1940 - FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT - one of Hitchcock's best films

Rebecca was Alfred Hitchcock's first American film. Hitchcock had been contacted by independent producer David Selznick the mastermind behind Gone With The Wind.  Selznick had recently purchased the novel Rebecca which had been a best seller. Hitchcock signed on with Selznick to direct the film version and the rest as they say was history.  Although Rebecca was a success, Hitchcock was under the very close supervision of Selznick who always believed the producer was the author of a film.  The resulting finished film seemed more like a high class Hollywood movie than a Hitchcock film.

Selznick loaned Hitchcock out to another independent producer Walter Wanger who turned out to be a more hands off executive than Selznick.  Wanger essentially left Hitchcock alone to make his movie.  Given more control over the script and production,  Hitchcock turned out his first real American Hitchcock film, Foreign Correspondent.  This was the real start of the American phase of Hitchcock's  career.

 

Foreign Correspondent bares some relation to Hitchcock's 39 Steps and the later North By Northwest with it's whirlwind plot and dazzling set pieces.  Unlike his English films he was working with a large budget and some of Hollywood's best technicians courtesy of Wanger.  In later interviews Hitchcock complained about the casting of Joel McCrea and Laraine Day but in many ways they are the prototypes for future Hitchcock protagonists and they both give charming performances.

 

This is the master director in his prime about to create some of the best pictures of his career using the superior technical resources of the Hollywood studio system while at the same time bringing his personal style to his films. 

The film was written by Charles Bennett and Joan Harrison with contributions from James Hilton and Robert Benchley.  The running time is 120 minutes.