Foreign Correspondent Details

An immensely pleasurable spy story, set on the eve of the Second World War and ending with American reporter Joel McCrea warning of the danger to come. Director Alfred Hitchcock makes the most of some great set pieces, many of which are now acknowledged as key moments in the Hitchcock canon: an Amsterdam assassination (on a huge interior set) as umbrellas close ranks in the rain; tense moments inside a vast Dutch windmill; a plane crash where the air supply on board is slowly draining away; a remarkable sequence in Westminster Cathedral, where Hitchcock's memorial service was held in memory of this film. The plot's twists and turns are cleverly and wittily maintained, and the supporting cast is impeccably chosen, notably Edmund Gwenn as a most untrustworthy bodyguard and Albert Basserman as the Dutch diplomat whose kidnap kick-starts the plot. This film can also be viewed as a major propagandist work from a Briton in exile, and was recognised as such by Nazi minister of propaganda Joseph Goebbels himself. Unfortunately, those are the aspects which have dated the film, and it is also impaired by the lightweight casting of McCrea (Hitch wanted Gary Cooper) and Laraine Day in the leading roles. No matter, this is still marvellous Hitchcock, with the Master clearly at his most playful.

Thoroughly typical and enjoyable Hitchcock adventure with a rambling script which builds up into brilliantly managed suspense sequences: an assassination, a windmill, an attempted murder in Westminster Cathedral, a plane crash at sea. The final speech was