Foreign Correspondent
Foreign Correspondent, American spy film, released in 1940, that was a classic thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock, his second Hollywood production.
(Read Alfred Hitchcock’s 1965 Britannica essay on film production.)
American reporter Johnny Jones (played by Joel McCrea) is assigned to be his newspaper’s foreign correspondent just prior to the start of World War II. In London he meets and befriends a Dutch diplomat, Van Meer (Albert Bassermann). At a dinner being held in Van Meer’s honour by Stephen Fisher (Herbert Marshall), the leader of a pacifist group, Jones makes the acquaintance of Fisher’s daughter, Carol (Laraine Day). When it is announced that Van Meer had to leave abruptly for a conference in Amsterdam, Jones is immediately suspicious and travels to the Netherlands. He is surprised when Van Meer fails to recognize him, and, seconds later, the elderly diplomat is shot dead. Jones, accompanied by Carol and another intrepid reporter, Scott ffolliott (George Sanders), investigate the murder. The trail leads to a windmill, where they discover that the murdered man was a double for Van Meer, who is being held captive by Axis agents. The trio fails to rescue Van Meer, and he is taken back to London. They follow him there and, in the process, discover that Carol’s father is actually an enemy agent who helped orchestrate the kidnapping. Jones, ffolliott, Carol, and her father all end up on the same plane en route to the United States. By this point, war has been declared between Britain and Germany, and the plane is shot down over the ocean. Fisher, in an act of bravery and conscience, sacrifices his life so that Jones, Carol, and ffolliott may live. They are soon rescued by a ship, and, once on board, Jones uses coded messages in a phone call to relay the story to his newspaper.
Foreign Correspondent contains a number of classic sequences, notably the suspenseful chase through a windmill and the climactic plane crash. McCrea gave a strong performance as the determined reporter (although Gary Cooper had been Hitchcock’s first choice for the lead role), and the rest of the cast, notably Academy Award-nominated Bassermann, were also praised. Foreign Correspondent was released the same year as Hitchcock’s Rebecca, and both films received Oscar nominations for best picture; the latter won.
Production notes and credits
- Studio: Walter Wanger Productions
- Director: Alfred Hitchcock
- Producer: Walter Wanger
- Writers: Charles Bennett and Joan Harrison
- Music: Alfred Newman
- Running time: 120 minutes
Cast
- Joel McCrea (Johnny Jones)
- Laraine Day (Carol Fisher)
- Herbert Marshall (Stephen Fisher)
- George Sanders (Scott ffolliott)
Academy Award nominations
- Picture
- Supporting actor (Albert Bassermann)
- Art direction (black and white)
- Cinematography (black and white)
- Special effects
- Writing (original screenplay)