Foreign Correspondent

US (1940): Spy/Suspense

Classic Hitchcock. It is 1939 and John Jones (Joel McCrea), a naïve police reporter, is sent by his even more naïve 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. Hitchcock's cast includes George Sanders, Laraine Day, Herbert Marshall, Albert Bassermann, Robert Benchley (who also wrote the dialogue with James Hilton), Edmund Gwenn and Harry Davenport. A number of writers made uncredited contributions to the script: Harold Clurman, Ben Hecht, John Howard Lawson, John Lee Mahin, Richard Maibaum and Budd Schulberg.

Although Foreign Correspondent was filmed primarily in Hollywood, a second unit cameraman was sent to London and Amsterdam for location footage. Although he eventually reached Europe, his first ship was torpedoed and all his equipment lost. (amctv.com)

In a 1972 interview with Dick Cavett, Alfred Hitchcock revealed that the plane crash scene was filmed by using footage shot from a stunt plane diving on the ocean, rear projected on rice paper in front of a cockpit set. Also behind the rice paper were two chutes aimed at the cockpit's windshield connected to large tanks of water. With the press of a button at the right moment, water came crashing through the rice paper, into the plane simulating the plane crashing into the sea from the cockpit view.

 Use this link to view the original theatrical trailer for Foreign Correspondent on TCM.com.

6 nominations