1940 Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
American crime reporter John Jones is reassigned to Europe as a foreign correspondent to cover the imminent war. When he walks into the middle of an assassination and stumbles on a spy ring, he seeks help from a beautiful politician’s daughter and an urbane English journalist to uncover the truth.
Joel McCrea Laraine Day Herbert Marshall George Sanders Albert Bassermann Robert Benchley Edmund Gwenn Eduardo Ciannelli Harry Davenport Martin Kosleck Frances Carson Ian Wolfe Charles Wagenheim Eddie Conrad Charles Halton Barbara Pepper Emory Parnell Roy Gordon Gertrude Hoffmann Marten Lamont Barry Bernard Holmes Herbert Leonard Mudie John Burton Samuel Adams Meeka Aldrich Jack Alfred Bunny Beatty Frank Benson Show All…
Mord - Der Auslandskorrespondent, Corrispondente 17, Ξένος Ανταποκριτής, Mord, Enviat especial, Zahraniční dopisovatel, Udenrigskorrespondenten, Der Auslandskorrespondent, Πριν από την Θύελλα, Enviado Especial, Ulkomaankirjeenvaihtaja, Correspondant 17, כתב חוץ, Strani dopisnik, Boszorkánykonyha, Il prigioniero di Amsterdam, 海外特派員, 해외 특파원, Onze Correspondent Meldt..., Zagraniczny korespondent, Correspondente Estrangeiro, Иностранный корреспондент, Utrikeskorrespondenten, Yabancı Muhabir, 海外特派员
USANR
UK
Greece13
Sweden15
Denmark
FinlandK-12
Germany16
UKPG
UKPG
UKPG
Netherlands12
Netherlands12
Denmark
Finland
Germany
Greece
Netherlands
Sweden
UK
USA
In this bit of not-so-subtle WWII propaganda, Hitchcock paints a nice and twisty spy thriller that may or may not be somewhat akin to a journalist’s egotistical wet dream.
When Joel McCrae’s John Jones, an American crime reporter turned foreign correspondent, is sent over to Europe literally just for the purpose of finding a neat story for his audience to read back home, he inadvertently becomes ensnared in a multi-national political plot to assassinate a diplomat and, instead of doing anything rational, subsequently puts his life on the line several times to not only uncover the full truth but also to prevent the scheme entirely, meanwhile defeating professional hitmen and powerful politicians along the way. Top that, Anderson Cooper.
The…
Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent is one of his very best movies. An espionage thriller (very much an early WWII propaganda piece) elevated by strong lead performances, spectacular sets pieces and Hitchcock's trademark visual genius. The stretch from the assassination up until the windmill sequence is some of the best stuff Hitchcock has ever done and the plane crash scene is another great set-piece whose practical effects are unbelievably good for it's time.
Small moments of humiliation and shock culminate into a seismic shift of the world in “Foreign Correspondent.”
Alfred Hitchhock’s second Hollywood feature, “Foreign” allows the British director to arrive stateside while retaining the distinct cheek that is the pride of his homeland. He perhaps also lands in America on the gusts of foul wind that would soon spread from Europe, and across the globe.
“Foreign,” starring Joel McCrea as a New York reporter sent to cover the stirring tides of conflict in a fictional international region, is somewhat infamous for predicting the imminent series of events leading to the Second World War. But, as Hitchcock himself would likely note, it’s not as if there wasn’t also an excess of real…
With David O Selznick off his back, Hitchcock revels in the Hollywood playground and produces his first blockbuster. It's also, arguably, his most typical adventure thriller until North by Northwest (which is, in some ways, a rehash of this film). It lacks the psychological complexities of Hitchcock's best films (such as his previous masterwork Rebecca), and even though WWII is on the doorstep, it is less pressing a propaganda piece than The Lady Vanishes, for example, apart from the earnest (and pretty terrific) tacked on final scene written by Ben Hecht. It is basically a lark where Hitchcock goes large with a series of sublime action/suspense sequences, from the Eisensteinian assassination on the steps and the chase through crowded umbrellas,…
Action! - The Master & The Fan: Hitchcock's Bumping Road To Mastering Suspense
After seeing so much mediocrity and garbage, when you eventually come across something truly incredible, it's as if the heavens open up and glory pours upon you.
