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IMDbPro

Foreign Correspondent

  • 19401940
  • PassedPassed
  • 2h
IMDb RATING
7.5/10
21K
YOUR RATING
Laraine Day and Joel McCrea in Foreign Correspondent (1940)
Watch ’Trailer’
Play trailer2:22
1 Video
66 Photos
  • Action
  • Romance
  • Thriller
On the eve of World War II, a young American reporter tries to expose enemy agents in London.On the eve of World War II, a young American reporter tries to expose enemy agents in London.On the eve of World War II, a young American reporter tries to expose enemy agents in London.
IMDb RATING
7.5/10
21K
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Alfred Hitchcock
  • Writers
    • Charles Bennett(screenplay)
    • Joan Harrison(screenplay)
    • James Hilton(dialogue)
  • Stars
    • Joel McCrea
    • Laraine Day
    • Herbert Marshall
Top credits
  • Director
    • Alfred Hitchcock
  • Writers
    • Charles Bennett(screenplay)
    • Joan Harrison(screenplay)
    • James Hilton(dialogue)
  • Stars
    • Joel McCrea
    • Laraine Day
    • Herbert Marshall
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 168User reviews
    • 72Critic reviews
    • 88Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 6 Oscars
      • 1 win & 6 nominations total

    Videos1

    Trailer
    Trailer 2:22
    Trailer

    Photos66

    George Sanders, Robert Benchley, and Joel McCrea in Foreign Correspondent (1940)
    Foreign Correspondent (1940)
    Albert Bassermann, Martin Kosleck, and Joel McCrea in Foreign Correspondent (1940)
    Laraine Day and Joel McCrea in Foreign Correspondent (1940)
    Martin Kosleck and Joel McCrea in Foreign Correspondent (1940)
    Foreign Correspondent (1940)
    Laraine Day and Joel McCrea in Foreign Correspondent (1940)
    Laraine Day and Joel McCrea in Foreign Correspondent (1940)
    Martin Kosleck and Joel McCrea in Foreign Correspondent (1940)
    Foreign Correspondent (1940)
    Foreign Correspondent (1940)
    Foreign Correspondent (1940)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Joel McCrea
    Joel McCrea
    • John Jones
    Laraine Day
    Laraine Day
    • Carol Fisher
    Herbert Marshall
    Herbert Marshall
    • Stephen Fisher
    George Sanders
    George Sanders
    • Scott ffolliott
    Albert Bassermann
    Albert Bassermann
    • Van Meer
    • (as Albert Basserman)
    Robert Benchley
    Robert Benchley
    • Stebbins
    Edmund Gwenn
    Edmund Gwenn
    • Rowley
    Eduardo Ciannelli
    Eduardo Ciannelli
    • Mr. Krug
    • (as Eduardo Cianelli)
    Harry Davenport
    Harry Davenport
    • Mr. Powers
    Martin Kosleck
    Martin Kosleck
    • Tramp
    Frances Carson
    Frances Carson
    • Mrs. Sprague
    Ian Wolfe
    Ian Wolfe
    • Stiles
    Charles Wagenheim
    Charles Wagenheim
    • Assassin
    Eddie Conrad
    Eddie Conrad
    • Latvian
    • (as Edward Conrad)
    Charles Halton
    Charles Halton
    • Bradley
    Barbara Pepper
    Barbara Pepper
    • Dorine
    Emory Parnell
    Emory Parnell
    • Captain John Mark
    Roy Gordon
    Roy Gordon
    • Mr. Brood
    • Director
      • Alfred Hitchcock
    • Writers
      • Charles Bennett(screenplay)
      • Joan Harrison(screenplay)
      • James Hilton(dialogue)
    • All cast & crew
    • See more cast details at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Shooting was completed on May 29, 1940, after which director Alfred Hitchcock made a visit to England. He returned on July 3 with the word that the Germans were expected to start bombing at any time. Ben Hecht was hurriedly called in and wrote the tacked-on final scene set at a London radio station. It was filmed on July 5, and the real-life bombing started on July 10, 1940.
    • Goofs
      As the purser on the ship tells John and Carol that he has no more cabins, the right side of his fake moustache can be seen sliding down. He surreptitiously pushes back it in place, but as they turn back for a second try and he continues speaking, the moustache slides down again.
    • Quotes

      John Jones: I'm in love with you, and I want to marry you.

      Carol Fisher: I'm in love with you, and I want to marry you.

      John Jones: Hmm... that cuts down our love scene quite a bit, doesn't it?

