Journey Into Fear

This is one of those thrillers from back in the day which tried to incorporate various European locales into the plotline to inject a bit of colour and variety. To that end, the story of this one begins in Turkey, fires over to Greece and then takes a boat to Genoa. Its constantly on the move, as we progress from car to train to boat to running around. This may sound pretty fluid stuff but, unfortunately, in practice it's really none-too-thrilling. The basic storyline is one of the issues - a petroleum geologist discovers a major oil field in Turkey leading to rival oil people hiring assassins to silence him, so they can move in and get the black gold themselves. Oil deals are not the most interesting ideas to base a thriller around to be perfectly honest, so the filmmakers had their work cut out right from the start to make this one involving. But to make matters worse, the direction is flat as a pancake as well, meaning that the whole enterprise never really gets out of third gear at any point. The best thing about this one is its cast. I am a big fan of Vincent Price and Donald Pleasence, who appear here improbably as respectively a Turk and an Arab! But even the best efforts of those two stalwarts can only do so much with the material and it did seem like they were going through the motions in this one.

In this pretty crummy adventure flick, Sam Waterston stars as an American who becomes the target of an assassination when he discovers oil in Turkey. It's a remake of the 1943 Orson Welles movie, but you're far better off sticking with the original. Sam comes across as remarkably awkward as he runs for his life. He saunters around in wide open spaces, then seems surprised when bad guys start shooting at him. And worst of all, he trusts everyone! Someone around him has to be a bad guy, right? Either Yvette Mimieux, his beautiful and unlikely love interest who doesn't mind his ineptness; Zero Mostel, his guide from the Turkish embassy, Vincent Price, an art aficionado, Shelley Winters, who's basically playing a five-second stereotype of her character in The Poseidon Adventure, Donald Pleasance, Ian McShane, Stanley Holloway, or Jackie Cooper. Someone has to be out to get him, or else why is his life in danger?

If you're the type of person who likes to watch bad movies and chuckle, you might like this one. But if you're looking for a quality thriller or on-location adventure flick, stick with Death on the Nile. For me, the best part of the movie was seeing Vincent Price act out his real-life persona of appreciating great art.

An American geologist Mr. Graham, played by Sam Waterston accidentally discovers oil in Turkey. Several assassins are sent to eliminate him, but they all fail. He eventually boards a passenger boat to try to escape. However, one of the passengers is an undercover assassin.

Movie has a great cast with an extremely young Ian McShane (DEADWOOD) as Banat the hitman who does not have a single line in the movie but carries menace like Aldo Ray's character in WELCOME TO HARD TIMES. Vincent Price makes a great turn as Banat's employer named Dervos. Donald Pleasance plays Turkish undercover officer Kuvetli , posing as a Turkish cigarette salesman who does not smoke and works for a company no one has ever heard of. Yvette Mimieux plays Josette who is being pimped out by her husband Jose played by Scott Marlowe. She is the love interest or bait for the Sam Waterston character Mr. Graham. Joseph Wiseman plays Colonel Haki who is trying to protect Mr. Graham from getting killed. Stanley Holloway and Shelly Winters play a married couple. Shelly plays a racist gossipy woman named Mrs. Mathews and Stanley Holloway in his final movie appearance plays her kindly husband Mr. Mathews.

Movie has super exciting opening and start, it kind of bogs down in the middle then jumps back into action towards the end.

Ripe for a remake.

I was apparently one of the few people who saw this movie on its brief release in 1975. I knew about the 1942 Orson Welles film but had yet to see it. I went to see this version because of Vincent Price and he does not disappoint. Other big name cast members added to the fun. Zero Mostel recycles his PRODUCERS persona and Donald Pleasence adds another of his quirky characters to his resume'. Joseph Wiseman from DR NO is on hand along with Yvette Mimeux as a chanteuse who can't sing and a young Ian McShane who never says a word. The protagonist is Sam Waterston fresh from THE GREAT GATSBY and years before LAW & ORDER. Incidentally the Jackie Cooper listed in the cast is not the former child actor but the film's stunt coordinator.

The plot, which is updated from Eric Ambler's 1940 novel, concerns a petroleum engineer named Graham whose discovery of oil deposits in Turkey leads to several murder attempts to keep his discovery from becoming known. Most of the movie takes place aboard a tramp steamer where Graham tries to evade his pursuers without knowing who they really are. It eventually leads to a final and memorable confrontation in Genoa involving Waterston, McShane and Vincent Price. Waterston is very good as a man who knows that he's out of his depth but manages to stay one step ahead thanks to luck rather than skill.

Director Daniel Mann was a big name in the 1950s and 60s with COME BACK LITTLE SHEBA and BUTTERFIELD 8 but by 1975 he was basically a director for hire. He works well with the actors but seems unsure what to do when it comes to dealing with the story elements or pacing the film. There's also evidence of post-production intervention as the editing is a little ragged in places but that's mostly in the beginning. After years of being unavailable JOURNEY INTO FEAR has made it to Blu-Ray and while its good to see it again, the print used is an old one complete with a PG rating before the credits which evokes a certain nostalgia. It's also probably the only print available. However the picture is clear and the sound is good although subtitles would have been appreciated. My thanks to Dark Force Entertainment for resurrecting this forgotten title which, although flawed, is definitely worth revisiting...For more reviews visit The Capsule Critic.

The cast of this movie is utterly amazing. From Sam Waterston, to Zero Mostel. From Joseph Wiseman to Donald Pleasance. Vincent Price. And yet, it seemed much less than it could've been, due to some VERY poor editing...

The story, briefly, is about a U.S geologist (Sam Waterston) who discovers something about Oil that proves VERY threatening to the Turkish and Arab business people...so, we spend 90 more minutes, watching Sam in absolute terror, while several people try to kill him.

Sam Waterston is WONDERFUL in it - but all the other big names seem to be really uninterested. Price is good - but what else is new? Zero Mostel, usually referred to as a genius, is so annoying you want to knock out his teeth. Ian McShane, believe it or not, has a rather significant part, but NO LINES...strange. The very worst of it is Yvette Mimieux. If you liked her as Weena in the original Time Machine, don't even bother to watch her here. She is simply awful. She does a song in a nightclub, with a voice-over, and she makes nearly NO attempt to synchronize her lips to the words. It's downright comical.

But, she does do a good job of seducing Mr. Waterston. And, so would I!

If it wasn't for Sam Waterston, this movie would be almost comical. But Sam, you know...he's the only one who cares enough to put his heart into it...what else is new?