Foreign Correspondent
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Movie Reviews of Foreign Correspondent
Movie Review: A fascinating film from Hitchcock's early Hollywood period
Summary: 5 Stars
Although David O. Selznick brought Alfred Hitchcock to the United States, they discovered that their personal styles conflicted mightily, and for the bulk of their seven-year contract Selznick he preferred to lend Hitchcock out for several years. So Selznick and Hitchcock actually ended up doing relatively little work with one another after REBECCA. For a fee, he would allow Hitchcock to make films at other studios. So while he was under contract with Selznick, who was based at MGM, he ended up making films with almost all of the Hollywood studios. This film for instance, was made at the Goldwyn studios but distributed by United Artists.
I love FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT even though I wouldn't rank it among his greatest films. But that this isn't among his fifteen best films shows how extraordinarily prolific and talented Hitchcock was. There are many wonderful scenes in the film, like the windmill scene. The plane crash at the end isn't a perfect scene (the idea of a airliner being shot down by a submarine is definitely a stretch). And I adore the cast, from Joel McCrea and Loraine day, to George Sanders and Herbert Marshall and Edmund Gwenn, along with a deep cast of Hollywood character actors, like Robert Benchley and Harry Davenport. There are also some wonderful sets, like the recreation of European streets with a heavy rainfall.
One of the things that I don't care for is that Hitchcock did not yet have great control of the films. After ending his contract with David O. Selznick, he always proceeded as both his own producer and director. But for several years he had varying degrees of control over his films. During FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT there were still many trappings of typical Hollywood productions. The diegetic music, for instance, doesn't seem to do much work like music did in later Hitchcock films. It is mere ornamentation. Also, producer Walter Wanger was constantly interfering in the production by trying to update the script to correspond with the constantly changing situation in Europe (the film was shot during the summer of 1940). So, the film doesn't work as well as Hitchcock's best films. It feels like a collection of scenes that don't flow organically into one another. They are often great scenes, but the whole is less than the sum of its parts. Still, it makes for a fascinating film to watch. Hitchcock's use of the camera is always fascinating, and there are endless moments where you wonder how he did this or that.
I find the film interesting as well for the blocking for Herbert Marshall, who had only one leg and therefore had some difficulty walking smoothly. Most other directors (like Lubitsch) frequently placed Marshall behind desks or tables, or used doubles when showing him, for instance, running up stairs. Hitchcock, however, shows him walking in full body shots more than in any other role I can think of. You have to admire how well Marshall comports himself. You can see that he walks with a limp, but you would hardly guess that he was missing a leg. And he never is anything less than the very picture of elegance and grace. The one scene in which he had especial difficulty was when he was in the water when the plane crashed. Unable to swim, they build a special tank for him to stand in. Casting him as the villain in the film was a stroke of genius. Hitchcock, in fact, anticipated the James Bond films in almost always having exceptionally elegant and likable villains. Marshall's Fisher in this film, the country squire missing a finger in THE 39 STEPS, Claude Rains's Sebastian in NOTORIOUS, and James Mason's Vandamm all are the predecessors of Goldfinger and the other Bond villains.
The McGuffin in the film is secret clause known by Van Meer, the old diplomat played by Albert Basserman. Like all McGuffins, it doesn't carry the film, but just provides the excuse for the action.
The film ended on dialog that was written by superstar screenwriter Ben Hecht (the highest paid screenwriter of his era and one of the great script doctors in the history of Hollywood, paid huge amounts of money to clean up scripts, most often without credit [though he received credit for a staggering number of films as well]. The anti-isolationist, pro-Britain speech both was meant to remind viewers of the radio broadcasts of Edward R. Murrow, who was creating his legend even as this film was being made, and was meant to reflect the crisis taking place in Great Britain, which was being bombarded by the Nazis. Hecht and Hitchcock would work together again. Hecht worked as a script doctor on LIFEBOAT and then wrote the screenplays for both SPELLBOUND and NOTORIOUS. The latter is, in fact, one of the best scripts of his illustrious career.
