Journey into Fear DVD Release

[WellesFan]

It would be great if Journey into Fear were more readily available. Would love even a VOD version from Amazon.

Thank you for the thoughtful and detailed response about his involvement in the film.

Regarding the Welles as director question... I don't know enough about it to offer an opinion but I think I can suggest a possible new way of looking at. While Welles' influence is felt all the way through, it's possible that calling Welles the de-facto director (as Bognovich does) or even a co-director might be overstating it. In TV, as you know, Showrunners call the shots and make the important creative decisions for the season. Then they hire directors, who in concert with the Showrunners, work on casting (not just the leads but the smaller, bit parts too), scout locations, go to costume fittings etc for individual episodes. Sometimes the director hands in their "directors cut" of the episode but isn't there for the "final cut." The final cut is sometimes overseen by the producers. Similarly, I wouldn't be surprised if Foster was there for all the day to day work and Welles was a supportive and guiding hand. Think Irvin Kershner & Lucas on Empire. Maybe Spielberg and Tobe Hooper on Poltergeist (but that's probably a more problematic comparison.)

Anyway, that's just a possibility.

[Roger Ryan]

Right. Replace the word "Showrunner" with "Producer" and that describes Welles' involvement with Journey Into Fear. Although it's important to remember that Welles was not on-set for the majority of the shooting. He still exerted influence after leaving for South America through telegrams (as he did on Ambersons). Even though he did direct the final scene (and, arguably, had a strong hand in other scenes involving his character Col. Haki), it would not have been fair to give him an official co-director credit. I was only using that term to indicate his considerable influence on this particular production.

[WellesFan]

That's makes sense. Thanks for your insights!