Editing Foreign Correspondent (film)

{{short description|1940 film by Alfred Hitchcock}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2017}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Foreign Correspondent
| image          = ForeignCorrespondent.jpg
| alt            = 
| caption        = [[Film poster|Theatrical release poster]]
| director       = [[Alfred Hitchcock]]
| producer       = [[Walter Wanger]]
| writer         = {{Plainlist|
* [[James Hilton (novelist)|James Hilton]] {{small|(dialogue)}} 
* [[Robert Benchley]] {{small|(dialogue)}} 
}}
| screenplay     = {{Plainlist|
* [[Charles Bennett (screenwriter)|Charles Bennett]]
* [[Joan Harrison (screenwriter)|Joan Harrison]]
}}
| starring       = {{Plainlist|
* [[Joel McCrea]]
* [[Laraine Day]]
* [[Herbert Marshall]]
* [[George Sanders]]
* [[Albert Bassermann]]
* [[Robert Benchley]]
}}
| music          = [[Alfred Newman (composer)|Alfred Newman]]
| cinematography = [[Rudolph Maté]], [[A.S.C.]]
| editing        = [[Dorothy Spencer]]
| studio         = [[Walter Wanger Productions]]
| distributor    = [[United Artists]]
| released       = {{Film date|1940|08|16|U.S.}}
| runtime        = 120 minutes
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| budget         = $1,484,167<ref name="wagner">Bernstein 2000, p. 440.</ref>
| gross          = $1,598,435<ref name="wagner"/>
}}

'''''Foreign Correspondent''''' is a 1940 American black-and-white [[spy thriller]] film directed by [[Alfred Hitchcock]]. It tells the story of an American reporter based in Britain who tries to expose enemy spies involved in a fictional continent-wide conspiracy in the prelude to World War II. It stars [[Joel McCrea]] and features 19-year-old [[Laraine Day]], [[Herbert Marshall]], [[George Sanders]], [[Albert Bassermann]], and [[Robert Benchley]], along with [[Edmund Gwenn]].

''Foreign Correspondent'' was Hitchcock's second Hollywood production after leaving the United Kingdom in 1939 (the first was ''[[Rebecca (1940 film)|Rebecca]]'') and had an unusually large number of writers: [[Robert Benchley]], [[Charles Bennett (screenwriter)|Charles Bennett]], [[Harold Clurman]], [[Joan Harrison (screenwriter)|Joan Harrison]], [[Ben Hecht]], [[James Hilton (novelist)|James Hilton]], [[John Howard Lawson]], [[John Lee Mahin]], [[Richard Maibaum]], and [[Budd Schulberg]], with Bennett, Harrison, Hilton and Benchley the only writers credited in the finished film. It was based on [[Vincent Sheean]]'s political memoir ''Personal History'' (1935), the rights to which were purchased by producer [[Walter Wanger]] for $10,000.

The film was one of two Hitchcock films nominated for the [[Academy Award for Best Picture]] in 1940, the other being ''Rebecca'', which went on to win the award. ''Foreign Correspondent'' was nominated for six Academy Awards, including one for [[Albert Bassermann]] for [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor|Best Supporting Actor]], but did not win any.{{TOC limit|limit=2}}

==Plot==
[[File:Foreign Correspondent (1940) - Trailer.webm|thumb|right|upright=1.2|thumbtime=2:18|[[:C:File:Foreign Correspondent (1940) - Trailer.webm|Trailer]] for ''Foreign Correspondent'']]

In mid-August 1939, just before the outbreak of World War{{nbsp}}II, the editor of the ''New York Morning Globe'', Mr. Powers ([[Harry Davenport (actor)|Harry Davenport]]), sends crime reporter John Jones, using the [[pen name]] "Huntley Haverstock" ([[Joel McCrea]]), to Europe to report on conditions there. [[File:Foreign Correspondent trailer 16 McCrea crop.jpg|thumb|left|250px|[[Joel McCrea]] as "John Jones", foreign correspondent]] Jones's first assignment is to interview a Dutch diplomat named Van Meer ([[Albert Bassermann]]), at a luncheon.

