Foreign Correspondent (1940)

Directed by

Alfred Hitchcock

Genre

drama film, film noir, war film, crime film, mystery film, spy film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 55m

Rated

PG

Rating

7.0 of 10 from 450 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

An American reporter in Britain uncovers a conspiracy of enemy spies working to destabilize Europe before World War II. He navigates danger and deception to expose their plot.

suspensefultenseurgentparanoidfast-pacedintriguedarkwitty

What happens

Foreign Correspondent is a 1940 American black-and-white spy thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It tells the story of an American reporter based in Britain who tries to expose enemy spies involved in a fictional continent-wide conspiracy in the prelude to World War II. It stars Joel McCrea and features 19-year-old Laraine Day, Herbert Marshall, George Sanders, Albert Bassermann, and Robert Benchley, along with Edmund Gwenn. Foreign Correspondent was Hitchcock's second Hollywood production after leaving the United Kingdom in 1939 (the first was Rebecca) and had an unusually large number of writers: Robert Benchley, Charles Bennett, Harold Clurman, Joan Harrison, Ben Hecht, James Hilton, John Howard Lawson, John Lee Mahin, Richard Maibaum, and Budd Schulberg, with Bennett, Harrison, Hilton and Benchley the only writers credited in the finished film. It was based on Vincent Sheean's political memoir Personal History (1935), the rights to which were purchased by producer Walter Wanger for $10,000. The film was one of two Hitchcock films nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1940, the other being Rebecca, which went on to win the award. Foreign Correspondent was nominated for six Academy Awards, including one for Albert Bassermann for Best Supporting Actor, but did not win any. This film is not to be confused with War Correspondent, a Columbia film by Paul Sloane. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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