John Barrows, a New England clergyman, loses his faith when his alcoholic wife commits suicide. Despondent, he moves to Los Angeles, where he begins drinking heavily—ending up on skid row and eventually in the drunk tank. However, a mission preacher and his blind daughter decide to save him. German émigré actor Ludwig Donath, who would became famous on television in Italian Swiss Colony wine commercials as “the little old winemaker me,” co-stars with Viveca Lindfors and Sterling Hayden. Produced independently by Joseph Bernard Productions, Journey into Light is one of Hollywood’s rare forays into religious filmmaking. The reasons for this hesitancy are complex, but have to do with the Production Code Administration and with Hollywood producers wishing to make films for the broadest audience possible, regardless of ethnicity or religious persuasion. Interestingly, with the breakdown of the studio system in the post World War II period, individual producers began tackling this kind of subject matter more often, including director Douglas Sirk’s The First Legion (1951).
Production began in early 1951 at the Motion Picture Center Studios in Hollywood. The film’s working titles were Skid Row and What Is My Sin? Portions of the film were shot on location “on skid row” in downtown Los Angeles and the Lutheran Church in Santa Monica. The famous street crime photographer, Weegee (née Arthur Fellig), was hired as a technical consultant for the skid row scenes (his regular beat), and the Reverend J. Herbert Smith for the religious aspects. Production was briefly interrupted when actor Sterling Hayden was subpoenaed to appear before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Worried that his career might be over, Hayden became a “friendly” witness and was not blacklisted, unlike his fellow unfriendly witnesses. Testifying that he had been a member of the Communist Party in 1946, Hayden named three individuals as fellow Communists, earning him the praise of a committee member who called him “an intensely loyal American citizen.” He was able to return to the film’s production and continue his career. In his 1964 autobiography, Wanderer, he regretted his testimony and added, “not often does a man find himself eulogized for having behaved in a manner that he himself despises.” —Jan-Christopher Horak
Director: Stuart Heisler. Production: Bernhard Productions, Inc. Distribution: 20th Century-Fox. Producer: Joseph Bernhard. Screenwriters: Stephanie Nordli, Irving Shulman. Cinematographer: Elwood Bredell. Editor: Terry Morse. Music: Paul Dunlap, Emil Newman. Cast: Sterling Hayden, Viveca Lindfors, Thomas Mitchell, Ludwig Donath, H. B. Warner. 35mm, b/w, 87 min.
Restored from the 35mm acetate and nitrate original camera negative, and the 35mm acetate track negative. Laboratory services by Fotokem, Audio Mechanics, DJ Audio, Simon Daniel Sound. Special thanks to: CBS and Jeffrey Nemerovski.
