Correspondant 17

Alfred Hitchcock directed many great movies, but few testify to his ability at marrying suspense, action, and comedy as does "Foreign Correspondent," a film which coincidentally carries Hitchcock's boldest political statement: That neutrality doesn't work when others are bent on war.

Joel McCrea stars as American newspaperman Johnny Jones, sent to Europe on the eve of World War II by the newspaper's publisher precisely because he's a man of action unschooled in politics and economics, "someone who doesn't know the difference between an 'ism' and a kangaroo," the old publisher declares. Jones goes along with the idea, even with changing his byline to the pompous "Huntley Haverstock," because as he puts it, "give me an expense account, and I'll cover anything." Fate intervenes when a photographer apparently murders Europe's last hope for peace right in front of Jones, spurring the reporter to react in a way that leads to a series of outrageously precarious and double-crossing incidents culminating in a plane crash-landing into the Atlantic Ocean.

Hitchcock arrived in the U.S. with a flourish, his first Hollywood movie being the Oscar-winning "Rebecca," and this his second that same year, 1940. Some back in Great Britain complained Hitchcock's leaving his native country as it faced Hitler all alone was desertion, but Hitchcock was doing all he could for King and Country, as "Foreign Correspondent" pulls all the stops to shake American viewers from their neutrality.

That sort of desperation would ruin most films, but here it only prods Hitchcock to singular and repeated acts of inventiveness as he shakes the tree. We see Jones climb out the window of the Hotel Europe, knock out the letters "EL" to underscore the film's message, and find his way into the hotel room of the girl he has been trying unsuccessfully to woo. There's an assassination in the rain and shot from above so we see little more than wet hats and umbrellas, and a long sequence inside a creaking windmill that has you thinking our hero's about to be discovered by the bad guys every 20 seconds. The film feels more vital for sequences like this: You can't imagine anyone trying to get away with this, yet Hitchcock keeps pulling it off.

Then there's the other revolutionary element of the film, its humor, ever-present throughout the picture in a way that doesn't cut against the grain of the suspense so much as amplify it, by keeping you off-guard and invested in the action. This is best exemplified by Edmund Gwenn's plummy turn as an evil assassin (no spoiler, he's introduced to us that way) bent on killing Jones, but so affable and borderline-snarky in his menace you can't root against him as much as you'd like to. As Gwenn's Rowley leads Jones up a church steeple to set up an accident, you wonder how Jones will get out of it but still chuckle at how Rowley tries to keep Jones from going back down: "You must see the 'orse guards!" Gwenn is one of two fantastic examples of reverse casting, the other being George Sanders as a good guy named ffolliett.

Hitchcock is very careful in presenting the bad guys. He never says they're Germans, though the implication is obvious. The chief baddie is ruthless but not without decent impulses, in a way that mirrors but goes beyond Willy in his later "Lifeboat." Hitchcock knew when the film was released, he would be attacked by those who wanted to keep appeasing Germany. For "Foreign Correspondent" to be successful, it needed to bring the audience along without noticing the ride, laughing with and pulling for Jones right up until the moment he does a radio broadcast in London while bombs burst around him, an eerie foreshadowing of what Edward R. Morrow would be doing for real only days after "Foreign Correspondent" opened in theaters.

You can't help but admire a film that was on the right side of history, but "Foreign Correspondent" may play better now than it ever did because of the way its pure cinema techniques work today, a style Tarantino and Leone admirers will no doubt recognize and appreciate, but that anyone can enjoy.

The first half hour of Hitchcock's "Foreign Correspondent" looks like it can either be a light romantic comedy or a oddly fashioned drama about current events. But then, there's this scene in the rain, where our hero, played with energy by Joel McCrea, attends a crowded political meeting. McCrea notices his new friend, an elderly ambassador acts vacant and glassy eyed. Then, this mysterious photographer steps in. The photographer has next to his camera, a gun.... At this point "Foreign Correspondent" becomes an inventive chase thriller, darting across the audiences' eyes at a berserk chase. This was the first time that Hitchcock had all of Hollywood's tools at his disposal, and what a spellbinding, constantly fun classic came of it. I look forward to this film making it's DVD debut!

Though a bit preachy (WWII was about to start) and overlong (2-hours), the movie's still a gripping Hitchcock, only his second in the US. That windmill sequence has stayed with me for sixty years. How clever the entire set-up is, not quite like anything else I've seen. Notice especially the excellence of the exterior set—the sky, the windmills— these visuals are exceptional for a sound stage creation.

