I should probably begin with some praise, as I'll have to end up with some negative feedback sooner or later. There's a lot of good things to this movie. I liked Sanders' portrayal of Mr. ffollitt, a witty character that initially might be hard to grasp (is he bad or good? what is it that he does in the end?). The American sequence was very likable and funny. Apart from that, there's a whole variety of scenes shot from curious angles and with a lot of taste and class. I wish more directors had as good ideas on how to present their stories to the viewers. Now, for the bad part: this isn't far from an agit-prop. What it tries to do is to convince the (American) viewer that he should do all he can to challenge those that want to wage war in Europe (Hitler). This gives the movie a bad aftertaste and a bombastic, (intellectually) flat ending. There's little recourse in the psychological background of the story, although there are some points that could obviously be read as very "deep" or intriguing. The main premise of the spy plot in the movie is, on the other hand, very, very, very stupid and 19th-centurial. I, for one, can't find anything worth saving in this aspect of the plot. McCrea is irritating as the reporter (Jones/Haverstock), very stiff and uninteresting. That Miss Fisher should fall for him so easily is perhaps a very typical comment on the Euro-American relations, but it is also very unrealistic. That wouldn't be half bad if Hitchcock only let us know beforehand that this wasn't going to be film made for plot. All in all, it's not bad, but compared to the Hitchcock films of choice, it comes as an unpleasant surprise.
Review of Foreign Correspondent
