Fear Is the Key Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

Fear Is the Key Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman February 10, 2024

Alistair MacLean rather strangely doesn't seem to be that well remembered anymore, which may be Exhibit A in the vagaries of fame and/or fortune department, but in the sixties and seventies in particular he was well nigh unavoidable on especially the bestseller lists for books and at least occasionally at the local movie emporium, where several of his novels received cinematic adaptations, and where MacLean himself ultimately started plying his writing trade as a screenwriter. MacLean served in World War II, an experience that informed much of his politically charged action adventure writing, and he first hit the bestseller lists in 1955 with HMS Ulysses, a tome for which he received an advance large enough it made headlines, and which was almost instantly scooped up by a British film producer, though the film was actually never made. It wasn't in fact until 1961 that MacLean's name started appearing in credit crawls on the big screen, when two films opened nearly simultaneously in April of that year. If The Secret Ways is, like MacLean himself, not particularly well remembered these days, the other 1961 entry, The Guns of Navarone, was a smash hit and received several Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture (it ended up winning only for Best Special Effects). The overwhelming success of The Guns of Navarone seemingly should have made MacLean a hot property in films, but perhaps just a little strangely it wasn't until 1965's The Satan Bug that a second MacLean novel would be adapted for cinematic use again, and rather ironically in that case MacLean's real name doesn't even appear in the credits since he had written the source book under the pseudonym of Ian Stuart. 1968 was arguably a (horrible pun forthcoming considering one of the films) a high water mark for MacLean, with both Ice Station Zebra and Where Eagles Dare (currently available on Blu-ray as part of Kelly's Heroes / Where Eagles Dare) hitting the big screen. MacLean provided the screenplay for the latter film, beginning a fitful screenwriting career that would continue with a few other films either culled from his books or written directly for the screen, including 1970's Puppet on a Chain.

While there is a bit of political intrigue lingering in the shadows of Fear is the Key, it's actually rather minor in the context of a "traditional" MacLean thriller, and it in fact takes a good long while to be revealed. The film begins with John Talbot (Barry Newman) on a CB radio to a private plane whose flight evidently ends in tragedy. While it's not immediately disclosed, the story then segues forward a few years to find Talbot in a backwater Louisiana town, where he has some interchanges with the local populace that may invite comparisons to Jack Nicholson's memorable breakfast ordering scene in Five Easy Pieces. That ends up with Talbot getting arrested, where it's further disclosed he's reportedly a wanted fugitive who has killed a policeman. Talbot takes a bailiff hostage for a moment before more or less kidnapping a young woman in the courtroom named Sarah Ruthven (Suzy Kendall) and embarking on an absolutely insane car chase that may give Bullitt a run for its muscle car money, albeit in this case with the vehicles riding roughshod over various backwoods locales rather than "The Streets of San Francisco".

After some interstitial drama, Talbot is finally subdued, although not by the apparently incompetent police, at which point the "actual" plot starts kicking into gear, with Talbot more or less held hostage himself by a coterie of people who rather unexpectedly have a connection to Talbot's erstwhile hostage, Sarah. There's a nicely revealed twist at around this point that discloses that apparent "coincidences" really aren't, and that Talbot has been on his own "undercover mission" all along, though what that mission is is still rather mysterious. The upshot of all of this skirmishing is that Talbot is supposedly forced into working for the "bad guys" for yet more mysterious reasons which involve a quasi-submarine for some unspecified reason.

Suffice it to say that the film boils down to a kind of Death Wish scenario, and in fact there is a "death wish" at play in the film's climax when Talbot turns off the oxygen in the submersible in order to spur two villains into confessing. Fear is the Key is an unusual MacLean offering for any number of reasons, but the film has its own kind of manic energy a lot of the time, and Newman offers a sympathetic characterization of a man under duress attempting to right a long ago wrong.

Fear Is the Key Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Fear is the Key is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.34:1. Arrow's insert booklet provides only some fairly generic verbiage about the transfer, as follows:

Fear is the Key is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 [sic] with original mono audio.

The high definition master was supplied by Paramount Pictures.

This is an often quite appealing looking presentation, though there are some variances in color temperature and densities which can crop up from time to time, sometimes within the same sequences or even the same shot. A glut of outdoor material looks best in terms of a natural palette, with some appealingly blue skies and the incredibly vivid red car that Talbot absconds with Sarah in. Some of the low light and especially underwater material is considerably rougher looking, with grain that can approach noisy levels at times. Detail levels are generally quite good, bolstered by a regular use of close-ups, where facial features (like the scar by Newman's left eye) are very well rendered. There is a tendency for some of the presentation to have a just slightly dowdy brown appearance, which may indicate some fading or inadequate curation of the source element. Kind of oddly and for those interested in comparisons, the Imprint release of this film for the UK market was in 2.55:1.

Fear Is the Key Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Fear is the Key features a propulsive LPCM Mono track that offers great support for a hugely enjoyable score by Roy Budd, which may in fact recall Lalo Schifrin's equally great work on Bullitt. A number of ambient environmental effects dot the premises, notably in the underwater scenes, and those all sound nicely full bodied as well. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Fear Is the Key Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary by Howard S. Berger


• A Different Kind of Spy Game (HD; 23:33) is an enjoyable visual essay by Scout Tafoya which contextualizes the film within 70s cinema in general and the MacLean oeuvre in particular. Some may have a laugh out loud reaction to one fleeting moment in Tafoya's laundry list of various films when he cites Butterflies Are Free as an example of a "counterculture film".


• Fear in the Key of Budd (HD; 16:34) features Neil Brand discussing composer Roy Budd, whose jazz inflected score gives Fear is the Key undeniable energy.


• Producing the Action (HD; 29:55) is an archival interview with associate producer Gavrik Losey which details some of the incredible stunt work in the lengthy car chase scene.


• Bayou to Bray (HD; 39:30) is another archival piece featuring interviews with various crew members.


• Theatrical Trailer (HD; 2:16)

Additionally, Arrow provides another nicely appointed insert booklet, with a good essay by Sean Hogan and the usual assortment of cast and crew information and technical data. A double sided fold out poster reproduces the original and newly commissioned artwork also featured on the reversible sleeve. Packaging features a slipcover.

Fear Is the Key Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The "war" finally alluded to here is considerably smaller scale than World War II, and there's no mountaintop fortress that needs to be conquered, but there are still some typical MacLean flourishes at hand here, including a mid-story twist that is probably too convenient by half but which still propels the story into its second half with considerable aplomb. Newman is excellent in the lead role, and if Kendall doesn't have a ton to do, she's appealing as well. Trivia lovers may be interested to see Ben Kingsley in his first film role, and in fact his only film role for a decade until he returned as some guy named Gandhi or something like that. Technical merits are generally solid, and as usual Arrow has aggregated some very appealing supplements. Recommended.