The first of Alfred Hitchcock's World War II features, Foreign Correspondent was completed in 1940, as the European war was only beginning to erupt across national borders. Its titular hero, Johnny Jones (Joel McCrea), is an American crime reporter dispatched by his New York publisher to put a fresh spin on the drowsy dispatches emanating from overseas, his nose for a good story (and, of course, some fortuitous timing) promptly leading him to the "crime" of fascism and Nazi Germany's designs on European conquest. In attempting to learn more about a seemingly noble... peace effort, Jones (who's been saddled with the dubious nom de plume Hadley Haverstock) walks into the middle of an assassination, uncovers a spy ring, and, not entirely coincidentally, falls in love--a pattern familiar to admirers of Hitchcock's espionage thrillers, of which this is a thoroughly entertaining example. McCrea's hardy Yankee charms are neatly contrasted with the droll English charm of colleague George Sanders; Herbert Marshall provides a plummy variation on the requisite, ambiguous "good-or-is-he-really-bad" guy; Laraine Day affords a lovely heroine; and Robert Benchley (who contributed to the script) pops up, albeit too briefly, for comic relief. As good as the cast is, however, it's Hitchcock's staging of key action sequences that makes Foreign Correspondent a textbook example of the director's visual energy: an assassin's escape through a rain-soaked crowd is registered by rippling umbrellas, a nest of spies is detected by the improbable direction of a windmill's spinning sails and Jones's nocturnal flight across a pitched city rooftop produces its own contextual comment when broken neon tubes convert the Hotel Europe into "Hot Europe". --Sam Sutherland [show more]
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Please note this is a region 2 DVD and will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play In 1939 the Editor of the New York Daily Globe sends Haverstock (Joel McCrea) a crime reporter into Europe in the hope of getting a fresh angle Naive and wholly ignorant of international affairs Haverstock launches himself eagerly onto the London scene where he meets and falls in love with Carol Fisher whose father heads an important peace organisation Before long Haverstock witnesses the assassination of a Dutch diplomat at terrifying close hand Hot on the trail of the killer he soon finds himself deeply embroiled in the evil workings of an international spy ring With its unforgettable set pieces and non-stop pace Foreign Correspondent is one of Alfred Hitchcock&39;s most thrilling entertainments Actors Joel McCrea Laraine Day Herbert Marshall George Sanders Albert Bassermann Edmund Gwenn Harry Davenport Robert Benchley Eduardo Ciannelli Harry Davenport Martin Kosleck Frances Carson Ian Wolfe Charles Wagenheim & Eddie ConradDirector Alfred HitchcockCertificate PGYear 1940Screen Fullscreen 1331Languages English - Dolby Digital (10) MonoSubtitles None listedDuration 1 hour and 55 minutes (approx)
Hitchcock espionage thriller. American crime reporter Johnny Jones (Joel McCrea) is sent to Europe in 1938 to cover the build-up to World War Two. Johnny becomes romantically involved with Carol Fisher (Laraine Day), whose father runs an international peace organisation. When Dutch diplomat Van Meer (Albert Basserman) is kidnapped, Johnny and Carol become mixed up in the espionage and intrigue.
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