Foreign Correspondent (1940)

As war clouds hover over Europe, an American newspaper journalist (Joel McCrea) witnesses the assassination of a Dutch diplomat (Albert Basserman). Suddenly he finds himself thrust into a nest of spies, traitors and a conspiracy plot as he keeps dodging their attempts to kill him. Loosely based on the war memoir PERSONAL HISTORY by Vincent Sheean and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. This was his follow up to his Oscar winning REBECCA. Europe was already at war while the U.S. was still isolationist though it seemed inevitable that we would eventually be at war too. This was clearly a propaganda effort to encourage Americans to get their heads out of the sand. Reputedly, Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels called it a masterpiece of propaganda. But if you're going to make a war propaganda movie, this is the way to do it. It's a terrific entertainment and so gripping that you barely notice or mind that you're being preached to. The film has many thrilling moments but Hitchcock's set piece is a spectacular air crash into the sea that still packs a punch some 80 years later! With Laraine Day, George Sanders, Herbert Marshall, Edmund Gwenn, Robert Benchley (who had a hand in the script), Eduardo Ciannelli, Harry Davenport and Eily Malyon.