The Journey is a 1959 American drama film directed by Anatole Litvak. A group of Westerners try to flee Hungary after the Soviet Union moves to crush the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. It has Ron Howard in his first credited acting role, Deborah Kerr, Yul Brynner, Jason Robards (also his film debut), Robert Morley, E. G. Marshall, Anne Jackson, and Anouk Aimée. Kerr and Brynner were paired for the first time since they starred in The King and I in 1956. The Journey was shot in Metrocolor.
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Plot
In 1956 a group of passengers stranded at Budapest Airport during the Hungarian uprising are taken in a bus towards the frontier with neutral Austria. 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, he is shot by Hungarian insurgents.
Cast
Deborah Kerr as Diana Ashmore
Yul Brynner as Major Surov
Jason Robards as Henry Flemyng / Paul Kedes
Robert Morley as Hugh Deverill
E. G. Marshall as Harold Rhinelander
Anne Jackson as Margie Rhinelander
Ron Howard as Billy Rhinelander
Flip Mark as Flip Rhinelander
Kurt Kasznar as Csepege
David Kossoff as Simon Avron
Gérard Oury as Teklel Hafouli
Marie Daëms as Françoise Hafouli
Anouk Aimée as Eva
Maria Urban as Gisela von Rachlitz
Siegfried Schürenberg as von Rachlitz
Charles Régnier as Capt. Ornikidze
Iván Petrovich as Szabó Bácsi
Senta Berger as Serving Girl in Black Scarf