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Title: Foreign Correspondent by Joel Vvlv 9008 McCrea ISBN: 6-3001782-1-8 Pub. Date: August, 1985 Format: VHS Tape

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Average Customer Rating: 4.47 (15 reviews)

Rating: 4
Summary: One Of Hitchcock's Best
Comment: "Foreign Correspondent" was Alfred Hitchcock's second American feature made in 1940, the same year as his first feature "Rebecca", and surprisingly both were up for "best picture". In fact "Foreign Correspodent" was nominated for 6 Oscars. But even so, the movie is rarely regarded as one of Hitchcock's best, and that's a shame. "Foreign Correspondent" ranks up there with the best Hitchcock films such as "Rear Window", "Psycho", and "Vertigo". The "master of suspense" displays all the talents that have made him one of the finest film-makers of all-time (at least in my opinion).

"Foreign Correspondent" has Joel McCrea as John Jones, an American reporter sent over to Europe to cover the beginnings of WW2. And, as you can probably guess, Jones will stumble upon a big story and soon become a man who knows too much.

Van Meer, a man Jones was sent to interview (Albert Basserman, in an Oscar nominated performance) is on a council to prevent WW2, but he is soon murdered, or is he? He was the only person who knew of a secret clause that was to be written in a peace treaty.

A lot of people speak highly of the assination scene with the umbrellas, and Edmund Gwenn's scene on top of the tower. Most of you will know Gwenn as Santa Clause in "Miracle on 34th Street". But I have to admit some of my favorite scenes deal with the more comedic aspects of the film such as Robert Benchley's scenes, as an on-the-wagon reporter just yearning for one more drink, who has no idea what is going on around him. I also enjoy a scene dealing with George Sanders (Scott ffolliott) as he explains why he his name is spelled with two lower case "f's", McCrea responds with "How do you pronouce it? With a stutter?"

I've always felt Hitchcock's early work sometimes allowed the dry wit to get into the way of his movies. They could be seen as comedy\mystery movies in the vain of "The Thin Man" series. But in "Foreign Correspondent" I absolutely didn't mind. I enjoyed it greatly. Benchley was actually allowed to write his own lines and Ben Hechet, who helped co-write (he wrote the play "The Front Page", as well as two other Hitchcock movies, "Notorious" and "Spellbound") are without doubt why this movie actually does make us laugh. Benchley really is a highlight for me. Please pay attention to his dialogue. It's a shame so many people don't remember him nowadays.

And, there's more more thing I feel the need to comment on. What an amazing cast this film has. I've mentioned some of them already, McCrea, Sanders, and Benchley, but Herbert Marshall is also in this movie as Stephen Fisher, Van Meer's partner. Everyone does a wonderful job.

Bottom-line: Sadly not as popular as some of Hitchcock's other films, but, it deserves to be. It really is one of his best works. Great moments of suspense and wit.

Rating: 5
Summary: SUSPENSE AND INTRIGUE
Comment: Fourteen script writers held a race with the swift courseof contemporary history to produce the Walter Wanger thriller. Producer Wanger hired Alfred Hitchcock, that English past master of suspence, to concoct a thriller of Europe day. With Joan Harrison, Hitchcock's pretty blonde scenarist, they together dreamed up a string of sinister but unrelated scenes: a political assassination on a rainy day; a spy hunt in an abandoned windmill; a torture room in a dowdy hotel room and a transatlantic clipper shot down at sea. Together with his wife Alma Reville, Hitch then patched these incidents into a fast, funny, fascinating - and rather implausible tale of two great cities on the ever of WWII. FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT has achieved a well-deserved reputation as a masterpiece of suspense and intrigue, and was instrumental in upgrading the reputation of the thriller genre (it was nominated for the best picture of 1940). Refreshing in that Hitchcock chose lesser known actors Joel McCrea and Laraine Day for the leads; both actors are likable and capable. Herbert Marshall is somewhat miscast in his role of Stephen Fisher but Robert Benchley is great as Stebbins, the broken-down American journalist working in London. George Sanders and Eduardo Cianelli do well in their roles. In his second American film, Hitch is scene briefly at a railway station!

Rating: 4
Summary: Good.
Comment: 'Foreign Correspondent' is yet another fantasic mystery from Alfred Hitchcock. Although I don't remember the storyline too much, I remember liking it enough to give it a four-star review.