Jones/Haverstock shares a cab with Van Meer on the way to the luncheon. He peppers him with questions about the impending war, but Van Meer evades answering. Once at the event, Jones becomes smitten with Carol ([[Laraine Day]]) who has some uncertain role at the meeting. He invites her to sit at his table saying none of the reporters will listen to the speeches. A charming host, Stephen Fisher ([[Herbert Marshall]]), the leader of the Universal Peace Party, makes the announcement that their keynote speaker, Van Meer, has taken ill and won't appear. In his stead, the host has his daughter, Carol, speak. Jones realizes he has inadvertently insulted the woman he now adores.

The newspaper editor, Powers, sends Jones on to Amsterdam to cover Van Meer's next appearance, at a conference of the Universal Peace Party. When Jones stops to greet Van Meer outside the conference hall, Van Meer seems to be in some kind of hypnotic state and does not recognize him. Suddenly, an eager photographer moves to take a photo of the Dutch diplomat – actually concealing a gun near the camera. He assassinates Van Meer. Jones runs after the shooter and ends up encountering Carol and a reporter friend of hers, Scott ffolliott ([[George Sanders]]). They give chase in his car. Outside the city, they seem to lose sight of the car they have been following, but Jones suspects that the assassin is hiding in a windmill.

While Carol and ffolliott go for the police, Jones searches the windmill and finds Van Meer alive, but heavily drugged. All Van Meer can manage to convey is that the man shot in front of witnesses earlier was an imposter. Jones narrowly escapes the windmill to tell the police that Van Meer is alive. When they all return to the scene with authorities, Van Meer and his kidnappers are gone. Later, back at Jones's hotel room in Amsterdam, two spies posing as police officers arrive to kidnap him. When he suspects who they really are, he escapes out of his hotel bathroom window. He runs into Carol again.

Jones and Carol board a British ship to England. Amidst a furious storm, Jones proposes marriage to her, which she accepts. In England, they go to Carol's father's house, where Jones sees Krug ([[Eduardo Ciannelli]]), whom he recognizes from the windmill as the operative running the assassination and kidnapping. Fisher and Krug realize Jones knows too much, and Krug convinces Fisher that he must be killed.  Fisher tells Jones he is in danger and offers a bodyguard to protect him. The bodyguard, Rowley ([[Edmund Gwenn]]), takes Jones to the top of [[Westminster Cathedral]] tower ostensibly to ditch anyone following them and to show Jones the view. Suddenly, the bodyguard tries to shove Jones off the tower, going over the side to his own death, instead.

[[File:Foreign Correspondent trailer 12 Sanders crop.jpg|thumb|250px|[[George Sanders]] as "ffolliott"]]
Jones and ffolliott are convinced that Fisher is a traitor, so they come up with a plan: Jones will take Carol to [[Cambridge]], and ffolliott will pretend she has been kidnapped, in order to force Fisher to divulge Van Meer's location. Carol agrees to go, thinking that the purpose of their trip is to protect Jones by getting him out of London. When she overhears Jones booking two adjoining rooms at an inn, she believes that Jones has tricked her into leaving London for a premarital sexual encounter. She returns home alone and earlier than ffolliott expected, foiling his attempt to extract Van Meer's location from her father. ffolliott then trails Fisher to a closed hotel where Van Meer is being held prisoner. He is captured at gunpoint and brought into the room where the spy ring is holding a drugged Van Meer, torturing him with bright lights and loud jazz music. Fisher fails to persuade Van Meer to reveal the details of a secret clause in a treaty, Clause 27 (the movie's [[MacGuffin]]<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-09-03 |title=Foreign Correspondent (1940) – Deep Focus Review – Movie Reviews, Essays, and Analysis |url=https://www.deepfocusreview.com/definitives/foreign-correspondent/ |access-date=2024-05-01 |website=Deep Focus Review |language=en-US}}</ref>). Fisher then has Van Meer physically tortured until he begins to recite the clause, which would be triggered if Germany goes to war. ffolliot starts to fight Fisher's thugs to interrupt Van Meer, and then escapes. Jones and a fellow reporter arrive, and the three rescue Van Meer. Fisher flees. Van Meer is taken to a nearby hospital, where he slowly regains consciousness.

