Foreign Correspondent (1940)

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Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Writers: Charles Bennett & Joan Harrison, dialogue by James Hilton & Robert Benchley

Stars: Joel McCrea, Laraine Day, Herbert Marshall, George Sanders, Albert Bassermann, Robert Benchley, Edmund Gwenn, Eduardo Cianelli



What a terrific film! 



A near-perfect mixture of suspense, action, and romance, with a great cast and dialogue.

 


I can well imagine that this must have been a real crowd-pleaser in its day.

 


The black-and-white photography is excellent and the special effects are outstanding for the time. 



Some have criticized the ending as jingoistic, but one must remember its context.

 


The European war was just getting started and many informed people were concerned that an isolationist America would allow the Nazis to attack across borders unimpeded.

 


Hitchcock himself being British, this film may well have been partially intended as a wake-up call for Americans and an attempt to stir up some concern among them about events overseas. 




For me, bearing this in mind added an immediacy to the film that I found thrilling.







































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