Foreign Correspondent

source: Foreign Correspondent

Though I roundly consider Alfred Hitchcock to be one of the greatest film directors of all-time, there is one aspect of his filmmaking that rubs me the wrong way sometimes: a lack of a really engaging plot. Some of his films have it, while some do not. 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. Otherwise, you might want to shy away.

There is of course by now a whole industry devoted to milking the sacred cow (Hitchcock) for every drop of low-grade milk it will yield. For some reason best known to the easily led who enjoy being led by the Academic-Psued axis this title enjoys the distinction of being Hitchcock's most loved film. Whatever it lacks - and that's plenty - it does have perhaps the greatest collection of mis-matched acting styles in film, from the leads - Joel McCrea marginally less wooden than Charlton Heston, Richard Todd, Laurence Harvey et al but possessed of a certain left-handed charm that helps take the edge off, and the insipid Larraine Day - to the support, Herbert Marshall, Harry Davenport, Robert Benchley, George Sanders, Eduardo Ciannelli, Ian Wolfe, fifteen year old Joan Leslie and Edmund Gwen whose outrageous mugging as a hit man makes Charles Laughton seem heavily medicated. The plot has no respect for its audience: in a scene set in the home of Herbert Marshall, George Sanders - who is aware that Marshall is in fact the leader of the cell - attempts to obtain a vital address using the supposed kidnapping of Marshall's daughter as leverage; as they speak Marshall scribbles something on a piece of paper and passes it to Sanders. Minutes later the daughter enters the room, clearly safe. Outside, Sanders opens the paper to read: Sorry, I can hear my daughter's car arriving outside. Great. Not only is Marshall able to distinguish the sound of his daughter's car from any other but he fails to consider the possibility that whilst it may indeed be her car there is nothing to say it isn't being driven by one of the kidnappers. If you can sit still for sloppy writing like this then don't let me stop you getting your rocks off.

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. Well, he certainly gets involved. Can he live to tell what he knows? The film is a little too long, and the first half an hour is pretty boring. We then get some tense scenes, starting with a shooting. At last, some suspense. Unfortunately, the realism of the film is sloppy at this point. For example the victim's killer would have been caught about 20 times over. Also, the killer's getaway car would not just have disappeared like that on a large empty road, given that the pursuers had the car in sight. Another instance of stupidity occurs at this point in that the bad guys don't seem to be looking out for the car that has been chasing them. These villains are cretinously stupid not to have someone pick up that McCrea is snooping around the windmill. He stands out like a sore thumb. Another memorable section sees hit-man Edmund Gwenn (Rowley) bide his time and attempt his murderous instructions on McCrea. He has a couple of goes. And while these are suspenseful, Gwenn plays for comedy so it's never quite effective. And that's a problem with this film, there is far too much light-heartedness (eg, the Latvian bloke) which takes away any real danger. George Sanders (ffolliott) turns up after the first boring half an hour that wasn't necessary and immediately becomes the best of the cast. In fact, the lead man McCrea completely disappears from the proceedings after about two thirds of the film and we follow Sanders as he unravels and solves the whole mystery. By himself. McCrea wasn't needed – Sanders even already knew about wealthy aristocratic Herbert Marshall (Fisher). The film does have two other memorable sequences. The first is the sea of umbrellas as the assassin makes his getaway – very creative. The other is what elevates this film to the score I have given it – namely, the whole plane crash episode. I found this particularly eerie given the current explanation of what happened to that Air Malaysia plane recently. The one that just disappeared. There is real footage of the view that the pilots would have had as the plane dives towards the sea. We then get the water pouring in and a frightening aftermath. Maybe the passengers were already dead come the impact in the real life situation. Still, it made me think and go all sombre about it. Unfortunately, this film lacks something. Oh yeah, Hitchcock is easy to spot in this one, so keep an eye out near the beginning.