Movie Review: Hitchcock Spy Classic!
Summary: 5 Stars
In 1940, just before America's involvement in World War II with the Germans, Hitchcock made one of the best spy movies I've seen, Foreign Correspondent. Even the Nazi's thought his film was great propaganda. Nominated but did not win the Academy Awards, still it is a fine film full of action, spies, pretty girls and surly Germans, murder and bombings galore.
The film starts off quietly enough. A major New York newspaper editor is sick of the quiet news coming out of Europe in 1939 (the story takes place before Hitler invaded Poland in Sept. 1939 for your history buffs) and wants a real correspondent out there to cover the story.
He picks Johnny, who is busy at his desk cutting out paper snowflakes. Thinking he is going to be fired, he confronts the editor and is about to walk out when Johnny is hired as a foreign correspondent. He is escorted by a Mr. Fisher, who of course has a lovely daughter, and is off to London and Amsterdam.
The film is full of intrigue: the car chases, a guy who disguises himself as a cameraman who blows someone away who is a foreign diplomat (or at least that's what we think at first).
The film is also full of suspicion and people believing they were betrayed when they were not, and dishonest people believed they were truthful. It's a favored theme in Hitchcock films and it's in spades here.
The plane crash scene near the end, the drowning innocents and the self-sacrifice was really quite endearing and brings tears -- yeah, really! The ending has one of those patriotic speeches that makes you want to jump in a boat and blow up a few U-Boats for Uncle Sam, though technically the USA did not declare war on Germany until the following year.
It's an interesting fact that London was actually being bombed when the film was released to English audiences. Live imitating art, it seems.
The cast and crew were not familiar with me. The hero is no Cary Grant but knows how to read a line or jump off a building.
Highly recommended, when Hollywood knew how to make movies. This is Hitchcock's second American film.
Cast & Crew include:
Joel McCrea ... John Jones
Laraine Day ... Carol Fisher
Herbert Marshall ... Stephen Fisher
George Sanders ... Ffolliott (ffollliott)
Albert Bassermann ... Van Meer (as Albert Basserman)
Robert Benchley ... Stebbins
Edmund Gwenn ... Rowley
Eduardo Ciannelli ... Mr. Krug (as Eduardo Cianelli)
Harry Davenport ... Mr. Powers
Movie Review: Classic Alfred Hitchcock Espionage
Summary: 5 Stars
Joel McCrea stars in this thriler in which he is a foreign correspondent charged with going to Europe to find out what is going on just before World War Two is declared. A dignitary with knowledge of information about a treaty that could cause the war to begin is kidnapped by the Nazis and replaced with a duplicate who is shot. McCrea is launched deep into the drama when he tries to track down the people who committed the misdeed while he, in turn, is the target of the Nazis. There is great scene at a Holland Windmill where McCrea sees the Nazis drugging the real dignatary, who ultimately takes him elsewhere to grill him about the details of the secret language of the treaty that he knows about.
The real twist in the movie is the fact that, after meeting and following in love with a woman who is working with her father in a Peace Movement, her father turns out to be a Nazi collaborator. McCtrea must expose him, but because of his love for the daughter, he is reluctant to do so.
There are great dramatic scenes in this movie. The Nazis surround Cummings and his girl friend at a society function and he uses brilliant cleverness and boldness to escape. He is lured onto a top of a building in England when the Nazis find out he knows too much, and is targeted to be thrown off of the building. The climax of the movie has Cummings, the Nazi collaborator, and the daughter hanging onto the wing of an airplane shot down by the enemy.
This movie's lesson can be applied in today's environment. Cummings ends the movie by saying to all of America broadcasting from an England studio as bombs fall all around in London from a Nazi attack. He basically says, " Bombs are falling all around. It is too late here to do anything. The lights have been knocked out and darkness is all around. But, America, are you listening? You are the only light shining. Keep the lights burning in America. Build weapons, ships, bombs. You are the only hope left in the world."