Then too, I love the way Hitch builds suspense in the tower scene with all the untimely intrusions. Still it's difficult to see Santa from Miracle on 34th Street (1947) as a heartless killer. Then too, there's that pure Hichcockian assassination scene with the umbrellas and the unflinching camera as the bullet strikes Van Meer's face. And finally, the cockpit crash scene that's still jarring. Thanks IMDb for explaining how it was done. For its time, the unswerving camera as the plane strikes water was both daring and imaginative.

To me, these are exceptional dramatic highlights. On the whole the narrative is engaging as we follow efforts to locate the real Van Meer, while the romantic angle is woven cleverly into the plot without being obtrusive. And for a political movie of the time, note that the term Nazi is not used even once. The narrative manages to keep the sinister nationality of the plotters anonymous, but we know who is meant.

Note too how animated the usually reserved George Sanders is in his scenes. It's almost a problem since he overshadows the quieter hero, Joel McCrea. True McCrea is a little palid in his role as a reporter, still he comes across as appropriately likable and assertive when necessary, as in the hidden phone sequence.

Nonetheless, the movie's a worthy entry in the Master of Suspense's film catalog and if it's not as well known as many of his other 40's movies, it should be.

"Foreign Correspondent" is yet another Hitchcock masterpiece featuring some incredibly creative visual effects that, 80 years later, still hold up. This was thanks to a huge budget ($1.5 million which was enormous back then) that allowed for huge sets and props to be built, for example the entire Amsterdam Town Hall and surrounding streets were constructed inside a studio for the famous assassin chase scene in the rain. The full size cockpit of a transatlantic airliner was built (and somewhat trashed), and my favorite part, a 4-story windmill was also built for this picture.

But I'm getting ahead of myself, first the plot. "Foreign Correspondent" is a roller coaster political thriller that centers on a reporter "Johnny Jones" (Joel McCrea sporting the most American name ever invented) who is sent to Europe to find out the inside scoop on whether war is going to be declared. He stumbles into an insidious plot by agents of "Bovaria" (they weren't allowed to say "Germany" lest they offend American neutralists at the time). Once the action begins it never lets up, except for a few well-placed moments of comedy and sarcastic wit thanks largely to the unforgettable performance of George Sanders as the British liaison "Scott ffolliott" (spelled with a lowercase 'f' due to an ancestor losing his head).

And it's really that characteristic blend of action and Hitchcockian humor that makes this film fly. Yes, there is a romance element featuring the lovely Laraine Day as "Carol", but it never distracts from the lightning pace of this story. And in fact, we get one of the most hilariously abridged "love scenes" in the history of cinema...

JOHNNY: I'm in love with you and want to marry you. CAROL: I'm in love with you and want to marry you. JOHNNY: Hm, that cuts down our love scene quite a bit, doesn't it?

Ok, as promised back to the visual effects. They're so good that you might miss them, and that's sort of the point. Harrowing scenes atop hotel ledges, countryside chases through windmills, and of course those incredible airplane scenes near the end--these were all staged in a studio with constructed sets, enormous props, fantastic matte paintings and one of the most elaborate Hollywood effects ever made involving a projection on rice paper and a few thousand gallons of water. After you see this movie, definitely look up Alfred Hitchcock's interview on the Dick Cavett show 1972 where he spills the beans on how the magic was made.

What a movie!

I literally could not believe how great this movie was once I'd seen it for the first time. After a short intro we are thrust directly into the action and from there on in, it's one thrilling set-piece after another.

We go from kidnapping to assassination, to car chase, to discovery of plot, to escape from a hotel, to a twist regarding the leader of the enemy, to a wonderful sequence with a hired bodyguard who is in fact an assassin, to a fake kidnapping set up by the heroes, to torture scene, to rescue, to plane crash at sea...

It's dizzying that this was all intended for one film and when the end credits rolled you really felt like you'd got your money's worth. If I'd have watched this movie when it came out in the forties, I would have praised Hitchcock all night for giving me ten superb movies in one for my dollar.

In short (although you can hardly call these ramblings short) check this movie out. If you're a fan of escapist, thrilling adventures populated by superb characters (see George Sanders as ffolliot, and Robert Benchley as Stebbins) you will be delighted. This is one of Hitch's lesser seen gems and deserves to be rediscovered without delay