Norman Foster’s Journey into Fear was a movie that had never been on DVD or Blu-ray domestically until just recently the Warner Archive Collection gave it the first ever release on disc. It was available on VHS and laserdisc back in the day and a DVD was released overseas and that was it until now! The movie did recently appear on the TCM schedule and that’s where I first watched this classic!

Journey into Fear is a spy thriller which stars screen legend Joseph Cotton and Orson Wells, both of whom appeared together in both Citizen Kane and The Third Man. They both wrote the screenplay for Journey into Fear, but Welles was uncredited. The film is based on Eric Ambler’s novel, with a few alterations made. The film is alto notable for having two cuts , the longer version still not available in the USA.

In this picture, Howard Graham (Joseph Cotton, Citizen Kane, Shadow of a Doubt) is a U.S. Navy engineer, who is on his way back to America with his wife from a conference with the Turkish Navy. Suddenly, he finds himself being pursued by Nazi agents led by Josette Martel (Dolores del Rio, Lancer Spy, Flaming Star) and Gogo (Jack Durant) who intend to murder him.  His meetings included a rearming of Turkish ships which the Germans are against. Graham nearly gets killed at a nightclub by an assassin named Banat (Jack Moss), who was hired by the Germans. Without saying anything to his wife about what’s going on, he flees the hotel the couple is staying at. With the help of Colonel Haki (Orson Welles, The Lady from Shanghai, The Trial, The Stranger) he later boards a ship to escape but unfortunately for him Josette and Gogo have followed him there to kill him.

Much to the delight of the film’s fans, the wait is over as Journey into Fear debuts on Blu-ray courtesy of the Warner Archive Collection. The movie has been sourced from a recent 4K scan of safety preservation master positives on loan from the Library of Congress. This is the theatrical cut of the film, not the extended version which runs about six minutes longer. Blacks are rich and deep, with strong whites and a consistently balanced grey scale. Karl Struss cinematography looks fantastic boasting a wealth of detail with good texturing throughout the movie. Film grain is present during the video presentation, with nary a sign of print damages or speckling. No DNR appears to have been applied.

For their Blu-ray, Warner Archive has opted to go with an English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 soundtrack. The audio is quite pleasing with clear dialogue along with background noise, action sounds and the original score by Roy Webb are well-mixed, sound crisp and nothing short of dynamic. No age-old anomalies such as hissing or crackling were detected. This to me is an excellent soundtrack. Optional English subtitles are available for this release.

There are some supplements for this release, but they are not related to the film, which depending on your enthusiasm for extras on Blu-ray releases, you may or may not be let down.

The supplement for this release is Mercury Theater On the Air – This features three Mercury Theater radio broadcasts narrated by the one and only Orson Welles.

The three broadcasts are:

Dracula, which was originally broadcast on July 11, 1938, Treasure Island, which was first broadcasted on July 18, 1938, and lastly A Tale of Two Cities which was first broadcast on July 25, 1938. They all run about an hour give or take.

Overall, Journey into Fear is a delightful release from the Warner Archive Collection with their usual standards in excellent audio and video quality paying off. Don’t let the lack of extras for the film deter you from picking this gem up!

Journey Into Fear

Director – Norman Foster

Cast- Joseph Cotton, Orson Welles, Dolores del Rio

Country of Origin-USA

Distributor – Warner Brothers

Number of Discs –1

Reviewed by – David Steigman

Date – 10/7/2024