Movies |
Alfred Hitchcock: Foreign Correspondent
By
Published: Aug 29, 2021
Category:
Drama
You may have noticed that we are witnessing the absolute low point of the American media in our lifetime. Reporting is ignored, only punditry matters. And the pundits, en masse, seem to believe twenty years of history mean nothing, as if the entire story is this week’s political score, which they write about as if they’re covering the Chargers vs. Seahawks football game. It could not be a better day to invite you to watch a great but little-known Hitchcock movie, as exciting as it is political. And historically smart.
Once there were reporters. Now there is “media.” The difference? Media stars make fortunes. Reporters are underpaid. Media makes sure its hair is correctly blown-dry. Reporters get dirty. Media never asks pointed questions or follows up. Reporters are a pain in the ass.
Here’s an even simpler way to identify the media — he/she is never a foreign correspondent.
But a journalist, a foreign correspondent — you could build a film around him/her.
In the mid-1930s, the prescient film producer Walter Wanger was so enamored of the memoirs of a legendary correspondent that he spent $10,000 of his own money to buy the rights to his book. The screenplay that resulted covered a wide swath of history, dropping in on various revolutions.
In 1939, when Germany invaded Poland, revolution was no longer an interesting topic — impending war was. The movie needed to change.
Wanger signed Alfred Hitchcock to direct the film. A loyal Brit, he wanted to make patriotic films. But he was now in America; his film needed to start there. Dumping all versions of the script, Hitchcock outlined a new story. His main character was a local reporter brimming over with attitude but short on ideas. His boss would pluck him out of the bullpen to get great stories in Europe.
Does the reporter jump? “Give me an expense account,” he says, “and I’ll cover anything.”
Armed with a new, foreign correspondent kind of name (Huntley Haverstock), the reporter sets off for Europe. Naturally, the good guy turns out to be the bad guy. Naturally, the correspondent falls in love with the good/bad guy’s daughter. And because it’s Hitchcock, there are great suspense scenes that turn into terrific action sequences. [To buy the DVD from Amazon, click here. To rent or buy the streaming video from Amazon, click here.]
“Foreign Correspondent” was released in 1940, the same year as Hitchcock’s first American movie, “Rebecca.” Both were nominated for “Best Picture,” with “Foreign Correspondent” nominated for 6 Oscars.
Note how Hitchcock puts his stamp on an assassination. It’s a rainy day in Amsterdam. The killer rushes into a crowd of men with identical black umbrellas, then jumps into a car with our hero and his friends close behind. A chase ensues. In a desolate field, dotted by windmills, the killer’s car disappears. And then comes a diabolically clever investigation of the windmills — all told, a delightful 20 minutes.
A set with an 80-foot windmill was the least of it. Hitchcock’s budget — a generous $1.5 million — allowed him to hire William Cameron Menzies, who’d just won an Oscar for “Gone With the Wind.” Together they conceived of a climactic plane crash that leaves all the main characters bobbing in the Atlantic Ocean.
Hitchcock explains the secret from 3:00 on the video to 6:00.
The 14 writers who worked on the script somehow produced a minor masterpiece. The casting was inspired — Joel McCrae, George Sanders, Herbert Marshall and Larraine Day. And Hitchcock makes the reality of war urgent and dramatic.
It’s no surprise that “Foreign Correspondent” got all those Oscar nominations.
