcher job as RKO did on Ambersons, but there are some abrupt transitions and slight continuity problems.The main issue I have with JOURNEY INTO FEAR is that there are too many characters. But even so, we are not given enough of a chance to sympathize with their problems or understand their motives. Mostly it's a big stew of chaos and convoluted plot twists without any clear direction or relatable elements.The film is brimming with atmospheric touches, that is one point in its favor (with an uncredited Welles overseeing the direction). But too much style and too little decipherable substance makes for what is basically a flat movie. In a way, it's a high-brow freak show that only Welles & Company can deliver.

Director Norman Foster made some of the Charlie Chan and Mr Moto films as well as the campy Batman TV series which explains this low key rather mediocre film which stars Joseph Cotton and has a cameo from Orson Welles as the Turkish Colonel Haki.Cotton plays a naval engineer and arms dealer travelling in Istanbul with his wife and ends up nearly getting killed by hired Nazi agents. He flees without his wife aboard a steamship but the agents pursue him.The film is a not too long B film, short on thrills and has big plot holes. It plods along as Cotton blunders through the film trying to figure out what is happening to him.You end up thinking that the film wants to hang on to the coat tails of the other better known Welles and Cotton collaborations.

The American ballistic expert and naval engineer Howard Graham (Joseph Cotton) is traveling with his wife Mrs. Stephanie Graham (Ruth Warrick) to Batumi by train. They stop in Istanbul to meet Kopeikin (Everett Sloane), who is the armaments representative of Graham's company, and he takes Graham to a nightclub to discuss business. Kopeikin introduces the dancer Josette Martel (Dolores Del Rio) to him and during the show, the magician invites Graham to go to the stage. The killer Banat (Jack Moss) tries to kill Graham, but hits the magician instead. Graham is forced to go to the Turkish police and Colonel Haki (Orson Welles) from the secret service shows him photograph of Banat, who has been hired by the Nazi Muller (Eustace Wyatt) to kill him. Haki asks Graham to travel to Batumi by steamship since it would be a safer trip. However, Graham stumbles over Banat and Muller, in the beginning of his journey into fear."Journey into Fear" is a deceptive classic with an entertaining spy story. With the names of Orson Welles, Joseph Cotton and Dolores Del Rio, any viewer would expect a great classic but the result is a disappointing plot. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "Jornada do Pavor" ("Journey into Fear")