Foreign Correspondent is one of the more complicated but action-packed films of Alfred from the 1940s and one that deserves special attention due to the excellent script that bears the touches of some of the best scriptwriters in Hollywood.  This film has everything - action, suspense, love espionage and adventure.

Johnny Jones (Joel McCrea) is a breezy yet capable newspaper reporter sent to Europe in 1940 to cover the volatile war scene that Adolf Hitler is aggravating.  Essentially he is to replace the current Foreign Correspondent stationed there because no hard-edged news is coming through and Jones is considered street savvy enough to report on issues that may be overlooked by the current correspondent.  Once he arrives in Holland for an International Peace Conference Jones meets peace activist Stephen Fisher (Herbert Marshall) and falls immediately for his sharp-tongued and intelligent daughter Carol Fisher (Laraine Day).  When he believes he sees a Dutch diplomat Van Meer (Albert Basserman) assassinated he enlists the help of Carol and Scott Folliott (George Sanders) to chase down the killers, discovering a subversive organization bent of destroying the peace-generating activities of Fisher and his daughter Carol and the rest of the nations attempting to avoid war.   Back in England Jones inadvertently opens up to the leader of the subversive group and is set on by an assassin but when Folliott finds a way to force the leader of the opposing group to tip his hand a stand off is reached with no clear victor.  On a plane bound for the United States Jones discloses to Carol the identity of the leader of the subversive group as the plane is bombed and they must be rescued but Jones manages to get his story to his newspaper.

The film itself manages a combination of serious thriller and comedy by having Jones getting involved in chasing assassins with George Sanders.  Their meeting in the film as they chase a car full of killers consists of comic bon mots covering the history of Folliot's family name, spelled with two small letter ‘f's in commemoration of his ancestor having his head chopped off.  When Jones asks him if he pronounces it "like a stutter?", Folliott replies it's just the sound "Fuff" - inane chatter while chasing killers who are shoot at them but very engaging.  During moments of the highest thrills George Sanders, with his exceptional British timing and understatement, manages an off-handed remark that breaks the tension and effectively casts a light on the film that shows it for the exceptional piece of work that it is.

One particular scene stands out as Joel McCrea's Jones and George Sanders' Folliot and Robert Benchley as Stebbins are barreling down the streets in a taxi in pursuit of even more killers.  McCrea and Sanders bark out orders to Benchley with Sanders capping it off with one last order for Benchley to cancel his "Rumba lessons".  As the two leave the cab Benchley looks after them and dryly makes a mental note "Two Ham sandwiches on Rye".  It is typical of the dry underplaying of the story that makes this great Hitchcock adventure so enjoyable.

Late there are additional moments as when George Sanders is captured by one of the spies and brought into a torture session of one of his compatriots.  Sanders dryly intones with his British accent as he enters the room full of spies:  "Pardon me gentlemen, I represent the Jupiter Life Assurance, could I interest you in a small policy?"  Upon receiving a round of threatening suggestions he retorts:  "Now look, I'll just sit here and you carry on with whatever you were doing. Don't mind me; I sometimes sit like this for hours." 

This pairing of the American McCrea with the refined Sanders is great casting.  McCrea is brusque and impulsive, whereas Sanders is ruthless and cunning and together they make the perfect investigators to chase down the spies from Holland to Germany and London.  It's said that Hitchcock had an army of writers adapt the 1935 political memoir by Vincent Sheean called "Personal History" and among those working the script were Robert Benchley, Charles Bennett, Harold Clurman, Joan Harrison, Ben Hecht, James Hilton, John Howard Lawson, John Lee Mahin, Richard Maibaum, and Budd Schulberg.  The complication and depth of the narrative is quite evident with the dialogue sparkling and very human.  Robert Benchley deserves special mention here as the degraded Foreign Correspondent that Jones is supposed to replace.  Benchley co-wrote many of the scenes that he acts in and his comic timing and characterization is right on the money, funny even today.

The rip-roaring adventure rises to an intense climax and one of the best Hitchcock action sequences as a plane is hit by a German missile and it is indeed touch-and-go with some real poetic justice delivered.  This is one of the more adventurous films from the forties by Alfred Hitchcock and still packs a punch.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older