This was paper I wrote about Alfred Hitchcock's 1940 film "Foreign Correspondent" in an Alfred Hitchcock course I took in the Fall of 2013. In this paper I discussed how Hitchcock was able to make a pro Allies film within a spy-thriller film.
Hitchcock’s 1940 film “Foreign Correspondent” was nominated for Best Picture at the 13th Annual Academy Awards along with his film “Rebecca”. The film takes place during the time right before Great Britain is about to declare war on Germany at the outset of WWII. It contains a pro Allies message, but is told through method of Hitchcock spy thriller. It is also used as a message to the countries outside Europe that are neutral, specifically the United States, to rally to the Allies‘ side against the Axis Powers.
As an American viewer you are aware of the war right from the beginning of the film. The first scene of the film begin with the head of an American newspaper receiving a message from one of its foreign correspondents in Europe. The message directly mentions the war in Europe. He is frustrated with the lack of information that it contained, he decides he wants a reporter to go there and discover information, specifically someone one with an objective perspective. The viewers’ introduction to the main protagonist shows, John Jones, is that of the everyman. Having John Jones being portrayed as the everyman it gives the viewers someone whom they can relate to. In this case probably an American viewership putting themselves in his shoes of the American protagonist at the outbreak of WWII.
There are two scenes in the film that I believe are directed towards the viewers of the time to support the Allied cause. The first is the scene that I find to be the most memorable, it is the scene where Mr. Van Meer is confined to a bed and Mr. Fisher is trying to get him to say what clause twenty-seven is. But, Van Meer comes to the realization that Fisher is working with the enemy and delivers a powerful monologue saying, “I see now. There's no help. No help for the whole poor suffering world. Oh! You cry peace, Fisher. Peace. And there was no peace. Only war and death. You're... You're a liar, Fisher. A cruel, cruel liar. You can do what you want with me. That's not important. But you'll never conquer them, Fisher. Little people everywhere who give crumbs to birds. Lie to them, drive them, whip them, force them into war. When the beasts like you will devour each other, then the world will belong to the little people.” It seems to be a message to those who think war is avoidable but the reality is that war and death is inevitable. He also says that regardless of what they do to him, they will never conquer them. The ‘Them” I believe he is referring to is the Allied nations. He describes them as little people who give crumbs to birds, they will be sent into war. The little people he refers to will ultimately live on while the beasts will kill each other off. A powerful message of good vs evil from Van Meer to the viewers.
The second scene is the very last scene of the the film where Jones is giving a radio message to America while London is being bombed. He forgoes fleeing to a bomb shelter to deliver a message to the American people saying, “Keep those lights burning, cover them with steel, ring them with guns, build a canopy of battleships and bombing planes around them. Hello, America, hang on to your lights: they're the only lights left in the world!” It is a message to the United States to get involved in the war. Hitchcock is using Jones‘ speech as a way to convey Britain’s message for help from the United States by appealing to the film viewers. At the time the film was made the U.S. was neutral, even though history shows they were sending supplies to Great Britain, they would technically remain neutral until the attack on Pearl harbor in 1941. Coincidentally Hitchcock was working on “Saboteur” during that attack, another anti-nazi film.
While “Foreign Correspondent” can be viewed as a pro Allies propaganda film, it is also contains elements of a Hitchcock spy thriller. Similar to the thrillers that preceded it and those that would come after it, “Foreign Correspondent’ contains a leading man who starts as an ordinary everyman, who then gets involved in events that are much larger than himself. Along the way he develops a romantic relationship with a leading woman, in this case Laraine Day portraying Carol Fisher. Their relationship begins as an antagonistic one when Jones dismisses her father’s peace organization because it is made up of well meaning amateurs who can not go up against pro war organization members. She takes particular offense to his remarks and proceeds to chide him in her speech. But, I found it interesting that while giving her speech she seemed to become flustered by his notes and the way he gazed at her from the crowd. It seems that his forward romantic advances towards her caught her off guard.
