Hunted by agents
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Hunted by agents |
| Original title | Journey into Fear |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1943 |
| length | 68 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director |
Norman Foster , Orson Welles |
| script |
Joseph Cotten , Orson Welles |
| production | Orson Welles for RKO Pictures |
| music |
Constantin Bakaleinikoff , Roy Webb |
| camera | Karl Struss |
| cut | Mark Robson |
| occupation | |
| |
Hunted by agents (original title: Journey into Fear ) is an American agent film from 1943 by Norman Foster based on the book of the same name (German translation from 1975: The fear travels with ) by Eric Ambler . Parts of the film were shot by Orson Welles , who also produced the film.
action
At a meeting between the American weapons specialist Howard Graham and his business partner Kopeikin in an Istanbul nightclub, the former assists a performing magician . A shot is fired during a trick and the magician is dead.
Investigator Haki suspects that the attack was actually against Graham and sends him to a ship that has Batumi as its target. On the ship, Graham meets the German Dr. Haller and Banat, who is one of the suspects in the attack. When they arrive in Batumi, they force him into a car, but Graham manages to escape. He wants to go to a hotel where he has made an appointment with his wife.
Once there, he meets his opponents again, who turn out to be Nazi agents. Banat dies in the course of an argument in which Haki is also involved.
synchronization
Not all speakers of the German dubbing that originated in the early 1970s are known. It is known, however, that Orson Welles was dubbed by Martin Hirthe , Joseph Cotton by Michael Chevalier and Everett Sloane by Harry Wüstenhagen .
background
Initially it was planned that Orson Welles would take over the direction of the film, but after a while he passed it on to Norman Foster. Orson Welles was therefore only listed as a screenwriter and producer in the film, but not as a director. However, some scenes, including the final scene, were shot by Welles.
Orson Welles later stated the film was massacred by the producers. For him, Cotten, and Foster, he was something of a private joke .
publication
A 91-minute version was rehearsed in August 1942, while a version shortened by around 20 minutes was released in 1943 in Mexico , the USA and Australia, among others . In Germany the film was not shown in the cinema, but only on television for the first time in 1972.
reception
The Lexicon of International Films describes the film as "an agent film with an adventurous thrill, highly dramatic and atmospherically densely developed".
The journalist Peter Buchka above all criticizes the “inconsistencies of the film” and sees no positive contribution to this in the scenes shot by Welles either. That being said, he sees the film as a turning point in the context of Welles' work. According to this, it is "the end of a backward-looking, psychological search for the causes of a (personal) present and the beginning of a life in which there is no support, no center."
Web links
- Of agents hunted in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Synchronous database . Retrieved October 9, 2014 .
- ^ Peter W. Jansen and Wolfram Schütte (eds.): Orson Welles . Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich / Vienna 1977, ISBN 3-446-12454-3 , p. 77 ff .
- ^ Peter W. Jansen and Wolfram Schütte (eds.): Orson Welles . Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich / Vienna 1977, ISBN 3-446-12454-3 , p. 44 .
- ↑ JOURNEY INTO FEAR - Stefan Drossler presents a new version in San Francisco. January 22, 2007, accessed October 9, 2014 .
- ↑ Lexicon of International Films: Hunted by Agents. Retrieved October 9, 2014 .
- ^ Peter W. Jansen and Wolfram Schütte (eds.): Orson Welles . Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich / Vienna 1977, ISBN 3-446-12454-3 , p. 78 ff .