Foreign Correspondent

Plot synopsis:
In mid-August 1939, just before the outbreak of World War II, the editor of the New York Globe, Mr. Powers (Harry Davenport), is concerned about the crisis in Europe, the growing power of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany, and the inability of celebrated foreign correspondents to get answers about whether war will ensue. After searching for a good, tough crime reporter for a fresh viewpoint, he appoints Johnny Jones (Joel McCrea) as a foreign correspondent, under the pen name Huntley Haverstock.
The reporter's first assignment is Stephen Fisher (Herbert Marshall), leader of the Universal Peace Party, at an event held by Fisher in honour of a Dutch diplomat named Van Meer (Albert Bassermann). On the way to the party, Haverstock sees Van Meer entering the car that is to take him to the party, and runs to interview him; Van Meer invites him to ride along, but diplomatically evades his questioning. At the party, Haverstock meets Fisher's daughter, Carol (Laraine Day). Van Meer disappears mysteriously. Later, Fisher informs the guests that Van Meer, who was supposed to be the guest of honor, will not be attending the party; instead he will be at a political conference in Amsterdam.
At the conference, Van Meer is shot in front of a large crowd by a man disguised as a photographer. Haverstock commandeers a car to follow the assassin's getaway car. The car he jumps into happens to have in it Carol and another reporter, Scott ffolliott (George Sanders), who explains that the capital letter in his surname was dropped in memory of an executed ancestor. The group follows the assassin to the countryside, where they see a windmill begin turning backwards: obviously a signal.
While Carol and ffolliott go for help, Haverstock searches the windmill and finds a live Van Meer; the man who was killed was an impostor substituted to make everyone believe Van Meer was killed. The old man has been drugged and is unable to tell Haverstock anything. Haverstock is forced to flee when the kidnappers become aware of him. They escape with Van Meer in an aircraft before the police arrive.
Later, back at Haverstock's hotel room, two spies dressed as policemen arrive to kidnap him. When he suspects who they really are, he escapes out the window and into Carol Fisher's room.
Haverstock and Carol board a British boat to England, and while a furious storm thunders overhead, he proposes marriage to her which she accepts. In England, they go to Carol's father's house, where Haverstock sees a man whom he recognizes as one of the men at the windmill. He informs Fisher and Fisher promises that he will send a bodyguard to protect him. The bodyguard, Rowley (Edmund Gwenn), repeatedly tries to kill Haverstock. When the assassin tries to push him off the top of the Westminster Cathedral tower, Haverstock steps aside and Rowley plunges to his death.
Haverstock and ffolliott are convinced that Fisher is a traitor, so they come up with a plan: Haverstock will take Carol to the countryside, and ffolliott will pretend she has been kidnapped to force Fisher to divulge Van Meer's location. After a misunderstanding with Haverstock, Carol returns to London. Just as Fisher is about to fall for ffolliott's bluff, he hears her car pull up.
Fisher heads to a hotel where Van Meer is being held with ffolliott on his tail. Van Meer is being interrogated using sleep deprivation to discover a secret clause in a treaty he signed. Just as he is being forced to divulge the information the organization wants, ffolliott distracts the interrogators. When Haverstock arrives, Fisher and his bodyguards escape, leaving Van Meer behind. Van Meer is rushed to the hospital in a coma.
England and France declare war on Germany. While Haverstock, ffolliott and the Fishers are on a Short S.30 Empire aircraft to America, Fisher confesses his misdeeds to his daughter. Carol believes Haverstock does not really love her but only used her to pursue her father. Haverstock protests that he was just doing his job as a reporter. Seconds later, the aircraft is shelled by a German destroyer and crashes into the ocean. The survivors perch on the floating wing of the downed aircraft. Realizing that it cannot support everyone, Fisher sacrifices himself by allowing himself to drown. Jones and ffolliott attempt to save him, but are unsuccessful. They are rescued by an American ship, the Mohican. The captain refuses to allow the reporters to file their story using the ship's communications citing American neutrality, but Jones, ffolliott, and Carol surreptitiously communicate the story by radio-telephone to Mr. Powers. Later, back in London and now a successful war correspondent, Haverstock, with Carol at his side, describes London being bombed in a live radio broadcast to the United States, urging Americans to fortify their country and "keep the lights burning" as they go dark in the studio.

Tags: murder

Review:
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.
While not as well-known today as some of his later films, Alfred Hitchcock's spy thriller "Foreign Correspondent" is entertaining, exciting, and masterfully constructed.