In typical Hitchcock fashion the main antagonist is someone who is wealthy. A respectable person in society is someone that would be least expected to be a villainous Nazi spy. His public persona is a facade for him to be able to mask his malevolent dealings. Van Meer even calls him out as cruel liar because he talks about peace but in actuality he wants war. The antagonists in Hitchcock’s thriller films seem to all be powerful wealthy public figures who fool the masses. Van Meer calls Fisher his friend when in actuality he is his enemy. i also find it interesting in the end Fisher ends up as hero in sacrificing himself to put less weight on the wing they were latching onto. But I think as a viewer you have to ask was he doing it unselfishly or did he just not want to be caught and humiliated by being put on trial? Hitchcock enjoys creating those questions in the viewers’ mind.
It would not be a Hitchcock thriller without its moments of suspense. There are several sequences of suspense in the film. One such sequence is that at the windmill where jones discovers than Van Meer is really alive and his assassination was staged. As Hitchcock did so well throughout his career he uses the art of editing to create suspense. During the scene it cuts back and forth from the kidnappers tending to a drugged up Van Meer to Jones hiding from them. From time to time Van Meer will look up at a spot Jones is hiding but when the camera moves there Jones is not there. There is a wonderful birds eye view shot of Jones hanging on the outside of the windmill that gives the viewers a good look at the dangerous position he is in.
Another scene that contains suspense is the scene atop the Cathedral tower when a bodyguard named Rowley, portrayed by Edmund Gwenn, hired by Fisher is really a hit man who is suppose to get rid of Jones. As viewers we know what his intentions are but jones does not. During the scene the Rowley glances towards the elevator to see if everyone leaves and makes sure to keep Jones occupied near the ledge. When he moves in to push Jones off, the camera angle is that directly facing the viewers as if he was walking right at them and pushing them off the ledge. That was a great sequence where Hitchcock played with the viewers by using a point of view camera shot. What is also great is that all we see is man’s body fall but we do not know who until the next scene. For a brief moment the viewers could possibly think that Jones is dead. Yet another way Hitchcock plays with the audiences emotions.
I must also comment on the final climactic event of the film and that is the plane crash scene. i though it was absolutely brilliant how Hitchcock was able to capture the chaos of a plane crash landing in the ocean. What I failed to mention before is that while he uses editing to create suspense he also uses the score very effectively in those scenes. But in this scene he decides to not use any score but let the sounds of the scene speak for itself. The only time a score comes in is at the end of the sequence, specifically when it swells up with Fisher sacrificing himself. It is remarkable to look at the entire sequence and realize that it was done on a studio set. The sound effects, the water, the wind, everything was placed into the scene perfectly to capture the fear of the moment. There is also a sense of unpredictability for the viewers. The chaos of the moment can lead to one or perhaps all the characters dying.
For as serious a subject that the film deals with, Hitchcock lightens the mood with humorous dialogue throughout. Most of the humor comes from secondary characters like Stebbins who sarcastically remarks about his jitters due to alcohol consumption. Or Ffolliott, portrayed by the great George Sanders, who comes up with some of the best humorous lines. The humorous lines come so quick that they are easy to miss and contain that dry sense of British humor. For example there is the scene right after Rowley has attempted to kill Jones and Ffolliott is revealed to have an inclination as to what is going on. His dialogue is so matter of fact, the way he humorously states all the facts he knows including that war will be declared tomorrow weather permitting as if it were a sports game I find funny.
“Foreign Correspondent” successfully blends pro Allied propaganda and Hitchcockian thriller into one film. Through his artistry as a film maker Hitchcock was able to deliver a propaganda message through one of his films, something he would also do In “Saboteur”. i think that one of the big questions is was how affective was his propaganda message. As I said earlier that the U.S. would not officially enter WWII until late 1941 and a western front would not be established until D-Day, June 6, 1941. Of course having the U.S. enter the war was a big game changing moment. But I guess one of the questions that are probably pondered by Historians even today is what would have happened if the U.S. entered the war earlier than they did? Would a film like “Foreign Correspondent” even have been made? I for one am happy that it did because we get yet another solid Hitchcock film that can be viewed today and it actually holds up very well.
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