Britain and France declare war on Germany. Jones and ffolliott follow the Fishers onto a [[Short S.30 Empire]] flying boat to America. When Fisher intercepts a telegram intended for ffolliott, telling him that Van Meer has recovered and identified Fisher as his kidnapper, Fisher realizes he will soon be captured and returned to England. He confesses his treasonous behavior to Carol, who already suspects the truth but promises to stand by him. Jones pleads with Carol to rekindle their affair. Seconds later, the aircraft is shelled by a German destroyer and crashes into the ocean. The survivors perch on the floating wing of the downed aircraft. Realizing that the wing cannot support everyone, Fisher slips into the ocean to drown, dying for his cause while also sacrificing himself so the rest will survive.

An American ship rescues the survivors. The captain refuses to allow the reporters to file their stories using the ship's communications, citing American neutrality in the war. Still, Jones, ffolliott, and Carol surreptitiously communicate the story by radio-telephone to Mr. Powers. Jones returns to England and, with Carol at his side, becomes a successful war correspondent. During a live radio broadcast, he describes London being bombed, urging Americans to "keep those lights burning" as they go dark in the studio.

==Cast==
{{col-begin}}{{col-break}}
* [[Joel McCrea]] as John Jones
* [[Laraine Day]] as Carol Fisher
* [[Herbert Marshall]] as Stephen Fisher
* [[George Sanders]] as Scott ffolliott
* [[Albert Bassermann]] as Van Meer (as well as Van Meer's body double)
* [[Robert Benchley]] as Stebbins
* [[Edmund Gwenn]] as Rowley
* [[Eduardo Ciannelli]] as Mr. Krug
* [[Harry Davenport (actor)|Harry Davenport]] as Mr. Powers
* [[Martin Kosleck]] as Tramp
* [[Frances Carson]] as Mrs. Sprague
* [[Ian Wolfe]] as Stiles
* [[Charles Wagenheim]] as Assassin
* Edward Conrad as Latvian
* [[Charles Halton]] as Bradley
* [[Barbara Pepper]] as Dorine
* [[Emory Parnell]] as "Mohican" Captain
* Roy Gordon as Mr. Brood
* [[Gertrude Hoffman (actress)|Gertrude Hoffman]] as Mrs. Benson
* Martin Lamont as Captain
* Barry Bernard as Steward
* [[Holmes Herbert]] as Asst. Commissioner
* [[Leonard Mudie]] as McKenna
* John Burton as English Announcer
{{col-break|gap=3em}}
:;Uncredited (in order of appearance)
* [[Crauford Kent]] as Toastmaster
* [[Jane Novak]] as Miss Benson
* [[Louis Borell]] as Captain Lanson
* [[Eily Malyon]] as English cashier
* [[E. E. Clive]] as Mr. Naismith
* [[Alexander Granach]] as Valet
* [[Jack Rice]] as Donald
* [[Hilda Plowright]] as Miss Pimm
* [[James Finlayson (actor)|James Finlayson]] as Dutch peasant
* [[Joan Leslie]] as John Jones' sister
{{col-end}}

[[List of cameo appearances by Alfred Hitchcock|Alfred Hitchcock can be seen]] when Joel McCrea first spots Van Meer on the street in London; Hitchcock walks past reading a newspaper. Albert Bassermann, who plays Van Meer, was German and did not speak English, so he had to learn all his lines phonetically. Likewise, one supposedly Dutch girl in the film speaks Dutch phonetically, though less convincingly.<ref name="tcmtriv" />

