Who says a crime reporter can't become a good foreign correspondent?

The dark 1940 movie "Foreign Correspondent" delves into European political issues and gives us a little side look at newspapers on the eve of World War II. In the process, Alfred Hitchcock lays out a mix of light comedic romance, murder mystery and espionage thriller.

Joel McCrea portrays a New York newspaper crime reporter who is dispatched to Europe after his editor grows weary of the pedantic, plodding work of previous reporters, and in the process, we get a peek at the editor's mindset. There's a tension that exists today--exciting, interesting writing vs. important and deep knowledge. Despite the same basic skills of writing, observation, listening, the assignments often call for different talents and personalities.

Mixed into the newspaper angle is a nod to class, one harder to find today, the notion that a guy named Johnny Jones can't possibly be a foreign correspondent and so he is renamed, for byline purposes, Huntley Haverstock.

It's not long after Jones arrives in London that he comes up with his first story. And it's a doozy.

Planning to report on an idealistic peace conference in Amsterdam, Jones finds himself at the center of the action as Van Meer (Albert Bassermann),the group's organizer, is assassinated right in front of him. Not one to stand by, Jones pursues the shooter through a sea of umbrellas--the action unfolds as the umbrellas sway as the shooter, otherwise invisible to us, escapes. It's done in a marvelous, overhead shot that shows the difficulty of pursuit through a crowd.

As the mystery of the Van Meer assassination grows, Jones finds himself both falling in love with Carol Fisher (Laraine Day) the daughter of one of the peace group's organizers and vigorously trying to figure out what has happened to Van Meer. It turns out to be much more complex than he first thinks.

Jones manages to follow his suspects to a windmill in the Dutch countryside and here we get a classic, spooky scene involving blades turning the wrong direction, against the wind, which turns out to be a signal to the bad guys. He finds the real Van Meer alive though not well but Van Meer is soon carried away by the conspirators. He realizes Van Meer's fill-in was murdered by a spy ring, becomes a target himself of the bad guys and ultimately finds a fifth-columnist who is working to sabotage the peace group.

During his pursuit and schemes to unmask the spy ring, and predictable as it may seem, the scene where Jones is nearly pushed to his death from a tower is still frightening. Who doesn't fear falling from great heights?

After much travail, and unheeded warnings about the conspirators (Think, "Why England Slept"), Jones, Fisher, her traitorous father and others depart England by clipper plane. During their flight, Carol's father, Stephen Fisher (Herbert Marshall) comes off rather sympathetically in his explanation for his treachery. Of course, that was before we knew the full nightmare the Nazis would perpetrate.

There is a lot of action, romance and intrigue told through the usual great Hitchcock scenes and through witty dialogue. Though the story itself is good, the movie with all its great parts is what draws attention.

Most of this story is told with the threat of World War II looming in the background, though war officially breaks out near the film's end. And of course, by 1940 when this film was released, the war the real horror had actually begun.

But that looming threat is what gives the story extra impact. As often happens with Hitchcock, the players who are the focus of his films are stand-ins for the bigger story. Not for nothing is Hitchcock using a rather naive American to help the British beat back the Nazi evil.


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for Groups
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older