The Journey (1959)

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

I really like that this was shot on location in Vienna, it added a very real feel to it. Also, they used a number of European actors so physically they look authentic.I found it more like a play in that the timing of some of the happenings in reality would be next to impossible. Also like a play, and I'm surprised no one has mentioned this in their reviews, is that Yul Brynner is eventually killed by a Hungarian resistance fighter who looks almost identical to Deborah Kerr who he is obsessed with so I suspect there was some dark message in that, and come to think of it, it's even darker in that the same resistance fighter had just killed Brynners' horse the night before so that was a kind of premonition. The ending, if it were reality, would be just too much of a coincidence -- Brynner takes Deborah Kerr and her companions to a bridge and sets them free into Vienna but just after they cross the bridge, the Bizarro World Deborah Kerr freedom fighter emerges from the bushes and kills Brynner while he's getting into his jeep. How did she know he was going to be there at that exact moment? Anyways, aside from a few ludicrous coincidences, it's a decent movie worth watching in my opinion.

This movie was a fine drama and had a pretty good love story. The acting was mostly first-rate. I don't understand the popularity of Jason Robards and this premier performance for him in the movies is no better than a bunch of other roles I've seen him in, he's okay, but not a standout. Robert Morely was very entertaining, somewhere between the amoral crook in Beat the Devil and the spoof on Mr. Goldfinger he did in The Road to Hong Kong. Ann Jackson gave a surprise performance; I think the audience dislikes her selfish character so much they don't realize how good a job she was doing and her concern was for her unborn child - - not enough of THAT in today's world. Of course, the best work in acting was done by Deborah Kerr and Yul Brynner. They were attracted to one another even though Lady Ashford was dedicated to helping her former lover, who is just a pain in the neck, even though he was a hero and a freedom fighter. I guess Deborah Kerr signifies The West and Brynner The East in the days of the Cold War. Brynner's Soviet Major can't understand why the Hungarians hate the Russians meddling in their internal affairs, since the Soviets were the ones who freed them from the Fascist yoke only 11 years before, and he gives vent to his hurt feelings under the influence of lots of vodka. You almost feel sorry for the Major - he's so tied up in defending the USSR that he's begun to believe it's twisted propaganda. Another reviewer here asks why, after defeating Nazism together, relations between The West and The East broke down so quickly and we had the Cold War...there was just no natural affinity there, that's the most-likely reason. Americans saw oppression - taxation without representation - and just refused to live that way, and fought an 8- year war to rid themselves of their unwanted Mother Country. But, with Marxists, they see most everyone as victims. Victims of bosses, victims of landlords, etc., and tell all their little people that they can't overcome their perpetual victim-hood without a strong and oppressive state to "protect" them.

The screenplay borrows more than a fair share from Guy de Maupassant's "Boule de Suif" ,mainly towards the end ,when the tourists start to accuse the heroine:"He wants something from you".No matter if "Boule de Suif" takes place in France after Sedan Deborah Kerr portrays a distinguished English lady (instead of a prostitute ) and Yul Brynner a Russian major (instead of a Prussian officer).This movie has often been referred to as anti-communist ,but now that we know what the commies have done ,it has become irrelevant .One should remember the director's personal history:a Russian Jew who emigrated to Germany ,then France where he made commendable works ("L'Equipage" "Coeur de Lilas" "Mayerling" ),then Hollywood where he took part in anti-Nazi propaganda ("confession of a Nazi spy") ;after the war he continued in that vein with the stunning "decision at dawn" where a German soldier came back to his country and discovered the damage done.Oddly,three of his last movies were "all thing eastern" : it began with "Anastasia" ,continued with this film and the trilogy ended with the implausible "night of the generals" In "Journey" ,while updating Maupassant ,introducing a French character (a student played by Maurice Sarfati),using several other French actors (Anouk Aimée as a Hungarian rebel who wants weapons ,not chocolate and Gerard Oury as the inn-keeper:we can wonder why ..),Litvak shows his infatuation with France where he made 6 movies in the thirties and where the action of his (average) "act of love " takes place."Journey" suffers from an implausible happy end which comes at the most awkward moment.The tragedy has turned into a Harlequin romance. But there are several good moments (particularly the scenes between Kerr and Brynner who had teamed up two years before and those between the actress and Robards)which deserve your undivided attention.Like this?try these:The red Danube George Sidney 1949Man on a tight rope Elia Kazan 1953Mademoiselle Fifi Robert Wise 1944 (based on Maupassant's "Boule de Suif" and the eponymous short story)

This Film has such a Following! yet you cant buy it on DVD!The Journey, is so engaging, that I can watch it again and again. The Russian Folk Songs, Fantastic! and Yul singing!The Gypsy music, the intrigue.The shear magnetism of the Magnificent YUL who comes across with an array of emotions.Powerful, proud, vulnerable against the gracious, serene Deborah Kerr. This film is even on view on youtube, its that potent. I just wish some one could tell me the name of those Russian folk songs! Especially the drinking ones.And I wish there was a recording of Yul singing them..(but thats asking a bit too much isn't it!)So I emailed TCM Turner Movies on [email protected] and asked them why they hadnt released it on DVD, Im awaiting an answer. They are mad, because lots of us would love a copy for a present wouldn't we?Cheers.