==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----->

==Reception==
''Foreign Correspondent'' opened on August 16, 1940, in the United States and on October 11 of that year in the United Kingdom. The film, which ends with London being bombed, opened in the United States at the dawn of the [[Battle of Britain]], just three days after the [[Luftwaffe]] began bombing British coastal airfields in the early ''[[Adlertag|Adlerangriff]]'' phase of the [[Battle of Britain]], and a week before Germany began [[Battle of britain#Raids on British cities|bombing London]] on August 24.<ref name="LegrandKarney1995">Legrand and Karney [https://books.google.com/books?id=zt6RyZEn5VcC 1995, p. 311.]</ref>

===Box office===
''Foreign Correspondent'' did well at the box office, but its high cost meant it incurred a loss of $369,973.<ref name="wagner" /> According to ''Kinematograph Weekly'' it was the second most popular film of 1940 in Britain (the first being ''Rebecca'').<ref>{{cite book|page=231|title=Blackout : reinventing women for wartime British cinema|last=Lant|first= Antonia|year=1991 |publisher=Princeton University Press }}</ref> It earned £118,519 in the UK.<ref>James Chapman ‘The Billings verdict’: Kine Weekly and the British Box Office, 1936–62' Journal of British Cinema and Television, Volume 20 Issue 2, Page 200-238, p 208</ref>

===Critical===
It was generally praised by the critics, although some saw it as a glorified [[B movie]].<ref name="tcmart" /> It also attracted attention from at least one professional propagandist, Nazi Propaganda Minister [[Joseph Goebbels]], who called ''Foreign Correspondent'' "a masterpiece of propaganda, a first-class production which no doubt will make a certain impression upon the broad masses of the people in enemy countries".<ref name="Humphries1994">Humphries [https://books.google.com/books?id=semM469g-TYC 1994, p. 66.]</ref>

On the review aggregator website [[Rotten Tomatoes]], ''Foreign Correspondent'' has an approval rating of 96% based on 45 reviews, with an average score of 8.10/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Alfred Hitchcock's ''Foreign Correspondent'' features a winning combination of international intrigue, comic relief, and some of the legendary director's most memorable set pieces." On Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating to reviews, the film has a score of 89 out of 100 based on 18 critic reviews,  indicating "universal acclaim".<ref>{{rotten-tomatoes|foreign_correspondent|Foreign Correspondent}}</ref> In his 2012 review, Saptarshi Ray of ''[[The Guardian]]'' wrote of ''Foreign Correspondent'': "a breathless yarn with the most serious of intents that soars well beyond mediocrity but just below genius, yet remains a film that should be included on the master of suspense's top table."<ref>{{cite web|last1=Ray|first1=Saptarshi|title=My favourite Hitchcock: Foreign Correspondent|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2012/aug/27/favourite-hitchcock-foreign-correspondent|website=The Guardian|date=27 August 2012}}</ref>

==Awards and honors==
[[File:Foreign Correspondent trailer 20 Basserman.jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[Albert Basserman]] (here as the Van Meer doppelgänger) was nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.]]
In 1941, ''Foreign Correspondent'' was nominated for six [[Academy Awards]], but did not win any.