It has everything we hope for from Hitchcock: action, suspense, and a good dose of humor.The plot is a complicated one, beginning when American reporter Johnny Jones (Joel McCrea) is sent to Europe just before the outbreak of World War II.
It does take some effort to follow everything that is happening, but there are many action sequences and a lot of good writing - with many fine touches of humor - that make it easy to pay attention.In the lead role, McCrea performs with the easy-going understatement that typifies the heroes of Hitchcock's earlier films.
George Sanders for once gets to play a good guy, Robert Benchley is very funny as McCrea's fellow foreign correspondent, and Albert Basserman is touching as an old diplomat who has seen too much of the world's troubles.But it is the action sequences and the settings that really make the film.
This final sequence is not only thrilling, it also perfectly completes all of the film's action and themes."Foreign Correspondent" contains plenty of excitement, humor, and suspense, along with some of Hitchcock's best set pieces.
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.
It had many of those dazzling Hitchcock sequences: the assassination in Amsterdam, the scene in the cathedral tower and, especially, the sequence in the windmill, which is pure magic!Of course, it also had that classic sense of humor and a slew of terrific character roles, including Edmund Gwenn as the most cherubic and cheerful hit man you've ever seen!
The final scene was strictly American propaganda, but that can probably be forgiven considering the subject matter of the film and the time of it's release.All in all, a wonderful example of the master at his best, that deserves to be dusted off and enjoyed alongside some of it's more celebrated cousins!.
In the film, Johnny Jones, writing under the pen name of Huntley Haverstock, is given the assignment of going to Europe and digging around for information about the impending war - and particularly to have a conversation with Professor Van Meer, who may be one of the men who can help keep the peace.
The final scene of the film, a radio broadcast, was added some time later - five days before the Germans started bombing, in fact.Shot in black and white, "Foreign Correspondent" is loaded with atmosphere and the tension of the coming war.
"Foreign Correspondent" is a highly entertaining adventure, with a suspenseful story of espionage and an enjoyable romance, with Joel McCrea and Laraine Day showing a perfect chemistry.
Not worthy of the master of suspense.Foreign Correspondent was the second film that Alfred Hitchcock made in America and it was a one shot deal for independent producer Walter Wanger.
The chase scene through the windmill country, the climax when the Atlantic clipper with Joel McCrea, Laraine Day, George Sanders, and Herbert Marshall is shot down after war is formally declared.
Hitchcock and McCrea got along well, he wanted to use him for later films like Saboteur, but they never worked together again.And that's a pity because Foreign Correspondent isn't Hitchcock at his best..
Although the Second World War was one year old when FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT came out, it is set in the year 1938-39, and ends after September 1939.Joel McCrae is "Huntly Haverstock" (actually Johnny Jones), the new foreign correspondent sent by an American news service to Europe to cover the collapsing international situation.
Ignorant American reporter Joel McCrea (John Jones) is given the pseudonym Huntley Haverstock and sent on a mission to Amsterdam to get a story about politician Albert Bassermann (Van Meer) and obtain some news about the impending war in Europe.
When the diplomat is assassinated right in front of him, Jones sets off after the killer and finds himself embroiled in an international conspiracy plot.Exciting thriller from the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock.
The supporting cast boasts George Sanders, best known for his portrayal of vicious gossip columnist Addison DeWitt in "All About Eve," playing a quite different and heroic character here, and Edmund Gwenn, unrecognizable without his Santa Claus beard, playing a quite different and villainous one."Foreign Correspondent" maybe feels more like a product of its time than other Hitchcock films, which is maybe also why it seems to be less well known.
Work began on the film shortly after Hitchcock released Rebecca, and this must have been something of a controversial picture at the time of release as the war was, at that time, confined to Europe and I guess all America got to hear about it was the reports of foreign correspondents such as the one in this film.
The acting is more than adequate also, with Joel McCrea delivering a fair lead performance and receiving good backup from the likes of Laraine Day, Herbert Marshall and best of all; George Sanders, who steals every scene he's in.
This one, unfortunately, does not.For a basic plot summary, "Foreign Correspondent" sees American reporter John Jones (Joel McCrea) sent into Europe to get the "scoop" on the upcoming war (WWII).
While there, Jones and fellow lady friend Carol Fisher (Laraine Day) get caught up in an espionage plot involving the start of the war.I'll admit that the visuals are very well done for 1940, and a few sequences even provoke genuine suspense, but I just could not get into the plot whatsoever, as it seemed to drag on and on with little action or character development to move things forward.Thus, if you are a hard-core Hitch fan, watch this one.
