Editing Foreign Correspondent (film) (section)

==Production==
[[File:Foreign Correspondent trailer 5 car trio.jpg|thumb|left|267px|[[George Sanders]], [[Laraine Day]] and [[Joel McCrea]] in pursuit of an assassin]]
Producer [[Walter Wanger]] bought the rights to journalist [[Vincent Sheean]]'s memoir ''Personal History'' in 1935, but after several adaptations proved unsatisfactory, Wanger allowed the story to stray significantly from the book.<ref name="tcmnotes">TCM [https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/75400/foreign-correspondent#notes "Notes: 'Foreign Correspondent'."] ''Turner Classic Movies''. Retrieved: November 12, 2022.</ref> It took numerous writers and five years before Wanger had a script he was satisfied with, by which time Hitchcock was in the United States under contract with [[David O. Selznick]] and available to direct this film on a loan-out. Hitchcock, who did not enjoy working under the usual close scrutiny of Selznick, originally wanted [[Gary Cooper]] and [[Joan Fontaine]] for the lead roles, but Cooper was not interested in doing a thriller at the time, and Selznick would not loan out Fontaine. Later, Cooper admitted to Hitchcock that he had made a mistake in turning down the film.<ref name="tcmart">Stafford, Jeff and John M. Miller. [https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/75400/foreign-correspondent#articles-reviews "Articles: 'Foreign Correspondent'."] ''Turner Classic Movies''. Retrieved: November 12, 2022.</ref>

Working titles for the film, which began production on March 18, 1940, and initially finished on June 5, were ''Personal History'' and ''Imposter''.<ref>[https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/75400/foreign-correspondent#overview "Overview: 'Foreign Correspondent'."] ''Turner Classic Movies''. Retrieved: November 12, 2022.</ref> Shooting took place at the [[Samuel Goldwyn Studio]] in [[West Hollywood]], and on location around [[Los Angeles]] and [[Long Beach]].

After the film wrapped, Hitchcock visited his native England, and returned to Los Angeles on July 3, to report that the Germans were expected to begin bombing London at any time. To accommodate this, [[Ben Hecht]] was called in to write the epilogue of the film, the scene in the radio station, which replaced the original end sequence in which two of the characters discussed the events of the film on a transatlantic seaplane trip. The new ending was filmed on July 5, presciently foreshadowing the celebrated radio broadcasts of [[Edward R. Murrow]].<ref name="tcmtriv">[https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/75400/foreign-correspondent#trivia "Trivia: 'Foreign Correspondent'."] ''Turner Classic Movies''. Retrieved: November 12, 2022.</ref>

Although many critics and film historians claim that neither Germany nor Hitler is named specifically in the film, both the man and the nation are indeed mentioned, including a scene where the name Germany is spelled out in the headline of a newspaper being hawked in the street and, while being given his assignment, Joel McCrea suggests an interview with Hitler, to get his views on the possibility of war. A fictional nation is mentioned numerous times however, possibly indicating that it was briefly considered as a potential proxy aggressor European country rather than an actual Axis nation.<ref name="imdb">{{IMDb title|0032484|Foreign Correspondent}}</ref>
[[File:Foreign Correspondent trailer 26 crash crop.jpg|thumb|right|250px|The aircraft crash]]
One of the sequences in the film that continues to have a strong effect on viewers is the [[William Cameron Menzies]]-designed mid-ocean crash of the flying boat after it is shot down by a German destroyer. In 1972, in an interview with [[Dick Cavett]], Hitchcock discussed some details of how the scene was created. Footage taken from a stunt aircraft diving over the ocean was rear-projected on rice paper in front of the cockpit set, while behind the rice paper were two chutes connected to large water tanks. The chutes were aimed at the windshield of the cockpit so that water would break through the rice paper at the right moment, simulating the crash of the aircraft into the ocean.<ref name="imdb" /> However, during the crash sequence, studio lights can briefly be seen.

Hitchcock's eccentric marriage proposal to his wife Alma was written for this film, for the scene when Jones proposes to Carol.<ref name="imdb" />
<!---Hitchcock frequently used visual imagery to underscore the dramatic action. When McCrea flees his hotel room and touches the letter "E" of the neon "HOTEL" sign, he burns himself and the letters "E" and "L" die, leaving the word "HOT" and leaving the sign reading "HOT EUROPE", underscoring the film's theme of war in Europe.{{citation needed|date=January 2015}}--highly unlikely----->