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|-
! Award
! Category
! Nominee(s)
! Result
| Notes
|-
| rowspan="6"| [[13th Academy Awards|Academy Awards]]
| [[Academy Award for Best Picture|Best Motion Picture]]
| [[Walter Wanger]]
| {{nom}}
| <ref name="Oscars1941">[http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1941 "Nominees and Winners: The 13th Academy Awards (1941)."] ''oscars.org''. Retrieved: May 23, 2016.</ref>
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor|Best Supporting Actor]]
| [[Albert Bassermann]]
| {{nom}}
| <ref name="Oscars1941"/>
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay|Best Original Screenplay]]
| [[Charles Bennett (screenwriter)|Charles Bennett]], [[Joan Harrison (screenwriter)|Joan Harrison]]
| {{nom}}
| <ref name="Oscars1941"/>
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Cinematography|Best Cinematography]]
| [[Rudolph Maté]]
| {{nom}}
| <ref name="Oscars1941"/>
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Production Design|Best Art Direction]]
| [[Alexander Golitzen]]
| {{nom}}
| <ref name="Oscars1941"/>
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Visual Effects|Best Visual Effects]]
| [[Paul Eagler]] (photographic), [[Thomas T. Moulton]] (sound)
| {{nom}}
| <ref name="Oscars1941"/>
|-
| [[National Board of Review Awards 1940|National Board of Review]]
| [[National Board of Review Award for Best Picture|Best Picture]]
|
| {{nom}}
| <ref name=all>Allmovie [https://www.allmovie.com/movie/foreign-correspondent-v18199/awards "Awards:'Foreign Correspondent'."] ''Allmovie''. Retrieved: November 12, 2022.</ref>
|}

''Foreign Correspondent'' was named one of the 10 Best Films of 1940 by ''Film Daily''.<ref name=all/>

==Adaptations==
''Foreign Correspondent'' was adapted to the radio program ''[[Academy Award Theater]]'' on July 24, 1946, with [[Joseph Cotten]] starring.<ref name=rga1>"Radio's Golden Age." ''Nostalgia Digest'', Summer 2012, Volume 38, Issue 3, pp. 40–41.</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Bibliography===
{{Refbegin}}
* Bernstein, Matthew. ''Walter Wanger: Hollywood Independent''. Minneapolis, Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press, 2000.  {{ISBN|978-0-8166-3548-1}}.
* Humphries, Patrick. ''The Films of Alfred Hitchcock''. New York: Crescent Books, 1994. {{ISBN|978-0-517-10292-3}}.
* Legrand, Catherine and Robyn Karney. ''Chronicle of the Cinema''. London: Dorling Kindersley, 1995. {{ISBN|978-0-7894-0123-6}}. 
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
{{Commons category|Foreign Correspondent (film)}}
* {{IMDb title|0032484}}
* [https://www.allmovie.com/movie/foreign-correspondent-am34003 ''Foreign Correspondent'' at AllMovie]
* {{TCMDb title|75400}}
* {{AFI film|4220}}
* [http://www.hitchcockwiki.com/wiki/Foreign_Correspondent_%281940%29 ''Foreign Correspondent'' at the Hitchcock Wiki]
* {{rotten-tomatoes|foreign_correspondent}}
* [https://archive.org/download/OTRR_Academy_Award_Theater_Singles/Academy_Award_46-07-24_ep18_Foreign_Correspondent.mp3 ''Foreign Correspondent''] on [[Academy Award (radio)|Academy Award Theater]]: July 24, 1946
* [https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/3063-foreign-correspondent-the-windmills-of-war ''Foreign Correspondent: The Windmills of War''] an essay by [[James Naremore]] at the [[Criterion Collection]]

{{Alfred Hitchcock}}
{{Walter Wanger}}
{{James Hilton}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foreign Correspondent (Film)}}
[[Category:1940 films]]
[[Category:1940s spy thriller films]]
[[Category:1940s political thriller films]]
[[Category:American black-and-white films]]
[[Category:American political thriller films]]
[[Category:American spy thriller films]]
[[Category:1940s Dutch-language films]]
[[Category:1940s English-language films]]
[[Category:Films about assassinations]]
[[Category:Films about journalists]]
[[Category:Films about kidnapping]]
[[Category:Films directed by Alfred Hitchcock]]
[[Category:Films produced by Walter Wanger]]
[[Category:Films scored by Alfred Newman]]
[[Category:Films set in 1939]]
[[Category:Films set in England]]
[[Category:Films set in the Netherlands]]
[[Category:United Artists films]]
[[Category:World War II spy films]]
[[Category:1940s American films]]
[[Category:English-language spy thriller films]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]