This is my 2nd viewing of Foreign Correspondent. I'm watching it 2 days after seeing Citizen Kane again, and 2 weeks after watching Band of Brothers. The comparisons are not favorable. Either of those are illustrative of what's wrong with this. I returned to F.C. out of the fondness I felt for it the first time I watched, but after viewing it again, that good will is played out. This is half-hearted, boilerplate Hitchcock. It's really disappointing to watch him go through the motions with his motifs and these circumlocutious plots, while simultaneously refusing to forego entertainment in favor of ideas, or at least find a happy medium. I resent him squandering his technique on material that's not even worth his interest. One of the joys of watching Kane is that Welles rarely lets his ideas become subservient to sentiment of the period. The opposite is true here. The script quickly exhausts coincidence and a recurring single-degree-of-separation idea that Dickens favored: Johnny just happens to pass his contact on the street so the story can have him share a cab ride. The random car Johnny jumps into in Amsterdam just happens to contain his love interest. A random room Johnny breaks into just happens to be that of his love interest. The villain just happens to be the gal's dad. Hitchcock has a higher tolerance for these silly narrative cop-outs than I do. Foreign Correspondent makes me extremely appreciative of Citizen Kane and film-makers who take the art-form seriously. Joel Macrae plays an excruciating meathead that we're all supposed to get behind because he's snarky and light-hearted. And the plot likewise works overtime to provide him with occasions to be so. It's all very cloying. I wanted to strangle him. He's an absolute dunce. While many viewers resent the tacked on ending in which Johnny finally gets serious and commits to a cause, I find it to be the only legitimate minute or two in the movie. The rest treats WW2 as a meaningless event to be manipulated to suit the emotional needs of the protagonists. The Crawford/MacMurray vehicle 'Above Suspicion' is similarly facile in its treatment of the war. Foreign Correspondent is a feeble reason to string together setpieces that never engage your mind. In place of any real ideas we have an old codger (van Meer) delivering pure-hearted sentimental drivel, to excuse the dumbest members of the audience for not being mentally alive. Hitch will take this asinine picaresque mode (featuring an endless string of meaningless developments) to its absurd, foregone conclusion in North by Northwest. These narative objectives are corny and low.

In 1939, the editor of the New York Globe invites the tough reporter John Jones (Joel McCrea) to be the substitute for the inefficient Stebbins (Robert Benchley) as foreign correspondent in London. His first assignment is to interview the Dutch leader Mr. Van Meer (Albert Basseman) in his lecture for peace in London to know about the possibility of a declaration of war against Germany. Johnny meets Stephen Fisher (Herbert Marshall), the leader of the organization Universal Peace Party that promotes peace, and his beautiful daughter Carol Fisher (Laraine Day), and he has a crush on Carol. When Van Meer is apparently murdered in Amsterdam, Johnny follows the assassin with Carol and the journalist Scott ffolliett (George Sanders) through the countryside and discovers that Van Meer has been abducted indeed. However, nobody believes on the truth and he tangle with an international conspiracy. "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. But the greatest attraction is the plot based on the beginning of the World War II in 1939 practically in real time. My vote is eight. Title (Brazil): "Correspondente Estrangeiro" ("Foreign Correspondent")

