Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

Some things I liked some I did not.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Right from the start I knew I loved this movie. It's truly a Hitchcock classic, miles ahead of the last fluffy outing I saw from the director – STAGE FRIGHT – and a film with all the elements: mystery, suspense, romance, thrills, chills, and more besides. The globetrotting story sees our innocuous hero – Joel McCrea, playing one of Hitchcock's most appealing leading men – travelling to Holland and becoming involved with spies and conspirators. This is a film where nobody is who they seem to be and the action is thoroughly engaging. In some ways it reminds me of an early predecessor to the Bourne films: our hero's always on the move, outwitting sinister agents at every angle and narrowly avoiding death along the way too.The film is punctuated with vivid set-pieces. The early assassination sequence is shocking and gruesome, and it leads into a thrilling car chase. Then there's an extraordinarily suspenseful sequence inside a creaking windmill where our hero tries not to get caught – brilliant stuff indeed that defines the very word 'suspense'. Then there's the escape from the hotel room, the wonderful interlude in which our hero is accompanied by a bodyguard who's secretly out to kill him (one of the funniest things I've ever seen and the perfect mixture of laughs and thrills), a grisly torture scene, and even a major plane crash thrown in at the climax. Of course, all these moments are directed to the hilt by Hitchcock and among his best work.The cast is assured and indeed there isn't a bum performance among them. Particularly noteworthy are Herbert Marshall in a difficult role and a cocky George Sanders as a fellow reporter. I have to say, though, that Edmund Gwenn is the scene-stealer here as the immensely likable assassin. He's only in the film ten minutes but those ten minutes help to make the movie. Brilliant stuff indeed.

FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT is the second film of Hitchcock's one-two punch in 1940, yet its legacy has been mostly eclipsed by the more widely-beloved REBECCA (1940, 8/10), which usurped a BEST PICTURE win in the Oscar games, while the former is also a BEST PICTURE nominee with a total 6 nominations. In retrospect, FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT may be a lesser compelling romance due to the insipid chemistry from its two leads, but no doubt it is a top-notch spy thriller from the master of suspense, with a trio of upstaging supporting players (Bassermann, Marshall and Sanders), plus its FX are rather cutting-edge at its time, a distinguishing precursor of the similar themed NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959, 8/10), which would arrive nearly 2 decades later. Johnny Jones (McCrea), under the pen name Huntley Haverstock, is appointed as the new foreign correspondent by New York Globe, arrives in Netherland to get a clear picture of the impending war. Soon he witnesses a staged (fake) assassination of Dutch diplomat Van Meer (Bassermann), whereas the real Van Meer is drugged and kidnapped out of the country. Jones becomes the man who knows too much and is chased by unnamed killers, escaped to London with Carol (Day) to her father Stephen Fisher (Marshall), a leader of a peace party, the romance is budding but viewers will realise Mr. Fisher is a fellow conspirator of the kidnap. In no time Jones falls upon as a target of a murdering plan, this is where Hitchcock is at his best, however illogical it seems in the script, an unbeknownst Jones visits the Westminster Cathedral tower with his "bodyguard" Rowley (Gwenn), designated by Fisher to dispatch Jones, Hitchcock ingeniously plays with audience's anticipation of the approaching danger, generates a frisson of thrill combined with priceless gallows humour although we all evidently aware that Jone's narrow escape is the default upshot.German stage actor Albert Bassermann is honoured with an Oscar nomination as the upstanding diplomat under interrogation for war information, incredibly is that he doesn't speak English, all his lines are uttered with phonetic assist, and the final outcome is a heart- rending one, boosted by his self-revealing contempt to the war through the bird-feeding people metaphor, which first time it is casually articulated like an evasive strategy to Jones' slack pestering, but the second time, under the severe mental torture, its becomes a meaningful and encouraging enlightenment. Herbert Marshall is on an equal footing in his two-faced suaveness, his aloofness contends to be a requisite for a spy, he knows his undoing is forthcoming, even at his remorseful eleventh hour, he maintains his dignity and doesn't descend to desperate malignancy. George Sanders, who also stars in REBECCA, brings his usual conceited mien to the role of Scott ffolliott (the capital letter in his surname was dropped in memory of an executed ancestor), another report who is considerably more sharp-witted in the line of work. All above only makes both McCrea and Day too broad and bland in their gauche leading parts. A revelational discovery is near the ending, Hitchcock and his crew mounts a totally engaging scenario with plane crush-landing on the sea surface, in light of its time of making, its persistent impact remains surprisingly unabated. So in a nutshell, FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT may not be the crème de la crème among Hitcock's oeuvre, certainly it doesn't tarnish his reputation either, and fairly speaking, its spy tall-tale is far more engrossing than most of the products in this long-running genre still flourishing today

Reporter Johnny Jones (Joel McCrea), used to working the streets of New York, is sent overseas as a foreign correspondent. His first assignment is to get an interview with a diplomat negotiating peace to prevent war. When the diplomat is assassinated right in front of him, Jones sets off after the killer and finds himself embroiled in an international conspiracy plot.Exciting thriller from the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock. One of his best films from the '40s. McCrea is wonderful and the cast backing him up is first-rate. George Sanders, Herbert Marshall, Robert Benchley, Albert Bassermann, Edmund Gwenn, and so on. High quality actors all who never give bad turns. Also female lead Laraine Day in her biggest and best role outside of the Dr. Kildare series. She's great in this and it makes you wonder if she couldn't have been a bigger star had MGM used her for more than Kildare's love interest.The plot may be a bit complicated for some but you get lost in it and don't quibble with the particulars until after it's over. If you're like me, by then you won't care since you enjoyed the film so much. There's some good action and memorable set pieces, like many of the best Hitchock thrillers have. The script keeps things light despite the dark tone of the plot. It's a classic in every way, thoroughly enjoyable from beginning to end. One of the best WW2 films made before America had entered the war and Hollywood started churning them out one after another.

Alfred Hitchcock directed this exciting espionage tale that stars Joel McCrea as New York newspaper reporter Johnny Jones, who, on the eve of WWII, is sent on a mission to get the inside story on a British diplomat named Van Meer(Albert Bassermann) who is supposed to sign a secret treaty between European nations. He is abruptly assassinated, and Johnny seeks the help of a woman he met at the conference named Carol Fisher(played by Larraine Day) and her father Stephen Fisher(played by Herbert Marshall) Johnny later learns that Van Meer is still alive, and being held captive by enemy agents for their own purposes. George Sanders plays a friend trying to help, and get to the bottom of the plot, which involves treachery in unexpected places...Highly entertaining thriller creates a good balance between humor and suspense, with many fine action sequences and memorable characters, especially in the windmill and climatic plane crash. Would have been most stirring in those Pre-U.S. WWII involvement days.