Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11780 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-04-21
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Black & White, PAL
• Original language: Dutch, English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 115 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
The first of Alfred Hitchcock's World War II features, Foreign Correspondent was completed in 1940, as the European war was only beginning to erupt across national borders. Its titular hero, Johnny Jones (Joel McCrea), is an American crime reporter dispatched by his New York publisher to put a fresh spin on the drowsy dispatches emanating from overseas, his nose for a good story (and, of course, some fortuitous timing) promptly leading him to the "crime" of fascism and Nazi Germany's designs on European conquest.

In attempting to learn more about a seemingly noble peace effort, Jones (who's been saddled with the dubious nom de plume Hadley Haverstock) walks into the middle of an assassination, uncovers a spy ring, and, not entirely coincidentally, falls in love--a pattern familiar to admirers of Hitchcock's espionage thrillers, of which this is a thoroughly entertaining example. McCrea's hardy Yankee charms are neatly contrasted with the droll English charm of colleague George Sanders; Herbert Marshall provides a plummy variation on the requisite, ambiguous "good-or-is-he-really-bad" guy; Laraine Day affords a lovely heroine; and Robert Benchley (who contributed to the script) pops up, albeit too briefly, for comic relief.

As good as the cast is, however, it's Hitchcock's staging of key action sequences that makes Foreign Correspondent a textbook example of the director's visual energy: an assassin's escape through a rain-soaked crowd is registered by rippling umbrellas, a nest of spies is detected by the improbable direction of a windmill's spinning sails and Jones's nocturnal flight across a pitched city rooftop produces its own contextual comment when broken neon tubes convert the Hotel Europe into "Hot Europe". --Sam Sutherland

Special Features
English
Region 2

Synopsis
It is 1939 and Johnny Jones, a naive police reporter, is sent by his even more naive boss to cover a "crime" story that's unfolding in Europe: the potential outbreak of a second world war. Unprepared for the dangerous political landscape he's entering, Johnny manages to land smack in the middle of a spy ring that is masquerading as a peace organization.

Customer Reviews

Pure Hitchcock
This is the master at his most characteristic, if not quite on his best form. A hugely enjoyable propaganda romp with first rate performances all round (take note of Robert Benchley and Edmund Gwenn in minor roles). The film is a model of economy and for those looking for Hitchcock's visual 'touches' we have the assasin fleeing through a crowd of umbrellas, to quote only the most memorable (and in the opening credits, the world becomes an American newspaper building). The plot is poppycock of course, but so what.
The feel, I think is closer to the earlier British films than some of his other Hollywood movies, perhaps because it was propaganda. The rousing speech at the end has obviously lost something over the years but it was there to do a job. Lovely.
The film looks good on DVD, but why no extras?

A safe buy
The titles of the new Universal Hitchcock edition are very cheap, and evidently the films are not remastered in any way. Some titles, such as 'Suspicion', suffer terribly, others, like this 'Foreign Correspondent', were transferred from serviceable prints, and are therefore wonderful to watch.
'Correspondent' belongs up there among the Hitchcock greats, one of the most virtuosic of cinematographic orchestrations, just watch the long, infernally exciting sequence when the plane is shot down and dives into the sea - riveting! The scenes in the Dutch windmill are vintage Hitchcock, and Joel McCrea proves to be one of the master's most personable of heroes.
The script is wonderful, and one readily 'forgives' the patriotic schmaltz of the finishing line, when McCrea broadcasts his impressions of wartime Europe, as the blitz of London sets in and all lights go out. "Hang on to your lights", he implores his countrymen. "They are the only lights left in the world". Maybe George W. Bush should be persuaded not to watch so many films!
Anyway, this one is a safe buy.
So do it!

This is one Mystery everyone should own!
This is my favourite Hitchcock film. It has such a classy script I was I could have directed it just as well. Joel McCrea plays a American newspaper writer who befriends a man who turns out to be important with the process to prevent WW2, he sees him again a few days later and for a very strange reason he does not remeber him maybe because it isn't the same man! But that is enough to give away. It is such classy idea and is a must for any Hitchcock lover!