Hello, everyone.
In the news section of wellesnet.com there is an item about an alternate, better version of "Journey Into Fear" that was shown at the Locarno Film Festival not long ago. It says that this was the version that has always played in Europe - by accident or by design - and that it could be a version of the film from before RKO did their thing with it.
Dare we hope for a Stateside DVD release with both versions?
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Karl Morton IV
[email protected]
There are indeed two versions of "Journey Into Fear", although it is arguable which one is better. The version screened in Locarno (and virtually unseen in the U.S.) is most likely a studio-edited version briefly released in Aug. 1942. It was then withdrawn and Welles was allowed to rework the film adding a narration and a new ending. This version became the official one and was released in Feb. 1943. Each version contains scenes/dialogue not found in the other. The "European" version contains longer versions of the early scenes as well as extended and better cut sequences surrounding the murder of Kuvetli. The "American" version (the one Welles reworked himself) restores some of the character development and plot lost in the earlier edit. Neither version is the persumably lost "preview" version which ran 91 min.
shareI have seen both versionWhen there's no more room in hell, The dead will walk the earth...