Foreign Correspondent
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Movie Reviews of Foreign Correspondent
Movie Review: Amusing, Satisfying, Entertaining
Summary: 4 Stars
For some reason this Hitchcock movie has been largely ignored by the critics and by fans. It's seldom mentioned in discussions about Hitchcock and, in my opinion, it should be. It's an extremely well-crafted adventure/spy/romance that keeps moving briskly. Despite the seriousness of the underflying themes, it's also one of Hitchcock's most lighthearted and charming movies.
An American reporter on the eve of WWII is sent to Europe to get the big picture. He meets the head of a Peace Now organization and the man's daughter. He also witnesses a political assassination. He's determined to find out what's going on, and in the process uncovers spies, fifth columnists, and a kidnapped elderly diplomat whose memory may contain the difference between peace and war. And he falls in love.
Here's what makes the movie work for me, besides Hitchcock's direction:
-The script is sophisticated, witty at times, and well written.
-The lead characters, Joel McCrea and Laraine Day, play off each other very well. They make an attractive couple.
-The secondary characters are excellent, ranging from George Sanders in probably his best role until All About Eve to Robert Benchley, Edmund Gwen, Herbert Marshall and Albert Basserman.
-The set pieces in the movie are outstanding and many: The assassination and escape in the rain amidst a sea of black unbrellas; the chase through the small town with the man trying to cross the road; the isolated windmill and the eery creaking and search inside the windmill; the escape from the hotel room, across the ledge and into the adjoining room, all the while with that great music theme playing; the murder attempt in the tower which is both tense and very funny; the clipper ship crashing into the ocean; the survivors clinging to wreckage and the slip into the water.
-The music score, which is at once jaunty and romantic, and can be menacing. I can't think of a musical theme in any Hitchcock movie that is as whistleable.
So if the movie is as good as I think it is (not among Hitchcock's top movies, but at least at the top of the second tier), why hasn't it gotten much recognition? I can think of only three factors. First, it is a confidently amusing movie. It has serious themes, but they aren't the hallmark of the film. Perhaps the critics assumed it was a light weight throw-away. Second, it came out after Rebecca and within four or five years was followed by Shadow of a Doubt and Notorious, three powerhouses that could overshadow most movies. Third, the lead actors, while great in their roles and who make a marvelous couple, don't have the glamour and sexual tension that, say, Grant and Bergman had.
This is one of my favorite Hitchcock movies. It's about time it came out on DVD. The transfer is very good.
Movie Review: An intriguing movie and very relevant for its time in history.
Summary: 4 Stars
This review is for the 2004 Warner Brothers DVD.
The story takes place in the late 1930's where an American newspaper reporter named Johnny Jones (Joel McCrea) is assigned to go to Europe to report on the possibility of a pending global war. His editor emphasizes that he doesn't want correspondence - he wants news. So Jones goes first to England and later to Holland where he witnesses an apparent assassination of a Dutch diplomat. This starts the beginning of a wild and dangerous investigation where Jones tries to uncover all the details and people responsible for this incident.
There are several things that I liked about this movie. The settings in Europe, especially the windmills in Holland, made a great backdrop to a very good plot. The underlying theme of foreign espionage with several surprising twists was also a major asset to the film. The acting was excellent and so was the cinematography. My only minor turnoff with the film was the noticeable complacency of the characters in very life threatening situations. Overall, it was an extremely relevant film, especially considering it was released shortly before America entered World War II. For me it was a very good movie but not a great one.
The B&W picture quality of this DVD is sharp and crisp but the film was clearly un-restored due to tiny specs of film deterioration showing up sporadically throughout the movie. The sound was very satisfactory. The only bonuses on the DVD include a trailer and a short feature entitled "Foreign Hitchcock".
Movie: B+
DVD Quality: B
Movie Review: The Battle for Britain?
Summary: 4 Stars
This is an early black and white political suspense classic by the master of the genre, Alfred Hitchcock. What makes this film somewhat different from his other classics like The Birds or Rear Window is its evocation of up front patriotism at a time when Europe was getting set for war in the late 1930's. The Foreign Correspondent Johnny Jones(for an American newspaper, of course) in this case (played by boy next door Joel McCrea) is sent to Europe to get the facts about what was happening there-namely was war really in the offing. Along the way he runs into people and organizations (the leader of one played by arch-British gentleman Herbert Marshall) whose sole purpose is to agitate for war -for the benefit of the other side. As McCrea and later a British correspondent (played by George Sanders) dig deeper they figure out the deal and try to crush it.
Of course, along the way there is a little off-hand romance involving McCrea (with Marshall's daughter the girl next door Larraine Day) but not to worry `justice' will out in the end. A rather interesting point is that the traitor Marshall in the end finishes up heroically. Well, I guess we have to remember this was still a time when the British Empire, at least formally, held sway in the world so that even scoundrels, as long as they were British scoundrels, had to keep a stiff upper lip. As a thriller this film is interesting. As a political statement it is much too ham-handed.
Movie Review: Every which way
Summary: 4 Stars
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.Movie Review: Essential Hitchcock, But Not His Best
Summary: 4 Stars
An early Hitchcock work, 'Foreign Correspondent' is one of Turner Classic Movies' "Essentials". Johnny Jones (Joel McCrea), a crime beat reporter is dispatched to Europe in August 1939 to 'get the facts' on what is really going on over there. What he finds is an outfit called the Universal Peace Party led by Stephen Fisher (Herbert Marshall), a secret clause in an international treaty, and a kidnapped diplomat. Jones tracks down a nest of traitors and falls in love with Fisher's daughter Carol (Laraine Day) along the way.
In a classic scene, an escaping assassin's trail is revealed by an overhead shot of movement amongst tightly packed umbrellas.
Others have wondered why this Hitchcock film is not ranked with say a film like 'North by Northwest'. The simple reason is that it's just not as good as his later movies. Take, the instant cornball romance for example - the cornball I can take, but they fall in love in about 12 seconds. Or the silly notion of a meaningful secret clause in a treaty between the Dutch and the Belgians.
Of some interest is the movie's open appeal by Hitchcock for America to get in to the war, complete with patriotic music (Star Spangled Banner) at the conclusion. Trivia: Gary Cooper turned down the lead role that went to McCrea and later termed it his biggest mistake.
Recommended.