ORSON WELLES CINEMA 'JOURNEY INTO FEAR' W/ JOSEPH COTTEN

Journey Into Fear YEAR: 1943

An entertaining, lightweight suspense yarn about a passive arms dealer... who, ironically, has never fired a gun... stuck on a cargo ship where somewhere lurks a Nazi who wants to kill him.

Joseph Cotten stars as the hunted pawn who, having left loyal wife Ruth Warrick ashore, flirts with sexy dancer Dolores Del Rio and meets various passengers including a Turkish tobacco dealer, a handsome gambler and a mysterious yet confident German businessman. It's not hard figuring out who the main heavy is, but it doesn't matter...

Journey Into Fear RATES: ****

Seeing the CITIZEN KANE trio Cotten, Everett Sloane and Orson Welles, as a Turkish Captain who sends Cotten on board, back together is great. The pace is loose and enjoyable with a terrific building-top shootout/climax with the villain's ruthless hit man. And to prove Welles did not direct, here's a quote from the man himself when asked if he directed the picture...

"Never at any time." Welles stated. "I produced it and Jo Cotten and I wrote the script, based on Eric Amber's novel: The director was Norman Foster, who was a great friend of mine." Either way, it looks and feels like the post KANE Mercury productions, including the fact it had been edited by the studio and, although flawed, this is the mark of a hindered genius. "I wasn’t even in the country for most of the picture," Welles stated. "I was only there for three weeks. But I did the sets and I supervised the planning of the way it was going to be done."

Joseph Cotten & Everette Sloane bookend an uncredited/unknown Journey into Fear starlet

Kane threesome Everette Sloane, Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles in Journey Into Fear

Eustace Wyatt, Joseph Cotten and Jack Moss in JOURNEY INTO FEAR

Orson Welles's real life agent Jack Moss takes a killer role in JOURNEY INTO FEAR