''The Journey'' is a 1959 American drama film directed by

Anatole Litvak Anatoly Mikhailovich Litvak (russian: Анатолий Михайлович Литвак; 21 May 1902 – 15 December 1974), better known as Anatole Litvak, was a Ukrainian-born American filmmaker who wrote, directed, and produced films in vari ...

. A group of Westerners try to flee Hungary after the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

moves to crush the

Hungarian Revolution of 1956 The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 10 November 1956; hu, 1956-os forradalom), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was a countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the Hunga ...

. It stars Deborah Kerr,

Yul Brynner Yuliy Borisovich Briner (russian: link=no, Юлий Борисович Бринер; July 11, 1920 – October 10, 1985), known professionally as Yul Brynner, was a Russian-born actor. He was best known for his portrayal of King Mongkut in th ...

Jason Robards Jason Nelson Robards Jr. (July 26, 1922 – December 26, 2000) was an American actor. Known as an interpreter of the works of playwright Eugene O'Neill, Robards received two Academy Awards, a Tony Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and the Cannes ...

and

Robert Morley Robert Adolph Wilton Morley, CBE (26 May 1908 – 3 June 1992) was an English actor who enjoyed a lengthy career in both Britain and the United States. He was frequently cast as a pompous English gentleman representing the Establishment, of ...

. Deborah Kerr and Yul Brynner were paired again since they starred in ''

The King and I ''The King and I'' is the fifth musical by the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein. It is based on Margaret Landon's novel '' Anna and the King of Siam'' (1944), which is in turn derived from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, governess to the chil ...

'' in 1956, where he had an Oscar-winning performance. ''The Journey'' was shot in

Metrocolor Metrocolor is the trade name used by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) for films processed at their laboratory. Virtually all of these films were shot on Kodak's Eastmancolor film. Although MGM used Kodak film products, MGM did not use all of Kodak's proc ...

Plot

In 1956 a group of passengers stranded during the Hungarian uprising at

Budapest Airport Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport ( hu, Budapest Liszt Ferenc Nemzetközi Repülőtér) , formerly known as ''Budapest Ferihegy International Airport'' and still commonly called just ''Ferihegy'', is the international airport serving t ...

are taken in a bus towards the frontier with neutral

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. From there they intend to drive to Vienna. A sick man in the back seat, who claims to be an Englishman called Flemyng, seems known to an aristocratic Englishwoman, Lady Ashmore, sitting in the front seat. The journey is difficult with diversions and roadblocks, some operated by Soviet troops and others by Hungarian insurgents. At a small lakeside town close to the Austrian border, the passengers are removed from the bus by Major Surov, the local Soviet commander. After questioning them and impounding their passports, Surov orders they remain in the town's only hotel. He suspects the ailing Flemyng's passport is not genuine and develops a love interest in the attractive Lady Ashmore. It emerges that Flemyng is a Hungarian insurgent whom Lady Ashmore, his lover, is smuggling to safety. Surov deduces both facts but does not act, hoping that Lady Ashmore will offer herself to him in exchange for safe passage into Austria. Speaking good English, which Surov claims to have learned in Canada, he uses the trapped passengers as a sounding board for his views, arguing that Russians are human too and questioning the imposition of Marxism by military force. However, with Flemyng getting weaker from what is revealed as an untreated gunshot wound, Lady Ashmore bribes a fisherman to take the two of them to Austria, across the lake under cover of darkness. Surov deduces what is happening and captures them both. After getting Flemyng treatment by an army doctor, Surov sends Lady Ashmore back to the hotel. The other passengers are furious that Lady Ashmore jeopardised their release with her selfish behaviour. A pregnant American woman warns Lady Ashmore very frankly what she should do to save them all. Sniping by Hungarians has kept the Russian garrison on edge and a shot wounds Surov's beloved black horse. Unable to euthanise the horse himself, revealing a compassionate side to his nature, Surov orders a sergeant to kill the stricken animal. Lady Ashmore returns, dutifully, prompting Surov, in deep sorrow, to question if she returned willingly. When she truthfully says no, Surov releases Lady Ashmore. In the morning Surov orders the passengers to leave, minus the arrested Flemyng, driving to a quiet spot where they can walk into Austria. As the party crosses the border, Surov turns up with the weakened Flemyng, who he releases to Lady Ashmore. As Surov watches the two disappear, Hungarian bullets kill him.

