The Journey (1959)

Directed by Anatole Litvak. Starring Yul Brynner, Deborah Kerr, Robert Morley, Jason Robards, Anne Jackson, E. G. Marshall, Kurt Kasznar, David Kossof, Marie Daëms, Gérard Oury, Charles Regnier.

During the Hungarian uprising in 1956 Budapest, a group of people attempt to flee to Vienna, but get stopped, questioned, and detained by Brynner’s Soviet officer, who is obsessively drawn to trapped “prisoner” Kerr. Agreeable melodrama starts slow and lacks credulity, but benefits from a knock-out performance from Brynner—so commanding he practically elbows his co-stars off the screen, including Kerr. Not the most auspicious of film debuts for Robards, saddled with a wounded, anemic character who’s supposed to be Kerr’s lover but doesn’t get any romantic scenes with her (also, his “big moment” is an overwrought speech that sticks out like a sore thumb). Jack Hilyard’s Eastmancolor photography is dramatically lit and richly atmospheric, and the combination of location shooting and soundstage sets is more seamless than average for the era. Anouk Aimée has a small but important part as a freedom fighter, while four-year-old Ron (“Ronny”) Howard earns his first credited screen role as one of the children among the travelers.

65/100