Recently, the suspense novel "Journey of Fear", which was first published in China, is a work created by British writer Eric Ambler in 1940, and in 1943 it was adapted and made into a black-and-white film called "Long Night". The brilliance of this story is that it depicts a thrilling escape from the hands of agents during World War II from the perspective of an ordinary person. Because of the hero's identity as an engineer, the reader can better appreciate his emotional changes after being caught up in this frightening journey, from half-belief to relief, from danger to danger, from a glimmer of life to great disappointment, and finally from a rush of wisdom to a death, during which he has a lot of ups and downs of emotional changes, and can better understand his fear psychology as an ordinary person when he experiences these things.
Eric Ambler by Journey of Fear
Originally, the book "Journey of Fear" attracted me because it was written on the waist cover of the book: The author, Eric Ambler, is the winner of the Ellen Poe Lifetime Master Award and the Diamond Dagger Award. In my opinion, these two awards are awarded to the Lifetime Achievement Award from the United States and the United Kingdom, which is completely different from the nature of being selected for the annual rankings. After reading the introduction in the book, I realized that this book is the third of Ambler's four works, but it is the first work of this writer that I have seen. After reading it, I have to admit that he really deserved to receive those two lifetime achievement awards. His works are very storytelling and suspenseful, and people always read eagerly to find out the protagonist's next fate as soon as possible.
British writer Eric Ambler
The hero of "Journey of Fear" is named Graham, who says he is an ordinary person because he is indeed just an engineer, not an officer or agent in the war years. But his ordinaryness does not mean that he is completely innocent when he is hunted down, after all, he is an engineer of a British weapons manufacturer. He didn't make ordinary commercial machines, he made weapons, so he was the target of agents. But in the depths of his heart, he believed that under no circumstances would he personally go to the front line, so he felt that there was no reason for him to be the target of the agents.
Poster for the movie "The Long Night" based on "Journey of Fear"
The story of Journey of Fear begins when Graham is sent to several locations in Turkey for work, discussing with local shipyard experts about the re-equipping of naval ships with new guns and torpedo tubes, and after the discussion, he prepares to return to England from Istanbul. The night before boarding the return train, he was invited by his colleague Kopekin, who works locally, to a nightclub to relax. Unexpectedly, when he returned to his hotel room at three o'clock in the morning, he was greeted by three bullets. One of them also injured his right hand, but fortunately it only scratched the skin and flesh, and did not hurt the bones. Since the box he had left in his hotel room was still locked and there was no property damage, he decided not to call the police under the persuasion of the hotel staff in order not to delay the train home the next day. But he was always frightened, so he immediately called Kopekin and told him what had happened.
Kopeckin was worried about Graham's shooting in his hotel room and told a colonel named Haki, the head of the Turkish secret police. Kopeckin then took Graham to see Haki. When he heard Haki say that the three shots were a premeditated murder, Graham found it hard to believe. But when he himself recognized from a pile of pictures Haki had given him a man he had met at a nightclub who was always staring at him at the time, he had to be half-convinced that he had just suffered a murder. Considering the responsibilities and missions of his work, he had to accept Haki's arrangement and abandon his plan to take the train instead. Haki said he would strictly review the identities of the people in his boat to ensure he could return home safely. Kopeckin also gave him a revolver for self-defense, which he thought he didn't need, and finally reluctantly accepted it at the insistence of the other party.
When Graham boarded the ship, especially after an unexpected encounter with the Serbian blonde dancer Josset, who had just met at a nightclub, he felt relieved that he was finally free from being shot. However, the good times did not last long, and when the ship docked in Athens, he was invited by the Turk Kuvitli to accompany him for an afternoon in Greece, and when he returned to the ship, he found a new passenger boarding the ship, who was the Romanian killer Banat, whom he had previously recognized from a pile of photographs from Colonel Haki. If you just happen to meet someone you've met in a nightclub again, maybe you can get him lucky. But when he discovered that the revolver he had hidden in his suitcase was missing, and that the sweet scent of rose oil on Barnet's body was still in his cabin, he was completely in a panic.
In addition to Graham and Barnet, there were nine other passengers on board, including: Josset and her husband, who is also her dance partner, The Spaniard Jose, the German Haller and his wife, Couvetelli, who traveled with him to Greece, a French couple, Mr. and Mrs. Matisse, an Italian mother and son, Mrs. Beronari, and her son. Four of these passengers were women, and who of the nine was the one Graham could trust? When he pinned his hopes on finding a gun from The Banat's cabin and returned to no avail, it was Banat's superior German agent Moller who was waiting for him in his own cabin. Moller, on the other hand, seemed to give him a glimmer of life, not only telling him who the Turkish side had sent to protect him, but also making it clear that he didn't want to kill him right away, but only offering him a suggestion to let him pretend to be ill for a while.
Unfortunately, although Graham finally recognized his friend and enemy, he was disappointed by the people sent to protect him. At the crucial moment, he found an ally to ask for help, and he not only asked the other side to bring a message to the consul of the Turkish consulate in the local consulate after the ship reached the end point in Genoa, but also received a revolver from the other side. And this ally did not live up to his trust, and he was able to survive in the end thanks to this man's help and the revolver. Previously, Graham had confided in Josset about his dangerous situation and had asked her for help. But since Moller revealed his identity, he had hidden something from Josset. Judging by the end result, though, his choice was wise. Josset was only profitable to him, so he was willing to do him a little favor, but he was not the one who could make him live and die.
Personally, I'm not interested in works on war, politics, or history.com. If you are a reader who knows more about World War II, you may be able to easily guess who moeller is, who was sent to protect Graham, and who is the ally who saved Graham. And this "Journey of Fear" attracted me to read it quickly, not only because the length itself is not long, but the key is that the author Ambler's storyline design is very wonderful, which can be described as a ruler. And his writing is also very good, especially the grasp of Graham's mental changes and mood swings is quite in place. However, I think the effect of this translation is not ideal, and I guess the translator's own literary skills are not enough to add color to this story. But considering that the book contains not only English, but also Italian, Turkish and French textual content, the translation threshold for translators is higher than that of ordinary novels. It is not easy to be able to translate this book alone.
In short, after reading the book "Journey of Fear", it is not difficult to imagine that the movie adapted from this story should also be very interesting, but it will test the actor's acting skills. Especially for the actor who plays Graham, I am afraid it is more demanding. Because I saw that some netizens on the Internet did not evaluate the actor's performance in the movie "Long Night", plus I did not like to watch films that were too old such as black and white movies, so I did not watch that movie. But if there is a new film and television work based on the book "Journey of Fear", I am still looking forward to seeing its effect after filming. More importantly, I'm also interested in Ambler's other works, especially looking forward to the upcoming Spy Epitaph in China! (Author: Li Shuyuan)