Admittedly, partly due to the presence of Joel McCrea, this is one of my favorite Hitchcock films. As with "Saboteur," Hitchcock wanted Gary Cooper (and in this case, Joan Fontaine - he wanted Barbara Stanwyck for "Saboteur) but couldn't get them. Cooper turned down the role of Johnny Jones and lived to regret it. Today, "Foreign Correspondent" can be seen as a fierce call to bring America into the war. It's amazing today how long America stayed out. 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. Johnny witnesses Van Meer being killed right in front of him, and chasing the perpetrators, he winds up searching a windmill, in one of the many remarkable scenes in the film. While on assignment, he falls in love with Carol Fisher, whose father is the head of a peace-making movement. The film is striking for its underlying humor and lightness despite the seriousness and shock value of the events. It's also remarkable for some against type casting, i.e., George Sanders is a newsman and a good guy for a change, and Edmund Gwenn - Santa Claus! - is a killer. That's another remarkable scene. There are several spectacular moments. The rainy scene on the steps when Van Meer is killed is one; when Jones looks for the perpetrator, all he can see is a sea of same-colored umbrellas. The windmills are another - claustrophobic inside, a peaceful picture outside. There is a marvelous shot of Johnny escaping from killers by slipping out of his hotel bathroom window and walking along the ledge. The lit-up sign HOTEL EUROPE can plainly be seen, and Jones breaks one of the lights as he goes by. Best of all is the airplane crash into the ocean which is fantastic and looks both agonizing and real. 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. Joel McCrea, a very likable, easygoing actor in the same vein as Cooper, though maybe a bit livelier, is excellent in his role here as a gentle but adventurous man caught up in bizarre circumstances. Laraine Day, never used much by her own studio (MGM) and often loaned out, is great as the pretty, intelligent, and principled Carol. As Scott ffolliott, Sanders is charming and plays beautifully with Day and McCrea. Herbert Marshall has a slightly different role for him and is very effective. Though many may not agree, I consider this one of Hitchock's best films and totally underrated. Why did Gary Cooper turn it down? It was a thriller, which in those days was considered a B-class genre. After "Foreign Correspondent," this was no longer true.

What a letdown. As a Htchcock fan, I thought I was watching the wrong movie. It's awful. McCrea and Day don't work particularly well together. There's no real chemistry or spark. McCrea was best when the horse did most of the talking. Day did TV ~1950-on and that suited her. Other than a small gem of a performance by George Sanders, the rest is just nothing. But the plot, whew. What is going on? Van Meer is kidnapped but his double is assassinated. He's hidden away and being tortured by a spotlight. When he talks you only hear mumbling (Yes, I know the didn't speak English at the time - so what?). It's got all of the Hitchcock trademarks: Characters killed or almost killed by rotating gears; falling and fear of falling; mistaken identities; brusque newspapermen. But it's painfully, dreadfully, mind-numbingly dull. I wondered if the government got involved and Hitchcock somehow tried to do a propaganda job with it. His movies before and after are tight and clean. This one is a mystery.

In a recent viewing of my VHS copy of Foreign Correspondent, I hadn't realized how dated it was and also how silly the plot was. 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. That other well known independent producer David O. Selznick got some big bucks for Hitch's services. Or maybe he saw how ridiculous the story line was for Foreign Correspondent. Hitchcock's all purpose McGuffin in this story is a person, the Dutch Foreign Minister played by Albert Basserman. The devilishly clever Nazis hatch a scheme in which they kidnap Basserman, substitute a double and assassinate the double. So after getting Basserman, what do they do? They don't spirit him away to Germany, they take him to England instead. Supposedly so that collaborator Herbert Marshall can get the text of a secret clause in a treaty the Dutch have signed with some other country not named. A little sodium pentathol in Germany would have done the trick. I think the idea was totally ridiculous and I can't believe Alfred Hitchcock didn't find it so. The purpose of this film was an attack on those in Great Britain dubbed the Cliveden set who hung out at Lady Nancy Astor's estate named Cliveden. These folks wanted peace at any price with Hitler and it's still a subject today for debate whether they were just fools or out and out traitors. Hitchcock opts for the latter. Still the film has its Hitchcockian touches his fans love so well. 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. Even at that, I can't believe that a submarine possessed sufficient fire power to down an airliner, why didn't the airliner just raise altitude? Joel McCrea was Hitchcock's second choice after Gary Cooper turned him down. 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.

This film is a true gem, that had all of the touches we have come to associate with films of the master. While "Rebecca" (from the same year) may have garnered more recognition, it was an extremely brooding film that lacked the trademark Hitchcock sense of humor. "Foreign Correspondent" however, had it all. The suspense is unrelenting, building to a spectacular climax. 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!