It seems nothing has changed today as evil is all around and there are those who call for peace talks and disarmament, while the enemy prepares for our destruction. America, wake up and learn from history. Vigilance is the price of freedom, and peace can only come through strength and defeat of an enemy that wants to destroy one's freedoms.
Movie Review: Best of early Hitch with foreshadowing of films to come
Summary: 5 Stars
Foreign Correspondent was Hitchcock's second Hollywood film but looked like his British films. Johnny Jones is a beat reporter with a penchant for trouble. His boss is looking for a new man to send over to Europe to cover the pending war.
His first assignment is to interview ?? Van Meer. On his way to the luncheon Jones runs into Van Meer. They share a cab but when they arrive at the hotel Van Meer disappears. At the luncheon, they are told that Van Meer could not make it.
Jones, now Huntley Haverstock, is sent to Amsterdam to cover a peace conference. While there he runs into Van Meer but Van Meer does not recognize him. Then Van Meer is shot. Jones follows the killer to a field of windmills. He notices one of the windmills is turning in the wrong direction and decides to investigate. He finds the car in the shed. Then he finds the murder and others in the windmill. Then he stumbles across Van Meer. The assassinated man was a look alike.
When he returns back to the hotel, two thugs arrive. Jones flees through his bathroom window and arrives in Carol Fisher's bathroom window. Carol is the daughter of ?? Fisher, an associate of Van Meer. The two escape Amsterdam back to London.
They arrive at Carol's home. Her father and a friend are there. The friend is one of the kidnappers in Amsterdam. Jones let's Fisher know that he has made the man as one of the kidnappers. What Jones doesn't know is that Fisher is the head of the spy ring but it is made clear that Carol knows nothing.
Fisher suggests that Jones hires a PI but he suggests a hit man (Edmund Gwenn). After two attempts, Jolly falls for his own attempt. Jones realizes that Fisher is one of the bad guys. He teams up with a British reporter, Scott ffiollott (George Saunders).
What ensues is a chase across the British countryside, then London and finally across the Atlantic.
This is a great pre war film.
DVD EXTRA:
Personal History: Foreign Hitchcock - This is a 33 minute featurette that tells the story of the making of the film. Like with other Hitchcock DVD's, this is an insightful and intelligent behind the scenes look at a masterpiece.
Movie Review: Even more gripping than 39 steps
Summary: 5 Stars
Having seen many of Hitchcock's movies, especially the well known ones, I rate Foreign Correspondent among the top of his work for its outstanding cinematography, story line and acting.
Its B&W cinematography was impressive with lots of on site shooting. The assassination in the pouring rain at the beginning of the movie took me by surprise and was superbly mastered. The commotion under the umbrellas caused by the murderer's escape, shot from the top, was unconventional. It was not what was seen but the unseen that provoked viewers' imagination. The old windmills scene that followed added danger and terror to the atmosphere. And the last scene of survivors at the sea reminded me of Lifeboat (another Hitchcock film) which gave a perfect ending to the "villain" (Herbert Marshall) who had been true to his country and his family up till the end.
The story was rich in details - Murder, espionage, war, romance, cruise, airplane, survival in the raging sea and navy rescue were some of the ingredients. The facts that the movie was an earlier piece and not among the most talked Hitchcock's work has allowed viewers to enjoy the movie on its own and not distracted by previous comments and familiar faces.
Joel McCrea (Sullivan's travels, Dangerous) was the upright foreign correspondent who persisted in finding the truth and thus pursued by the killers ever since. Herbert Marshall (The Little Foxes) was the key person to the story, the wolf under sheep's skin. Laraine Day played the faithful daughter and a peace advocate and George Sanders was in the secret service. All played their parts well and gave the movie a consistency from beginning to end.
It was exactly the relative unfamiliarity with the movie that makes it like a breath of fresh air. This is another Hitchcock classic not to be missed.