One of Hitchcock's first films after leaving England, 'Foreign Correspondent' is a well written yarn about a Yankee crime reporter (Joel McCrea) who gets caught up in European political intrigue in the days leading up to WWII.
While the story has a typical 'heroic reporter' B-movie plot, it is very well directed, written and acted, especially by Herbert Marshall and George Sanders and includes some excellent special effects, including the famous seaplane crash.
It's not one of his greatest films, but it is an entertainer through and through, a crowd pleaser that gives a great nod to the hard-edged reporter who just needs to get the story, and gets much more than he bargained for.This reporter, Johnny Jones (Joel McCrea, meaning business but with more layers within his typical binding character) has to change his name to Haverstock for the sake of sounding not so 'American'.
The old double crosses start to happen, not least of which by his love interest Carol Fisher's (very charming and well-played leading lady Laraine Day) father (Herbert Marshall, fantastic at being both an exquisitely nasty character, and one with at least some humanity and even a touch of humility once war looms even more), who is really the one pulling the strings.In between all of this almost dense plot are many memorable set-pieces by Hitchcock, the first one being in two parts starting with the murder and get-away of the shooter of the fake Van Meer on the steps, with the rain and the crowds of people in umbrellas creating adding to the chaos of the crowded town square.
But possibly my favorite, even if it doesn't have the quiet sense of total danger when Jones hides from the Dutch-speaking spies and other nefarious types in the windmill, is when Jones/Haverstock is back in Britain being kept "under guard" by a man sent by Mr. Fisher (I forget his name now, but you'll know him when you see him, the kind of seemingly polite, shifty-eyed old British chap probably in other Hitchcock films in another form).
It's superbly done, even if it's a little shorter than the other big and exciting set pieces.Meanwhile, there are certain scenes between the actors that add to the fun- if that's an odd word to use for an espionage/journalism thriller- like with McCrea and Day. They're romance comes forward pretty quickly, which I'm sure was probably not uncommon in a Hollywood picture during this time.
It's the kind of thing that could only happen in the movies, though maybe not, but it's that line of something really entertaining and yet sort of truthful to the characters that makes the film worthwhile at times (this too goes for little scenes with Mr. Fisher as well, where you think at first he's cold and bloodless to anything, but then comes that scene on the plane).
For the most part, it was quite dull, and really, not as gripping as many of Hitch's other fine films.Johnny Jones (McRea) is a New York reporter sent to Europe as a foreign correspondent to inform America on the impending doom of the war.
Joel McCrea is an ambitious American reporter that refuses to sit on a story that would expose spies in Europe.An all star cast at the top of their game includes; Laraine Day, George Sanders, Edmund Gwenn, Eduardo Ciannelli and Ian Wolfe.
They're joined by a smooth British Intelligence agent played by the suave George Sanders as they race against time to foil the nefarious plot, although by the movie's end, it's somewhat irrelevant as Britain is by then already at war and gpfighting for its life.The tone of the film starts in a humorous vein, almost like a Preston Sturges but once the feckless McCrae, under an assumed name, finds himself directly involved in proceedings as opposed to just reporting on them, the movie picks up pace and becomes altogether more serious.Boasting a number of classic Hitchcock scenes, in particular the murder of Van Meer in the pouring rain under umbrellas which is reminiscent of Eisenstein, the remarkable plane crash into the sea at the climax and the rousing "wake up, America" message McCrae broadcasta as the bombs fall in London, this is a pacy, contemporary thriller, which keeps you on your toes throughout.
In retrospect, FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT may be a lesser compelling romance due to the insipid chemistry from its two leads, but no doubt it is a top-notch spy thriller from the master of suspense, with a trio of upstaging supporting players (Bassermann, Marshall and Sanders), plus its FX are rather cutting-edge at its time, a distinguishing precursor of the similar themed NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959, 8/10), which would arrive nearly 2 decades later.
For Foreign Correspondent we have an American lead in Joel McCrea  the propaganda here is aimed at US audiences, so they obviously needed to show things from the point of view of a US citizen  but the action takes place in Europe and by and large the supporting roles are British.
Add to all this the fact the love angle with Laraine Day has no chemistry to it, and not even a supporting cast featuring Edmund Gwenn can save us from Foreign Correspondent being pretty boring.The film's saving grace comes in its final moments.
full of memorable scenes: the windmill, the killing, the bombing of england at the end, the tower scene and of course one of hitchcock's best scene: the plane crash that includes suspense and good for the time special effects.