    • Crazy credits
      Opening credits prologue: To those intrepid ones who went across the seas to be the eyes and ears of America... To those forthright ones who early saw the clouds of war while many of us at home were seeing rainbows... To those clear-headed ones who now stand like recording angels among the dead and dying... To the Foreign Correspondents - this motion picture is dedicated.
    • Alternate versions
      Due to its political theme, no German distributor was willing to show the film until 1960. Then, after the huge success of Psycho (1960), Constantin Film released the film with a running time of ca. 98 Minutes; approximately 22 minutes were cut, mainly Nazi-sequences. ZDF (Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen) showed the film in 1995 for the first time ever in Germany in a newly-dubbed uncut version.
    • Connections
      Edited into Histoire(s) du cinéma: Le contrôle de l'univers (1999)
    • Soundtracks
      Rule Britannia
      (1740) (uncredited)

      Music by Thomas Augustine Arne

      Background music played as a ship pulls out of the harbor

    User reviews168

    Review
    Top review
    9/10
    Thrill Ride On A Mission
    Alfred Hitchcock directed many great movies, but few testify to his ability at marrying suspense, action, and comedy as does "Foreign Correspondent," a film which coincidentally carries Hitchcock's boldest political statement: That neutrality doesn't work when others are bent on war.

    Joel McCrea stars as American newspaperman Johnny Jones, sent to Europe on the eve of World War II by the newspaper's publisher precisely because he's a man of action unschooled in politics and economics, "someone who doesn't know the difference between an 'ism' and a kangaroo," the old publisher declares. Jones goes along with the idea, even with changing his byline to the pompous "Huntley Haverstock," because as he puts it, "give me an expense account, and I'll cover anything." Fate intervenes when a photographer apparently murders Europe's last hope for peace right in front of Jones, spurring the reporter to react in a way that leads to a series of outrageously precarious and double-crossing incidents culminating in a plane crash-landing into the Atlantic Ocean.

    Hitchcock arrived in the U.S. with a flourish, his first Hollywood movie being the Oscar-winning "Rebecca," and this his second that same year, 1940. Some back in Great Britain complained Hitchcock's leaving his native country as it faced Hitler all alone was desertion, but Hitchcock was doing all he could for King and Country, as "Foreign Correspondent" pulls all the stops to shake American viewers from their neutrality.

    That sort of desperation would ruin most films, but here it only prods Hitchcock to singular and repeated acts of inventiveness as he shakes the tree. We see Jones climb out the window of the Hotel Europe, knock out the letters "EL" to underscore the film's message, and find his way into the hotel room of the girl he has been trying unsuccessfully to woo. There's an assassination in the rain and shot from above so we see little more than wet hats and umbrellas, and a long sequence inside a creaking windmill that has you thinking our hero's about to be discovered by the bad guys every 20 seconds. The film feels more vital for sequences like this: You can't imagine anyone trying to get away with this, yet Hitchcock keeps pulling it off.

    Then there's the other revolutionary element of the film, its humor, ever-present throughout the picture in a way that doesn't cut against the grain of the suspense so much as amplify it, by keeping you off-guard and invested in the action. This is best exemplified by Edmund Gwenn's plummy turn as an evil assassin (no spoiler, he's introduced to us that way) bent on killing Jones, but so affable and borderline-snarky in his menace you can't root against him as much as you'd like to. As Gwenn's Rowley leads Jones up a church steeple to set up an accident, you wonder how Jones will get out of it but still chuckle at how Rowley tries to keep Jones from going back down: "You must see the 'orse guards!" Gwenn is one of two fantastic examples of reverse casting, the other being George Sanders as a good guy named ffolliett.

    Hitchcock is very careful in presenting the bad guys. He never says they're Germans, though the implication is obvious. The chief baddie is ruthless but not without decent impulses, in a way that mirrors but goes beyond Willy in his later "Lifeboat." Hitchcock knew when the film was released, he would be attacked by those who wanted to keep appeasing Germany. For "Foreign Correspondent" to be successful, it needed to bring the audience along without noticing the ride, laughing with and pulling for Jones right up until the moment he does a radio broadcast in London while bombs burst around him, an eerie foreshadowing of what Edward R. Morrow would be doing for real only days after "Foreign Correspondent" opened in theaters.

    You can't help but admire a film that was on the right side of history, but "Foreign Correspondent" may play better now than it ever did because of the way its pure cinema techniques work today, a style Tarantino and Leone admirers will no doubt recognize and appreciate, but that anyone can enjoy.
    helpful•59
    10
    • slokes
    • Aug 12, 2006

    FAQ2

    • Is this film in the public domain?
    • Some copies look terrible. Which is the best version to buy?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • August 16, 1940 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Languages
      • English
      • Dutch
      • German
      • Latvian
    • Also known as
      • Imposter
    • Filming locations
      • Amsterdam, Netherlands
    • Production company
      • Walter Wanger Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $1,500,000 (estimated)
    • Gross worldwide
      • $623
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      2 hours
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

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