Indeed, there is a reason why this picture is often regarded as one of Hitchcock's greatest, as it is a film in which every single one of his trademarks in both direction and narrative function flawlessly, resulting in a substantial amount of intrigue, tension that either leaves you tied to your seat, makes you laugh, or sometimes both at the same time as the scene at the top of the building has you on edge, but the man's expression at the…
Cinematic Time Capsule
1940 Marathon - Film #41
Listen, I know I look the fool,
but there’s something fishy going on around here.
Can you imagine having such an astounding track record that a film like ‘Foreign Correspondent’ with it’s 5 Oscar Nominations is simply considered one of your “decent” films?
Can you imagine creating a movie that’s packed with amazing set pieces like the Umbrella Packed Staircase, the Windmills of Intrigue, and the Plane of Terror, but yet, your film isn’t even ranked in the top 20 of your filmography?
Can you imagine creating visual effects and compositing shots that still look fantastic 80 years later and people are like, “Yeah, it’s really good, but nowhere near his best”
Can you imagine what it must have been like to have been Hitchcock?
It makes my brain hurt.
”I’ve thrown a monkey wrench into some international dirty business, whatever it is”
End of this movie is a plea for America to get involved in World War II. Well what the hell am I supposed to do about that now
As a Hitchcock spy-thriller is amazing! I was guessing til the end. Joel McCrea as the American reporter sent to interview a Dutch diplomat before WW2. But once in London Jones realizes there will be a war and very soon! Now he must get info to his Editor in America fast! And not get killed! It is exciting. Yes Hitchcock appears. And as trivia… he proposed to Alma during this “ proposal” scene in this film! Sit back and watch a great movie!
I know I've said it before when reviewing an earlier Hitchcock film, but I really do miss films having characters falling in love and deciding they're going to get married after about six minutes of screen time together, usually after one of them hates the other one for about five of those minutes.
Foreign Correspondent did stretch my good faith on this front, though, I have to say. In fact, the romance that operates towards the centre of this otherwise very good mystery thriller is completely unwelcome and proves to be a distraction from a pretty interesting plot about double agents, doppelgangers and the imminent onset of war in Europe.
Joel McCrea plays the American reporter who is sent to…
Hello, America, hang on to your lights: they’re the only lights left in the world!
Previously, in my review of The Paradine Case I had explained an assertion that Hitchcock utilized love, romance and sex to all of his plots ever put to film. I believe this assertion is still true, even if vaguely in some cases. Foreign Correspondent falls into this trivial category of having romance insert itself into the plot but does not become a major piece of further analysis with what this picture is ultimately bringing to the table. This film is a full-on espionage venture that has become a spine-tingling example of propaganda (in a good way), and has Hitchcock inserting himself into the bigger conversation…
Criterion Collection Spine #696
An excellent version of one of Alfred Hitchcock's 'man on the run' movies.
"I came 4,000 miles to get a story. I get shot at like a duck in a shooting gallery, I get pushed off buildings, I *get* the story, and then I've got to shut up!"
As a former journalist, I was locked in from the opening beat of this Hitchcock thriller that starts us in an American newsroom that's looking for a fresh foreign news correspondent. That is driven to get to the heart of the story, as Europe nears the brink of WW2. The editor of the New York Morning Globe recruits Johnny Jones played by Joel McCrea, and explains to him…
Peaks in the middle with the visual joke of Joel McCrea on top of the hotel, busting the lights and creating "HOT EUROPE." It's that kind of winking amusement one requires from Hitchcock, the sense that even though the situation may be serious, there's still time for jokes and romance (what else are we fighting for?). The film is essentially a negotiation of producer Walter Wagner's attempt to enlighten the American people to the war across the Atlantic and Breen's adamant policy toward keeping political subjects mostly mute. The result is thus a "fun picture" with McCrea's boyish charms and idealism being the key to success against the two-sided Brits, spearheaded by Herbert Marshall's charmingly gloomy performance and George Sanders's…
