Correspondant 17

I had to take a break from the Hitchcock/Bennett series for a while. It's been a long journey from Blackmail to Hollywood. But it's a shame that Foreign Correspondent is such an anti-Nazi campaign that one is almost ashamed of how simple the film is. It needs a more all-American, someone like Gary Cooper, to play the lead. Because Joel McCrea is only half that, a desirable actor, but he needed more charisma. So what can you do to keep yourself occupied during those two hours? We follow Herbert Marshall, who was fortunately only in England for a short time, and nothing resembles his old performance in Hitchcock's film Murder! He went through the Hollywood school and now his acting is much better. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been possible - he was Marlene's partner twice and Garbo kissed him once. Then there's Albert Bassermann in a bit part that he got out of gratitude, as this veteran used to be a favorite of Franz Kafka, starred in many great silent films before World War I, and has now found refuge at the Dream Factory, where he understands that he's working with a living film chronicle. And as such, of course, it was awarded at least an Oscar nomination. Just like Bennett. The tale of Europeans escaping from evil Nazism thus had a really happy ending in the case of this film. (29/01/2019)

The film is a bit longer than necessary, but a number of great scenes (the assassination, the car chase, the ending on the plane and the sea), and especially the natural and likeable central couple make up for it. Foreign Correspondent is an earnest spy film that doesn't come across as naive even after more than 70 years. (03/07/2016)