Foreign Correspondent

Year: 1940

Grade: C-

Country: USA

Director: Hitchcock

Review

i have to be immodest for a second here…from the opening credits i suspected this was hitchcock’s first american film. i’ve never seen this one before and don’t know enough about hitchcock to have any past knowledge, but it was evident from the “patriotic” (in quotes because it seemed out of character for hitchcock) tone that this was his first american film. actually i was wrong, it’s his second, but his first (rebecca) starred sir laurence olivier, was based upon a british novel and came out the same year so that one only half counts. really all this demonstrates (beyond my amazing talent for this sort of thing) though, is that this film is anything but the type of inventive and engaging film that hitchcock is known for making. it has elements of other hitchcock films, from notorious to the 39 steps, but it just doesn’t measure up. joel mccrea went on to do sullivan’s travels next year and he was infinitely better in that infinitely better film. this one’s a rare dud from hitchcock.