Cast

* Deborah Kerr as Diana Ashmore *

as Major Surov *

as Henry Flemyng / Paul Kedes *

as Hugh Deverill *

E. G. Marshall E. G. Marshall (born Everett Eugene Grunz;Everett Eugene Grunz in Minnesota, U.S., Birth Index, 1900-1934, Ancestry.comEverett Eugene Grunz in the U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007, accessed via Ancestry.com June 18, ...

as Harold Rhinelander *

Anne Jackson Anne Jackson (September 3, 1925 – April 12, 2016); retrieved April 16, 2016Archivedfrom the original on April 16, 2016. was an American actress of stage, screen, and television. She was the wife of actor Eli Wallach, with whom she often co-sta ...

as Margie Rhinelander *

Ron Howard Ronald William Howard (born March 1, 1954) is an American director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He first came to prominence as a child actor, guest-starring in several television series, including an episode of ''The Twilight Zone''. He ...

as Billy Rhinelander * Flip Mark as Flip Rhinelander *

Kurt Kasznar Kurt Kasznar (born Kurt Servischer; August 13, 1913 – August 6, 1979) was an Austrian-American stage, film and television actor who played roles on Broadway, appearing in the original Broadway productions of '' Waiting for Godot'', ''The ...

as Csepege *

David Kossoff David Kossoff (24 November 1919 – 23 March 2005) was a British actor. In 1954 he won the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles for his appearance as Geza Szobek in '' The Young Lovers''. He played Alf Larkin in TV sit ...

as Simon Avron * Gérard Oury as Teklel Hafouli *

Marie Daëms Marie Daëms (1928–2016) was a French stage, film and television actress. Hayward & Vincendeau p.127 After studying at the Lycée Jules-Ferry in Paris, Daëms made her stage debut in 1947 and her first screen appearance in 1949. She was marrie ...

as Françoise Hafouli *

Anouk Aimée Nicole Françoise Florence Dreyfus (born 27 April 1932), known professionally as Anouk Aimée () or Anouk, is a French film actress, who has appeared in 70 films since 1947, having begun her film career at age 14. In her early years, she studi ...

as Eva * de:Maria Urban as Gisela von Rachlitz *

Siegfried Schürenberg Siegfried Schürenberg (12 January 1900 – 31 August 1993) was a German film actor. He appeared in more than 80 films between 1933 and 1974. He was born in Detmold, Germany and died in Berlin, Germany in 1993, at age 93. Although he never p ...

as von Rachlitz * Charles Regnier as Capt. Ornikidze *

Iván Petrovich Iván Petrovich ( sr, Иван Петровић, Ivan Petrović; 1 January 1894 – 18 October 1962) was a Serbian film actor and singer. He was the first actor from Yugoslavia to have a successful international movie career. Petrovich mainly w ...

as Szabó Bácsi *

Senta Berger Senta Verhoeven (née Berger; ''Austrian German:'' , ; born 13 May 1941) is an Austrian-German actress. She received many award nominations for her acting in theatre, film and television; her awards include three Bambi Awards, two Romys, an A ...

as Serving Girl in Black Scarf

Notes

The following prologue appears in the onscreen credits: "The action of this story takes place between Budapest, the capital of Hungary, and the Austro-Hungarian border, where the film was actually photographed. The time is November, 1956, during the tragic days of the Hungarian uprising."

Kerr and Brynner's relationship

''The Journey'' was made in Vienna in March–June 1958, a period when there were rumors that there was a love affair between them. But Deborah Kerr ended the whole gossip by marrying for the second time. Peter Viertel, who was a talented playwright and also one of the screenwriters for ''The Journey'', became her husband in 1960, and Yul Brynner was one of the witnesses. The relationship between Kerr and Brynner was described by their close friends as "sister and brother" or "equal to equal", even if Kerr herself admitted that she was very much attracted by Brynner's magnetism and piercing eyes. They trusted each other and they used to visit one another while they both lived in Switzerland in the 1960s. This film was Jason Robards's screen debut. Ron Howard had appeared in an unbilled part in the 1956 film ''Frontier Woman'', but ''The Journey'' marked his first credited appearance; he was billed as Ronny Howard.

Box office

According to MGM records, the film earned $1,300,000 in the U.S. and Canada and $2,150,000 in other markets, resulting in a loss of $905,000.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Journey 1959 drama films 1959 films American drama films Cold War films 1950s English-language films Films directed by Anatole Litvak Films set in Hungary Films set in 1956 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Films scored by Georges Auric Hungarian Revolution of 1956 films Films shot in Vienna 1950s American films