Alfred Hitchcock directed this exciting espionage tale that stars Joel McCrea as New York newspaper reporter Johnny Jones, who, on the eve of WWII, is sent on a mission to get the inside story on a British diplomat named Van Meer(Albert Bassermann) who is supposed to sign a secret treaty between European nations.
George Sanders plays a friend trying to help, and get to the bottom of the plot, which involves treachery in unexpected places...Highly entertaining thriller creates a good balance between humor and suspense, with many fine action sequences and memorable characters, especially in the windmill and climatic plane crash.
Out of the Hitchcock films that I've seen for the first time as well Foreign Correspondent has also been the best one.
Laraine Day gives a charming and sensitive performance, and works together well with Marshall as her father, while Martin Kosleck's striking features can be glimpsed in a bit-part scene in a windmill.This may not be a great film, but it is an enjoyable one, with genuine thrills spiced up with wry or overt humour: as often with Hitchcock, it probably doesn't pay to examine the plot too closely (and it would be nice just for once to see a film about a *genuine* peace movement: I suppose that would be too boring...), but it's a fun romp, especially if you genuinely don't know what's coming next.
While "Foreign Correspondent" isn't a more fully realized film, it outdistanced all others with several innovative suspense sequences - witness the umbrellas, windmills, tower, and the plane crash - all providing technical brilliance as a visual treat; even today, Hitchcock can make you forget you are seeing special effects.
Ironically, there were cheers from the Hitler camp; Nazi leader Joseph Goebbels praised the film, especially admiring how quickly the real "Van Meer" surrendered to torture.********* Foreign Correspondent (8/16/40) Alfred Hitchcock ~ Joel McCrea, Laraine Day, Herbert Marshall, George Sanders.
There are some of his most memorable set-pieces:the 'assassination' in a downpour surrounded by umbrellas,the windmills turning backwards,the fall at the cathedral,and the final plane crash at sea.That isn't to say the material in between is dull;very far from it.A witty,exciting script,a uniformly fine cast and a director and his most fluid and inventive make this a movie to enjoy time and again.Joel McCrea is perhaps slightly too lightweight a leading man for Hitchcock,but nevertheless is perfectly fine and likable as the US reporter transported into a Europe on the edge of War;Albert Basserman is underused yet still effective in his fairly brief part as a kindly and elderly peace-monger;and George Sanders and Robert Benchley give splendidly witty and charming performances as two of McCrea's confused,if still willing,allies.The equally witty and charming Herbert Marshall is somewhat hard to believe as a would-be Nazi sympathiser,with McCrea's character reluctant to hand him in to the authorities when all is found out.Marshall is still good in his role,but one suspects his character would've himself been horrified when the Nazi regime's true evil fully came to light some years later.Other veterans such as Harry Davenport and Eduardo Ciannelli make the most of their smallish roles,and Edmund Gwenn is convincing as a seemingly innocuous,but in fact ruthless would-be hit-man.Laraine Day is merely adequate as Marshall's daughter(a rather underwritten part),and although much of the film has a great wit and humour about it,Alfred Newman's score is something of a disappointment;too repetitively enclosed to one mood,namely happy.More variation and darker,more atmospheric background music would possibly have made great scenes even better.Hitch himself has a cameo as a passer-by reading a newspaper,and he even manages to fit in an amusing bit for Laurel & Hardy's most famous catalyst,Jimmy Finlayson,as a frustrated Dutch peasant trying unsuccessfully to cross a road!
Not the best Hitchcock film, but exciting enough as a correspondent (Western star Joel McCrea) is sent to Europe before the war to find out the truth.
Not the best Hitchcock film, but exciting enough as a correspondent (Western star Joel McCrea) is sent to Europe before the war to find out the truth.
But with all the praise heaped on Hitchcock's first American movie, his second has often gone unnoticed, although it is certainly up to par with - if not better than - "Rebecca".Foreign Correspondent tells the story of Johnny Jones, an American newspaper writer chosen to go to England to report on the war as Huntley Haverstock for the New York Globe.
There's also a brilliantly filmed plane crash which is remarkably realistic as is another tense scene involving a high-level escape from a hotel room.Joel McCrea does well as an ordinary guy who's totally out of his depth in his new job and George Sanders, Laraine Day and Albert Bassermann are all excellent in their supporting roles."Foreign Correspondent" which is overtly anti-Nazi and made a strong appeal for the United States to end its policy of neutrality, made its point so effectively that it even drew great praise from Joseph Goebbels who was the German Minister of Propaganda at the time!