Great Hitchcock movie!
Added 10/8/2009
This is a great movie from the Master, this version (on Z1) is the best, because it's around 25 mn longer than the cut distributed in France. It has great humour, action, and amazing visual style (the windmill turning backwards, the murder-photographer, the plane crash, the escape under the umbrellas...). As in every of his work, Alfred Hitchcock creates a new magic with the cinema, with great depth and philosophy. A great movie maker behind a masterpiece!
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"Hang on to your lights, America, they're the only lights in the world"
Added 7/13/2009
Johnny Jones/Huntley Haverstock (Joel McRae) is a reporter sent to 1940 London to find out what is really happening in Europe. His boss at the New York Globe is tired of all the plain reports that don't really give any information on how serious the situation is. In trying to track down a story, however, Jones stumbles upon a spy ring and a kidnapping/assasination. But the real story here is Hitchcock trying to raise America's awareness of the dangers of Nazi Germany and the coming war in Europe (although the only mention of Germany I caught was a hostile German ship at the end). The rousing speech by McRae at the end is moving and audiences at the time would have had no trouble understanding his message.
As is the case with many Hitchcock films, much of the fun is looking for all the little details that were characteristic of his filmaking touch. The windmill that turns backward to signal a plane to land, the assassin's escape through a sea of umbrellas, and the amazing plane crash into the sea - great special effects for the time. This was one of Hitchcock's first films after coming to Hollywood and he was still struggling financially and to gain respect. Foreign Correspondent was nominated for 6 Academy Awards in 1940 (a very good year for movies - both Hitchcock and John Ford each had 2 movies nominated - Hitchcock's "Rebecca" won).
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3.5 stars out of 4
Added 2/5/2009
The Bottom Line:
A nifty thriller the captures the zeitgeist of pre-war Britain perfectly while offering Hitchcock's usual blend of thrills and comedy, Foreign Correspondent also features a gripping plane crash at see and a final speech to rival all others: "Hold on to your lights America--they're the only lights left in the world!"
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Terrific Hitchcock
Added 9/13/2008
Joel McCrea known for his great work with directer Preston Sturges stars here with Laraine Day. McCrea plays it like no other can. They both give charming performances similar to the 2 actors in 'Young and Innocent'. Hitchcock stages some wonderful scenes including a plane crash. If you love the 'Hitchcock Way' of film making, like myself, this is a must.
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Every which way
Added 4/13/2008
Made during his early years in Hollywood, the little-seen FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT reflects Hitchcock is one of his most experimental phases: as in his follow-up to this, SABOTEUR, the film uses an espionage plot mostly as an excuse to show off. Here he seems mostly interested in seeing how he can work with mise-en-scene and camera movement. There are classic sequences constructed along vertical axes (the great sequence with Joel McCrea exploring a Nazi base hidden in an anicent Dutch windmill), horizontal axes (McCrea's attempt to sneak out of a hotel room along a high outdoor ledge to get away from spies), and diagonals (the assassination sequence on the giant steps of an Amsterdam government building). McCrea, as the title character, a crackerjack New York reporter put on his first foreign assignment, is warmer here than usual: it helps that he seems to have an unusual rapport with his leading lady, Laraine Day. The film does drag quite a bit after McCrea and Day escape from Amsterdam to London, but it picks up again at the end tremendously in the exciting if crazy sequence near the end when the leads' passenger airplane is shot down over the ocean and they must escape to safety with the rest of the passengers and crew on a broken wing in dangerous seas. Robert Benchley, who helped with the dialogue, has what is for him an unusual role as a jaded and seedy correspondent stationed in Europe; he seems a bit like something out of Graham Greene.
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