“Foreign Correspondent” isn't one of Hitchcock's best pictures and yet it has several of Hitch's most famous sequences, (the assassination in the rain, the murder attempt from the bell-tower of Westminster Cathedral, the windmill sails that are revolving the wrong way). It's also got an excellent cast. The hero is Joel McCrea, good enough to make you wish Hitchcock had used him more often; Herbert Marshall as a smooth villain, Edmund Gwenn as a not-so-smooth villain. Laraine Day is the heroine and she's a game girl but somewhat limited as an actress. The main problem is that the picture was made as part of the war effort and its anti-fascist stance does tend to dilute the suspense. Still, those handful of great scenes do stick in the memory long after the rest of the movie is forgotten. I have been reviewing films all my life, semi-professionally in the past and for the past 10 or 12 years on imdb and more recently in letterboxd and facebook. The idea of this blog is to get as many of those reviews gathered together in one place. I have had a great deal of support and encouragement from a lot of people throughout the world and I hope that continues. Now for the ratings. **** = not to be missed. *** = highly recommended. ** = recommended. * = of interest and no stars = avoid..
Monday, 15 July 2019
FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT **
“Foreign Correspondent” isn't one of Hitchcock's best pictures and yet it has several of Hitch's most famous sequences, (the assassination in the rain, the murder attempt from the bell-tower of Westminster Cathedral, the windmill sails that are revolving the wrong way). It's also got an excellent cast. The hero is Joel McCrea, good enough to make you wish Hitchcock had used him more often; Herbert Marshall as a smooth villain, Edmund Gwenn as a not-so-smooth villain. Laraine Day is the heroine and she's a game girl but somewhat limited as an actress. The main problem is that the picture was made as part of the war effort and its anti-fascist stance does tend to dilute the suspense. Still, those handful of great scenes do stick in the memory long after the rest of the movie is forgotten.
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