Foreign Correspondent (1940): Decoding Danger

Director Alfred Hitchcock’s films are most noted for their central reliance upon the thriller genre’s own dominant method of controlling our access to the narrative information. The theme of his film often gets reflected in the credit sequence itself.  

‘Foreign Correspondent’ which released in 1940 begins with a circulating globe, a shot we often witness in news channels. With the appearance of the movie title, the film textually and visually establishes its genre.

‘Foreign Correspondent’ was one of Hitchcock’s spy films based on a political subject. It reflected the national sentiment of the USA about the Second World War, when Britain didn’t share the best of relations with the other European countries. With the help of a telegram, dated on August 19,1939, (a month before the occurrence of the War) addressed to Mr Powers the timeline of the film gets established. The unpopular rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany had become a major concern in Europe. 

‘Foreign Correspondent’ was shot in New York, London, Holland, Mohican, and as described by Johnny Jones/Huntley Haverstock in the end of the film, ‘300 miles off the coast of England, latitude 45’. The situation at Warsaw, Copenhagen, Oslo was also covered with shots of newspapers reports covered by Huntley Haverstock, (pen name of reporter Johnny Jones).

The film was made when the US politically maintained its neutrality amidst tensions of war in Europe. The film inspired the American audience to understand the situation in Europe and also prepared them for a major part, the US was about to play in the Second World War.

The first movement: Inconspicuous entrance of birds

 In Amsterdam, Huntley Haverstock/Johnny Jones received his first international assignment. By a happy accident, he got the opportunity to informally interact with the Dutch diplomat, Van Meer who offered him a ride to the conference of Universal Peace Party, which was originally organised to honour Van Meer. Hitchcock narrative’s gravitation towards suspense is actually enacted within the diegesis of a murder.

a.    The Hitchcockian bird

The presence of birds in the frame denotes the arrival of danger. In ‘Psycho’ the stuffed birds in Norman’s room was a metaphor for his mother’s corpse. 

It was in 1963 when ‘The Birds’ released, and since then the feathered creatures were no longer seen as an addition of beauty, like it was for Van Meer in ‘Foreign Correspondent’.

In ‘Foreign Correspondent’ Van Meer’s reference to birds in the park alone carries the arrival of danger attached to his own life, and later in the life of Johnny Jones too. Here, birds act as a metaphor for a plane. 

Even moments before Van Meer was about to be abducted, there was a shot of a sparrow. 

The second movement: The hat and Van Meer 

The hat worn by Johnny Jones had a significant purpose in the spy drama. Each time Van Meer went missing so did Johnny’s hat. Although the character was unaware of these cinematic significances, it helped the viewer gain perspective.

a.    The fake Van Meer and the hat

This movement is articulated around a new character, whom the viewers and Haverstock/Jones falsely believe to be someone who has already been introduced, the Dutch diplomat, Van Meer.

The incident takes place in Holland; in a single movement (panning left) the frame gives us a glimpse of the space where the murder and chase sequence would take place. There is a cut and the camera tracks in to capture Jones/Haverstock in a black hat, the photographers are seen in the foreground while Haverstock/Jones remain in the background. 

To capture the photographer in the foreground and Haverstock/Jones in the background may have been a conscious decision to cinematically tell us who would chase whom in the next sequence. A few moments later when the photographer assassinates the duplicate of Van Meer, Haverstock/ Jones starts to chase him. Here, the distance and control depend largely on the performance of Haverstock/Jones.

But before the entire chase sequence, Haverstock/Jones spots Van Meer coming out of the car, and he steps forward to introduce himself. The frames carefully make sure that Haverstock/Jones is seen in his hat, during his conversation with Van Meer. 

The substitute of Van Meer dies. Haverstock/ Jones is still seen in his hat.

   The third movement: The arrival of the airplane

‘The airplane as a symbol of castration: Before and after ‘North by Northwest’ this image resonates in Hitchcock’s work. It first appears in a displaced form that is a nice example of intertextual unconsciousness. In 1935, Hitchcock very freely adapts John Buchan’s novel, ‘The 39 Steps’. He cuts out some fundamental aspects of the plot which will be reinjected into ‘Foreign Correspondent’ some five years later.’

‘Here (Foreign Correspondent) we find an aeroplane, when it plunges into the sea, the death of the father provides an ending to bolic scenario: from this point on, the hero needs no longer share the too-much-loved father next to the heroine.’

After ‘North By Northwest’, the aeroplane is transformed into a bird. The first time it is in ‘Psycho’, through stuffed birds artfully arranged in Norman’s den.’

Raymond Bellour, The Analysis of Film.

After a three minutes long chase sequence, where Haverstock/Jones, journalist Ffolliot and Carol Fisher follow the men who shot the duplicate of Van Meer, they arrive at a secluded field with windmills. 

Much like the three characters, the viewers are also taken aback by their sudden disappearance. 

                                                                                                                                                   

 

After a thorough observation, Haverstock learns that the windmill was moving in a different direction to signal a plane to land. The aircraft was supposed to abduct Van Meer who was kept inside the windmill in a drugged state. 

In the final sequence of ‘Foreign Correspondent,’ a plane appears as a threat and not just for Van Meer, but also Haverstock/Jones, Ffolliot, Carol Fisher, Stephen Fisher and other passengers who were on a civilian British plane which was attacked by the Germans. 



  The Fourth Movement: Duplication of actions, frames and dialogues

In most Hitchcockian films, there’s a rhythmic occurrence of repetition of movement/action/dialogue. These perpetual repetitions of frames urge us to observe beyond what’s kept in front. 

a. Repetition of Van Meer's reference to birds

As noted earlier in this post, the first time Van Meer tells Haverstock/Jones about birds in London, and how they (birds) must all have places in the city where the birds could eat crumbs, we struggle to understand the deeper connection. 

When an abducted and drugged Van Meer repeats the same dialogue,‘I will be taken in ‘a plane’ like a bird…always are places in the city where the birds can get their crumbs.’ Birds here became an allegory for a plane that is about to take him away, and Van became the crumb.

b.    Huntley Haverstock/Johnny Jones missing hat

When Van Meer was abducted right under Huntley Haverstock/Johnny Jones' nose, he had accidentally left his hat in the taxi. A similar repetition of action happened again (in a slightly different manner) when Haverstock/Jones reached the windmills. 

The hat flew off in the direction of the wind. Haverstock who started chasing it gave up all hopes of getting it back after it fell into a puddle. But this moment helped him understand that something fishy was going on inside the windmill which was circulating in a different direction. A little later we learn that Van Meer was kept inside the windmill. 

c. Hotel Europe becomes Hot Europe

After witnessing the death of a duplicate Van Meer, chasing an assassin’s car and an encounter with the real Van Meer, everybody including, the  Dutch police, Ffolliot, Carol Fisher, learns that Huntley Haverstock/ Johnny Jones is the only man alive who has heard the real situation from Van Meer. Unfortunately, in an era with limited technology, he has no evidence to support his statement. 

We are introduced to Hotel Europe, the temporary dwelling place of the American reporter. 

A robed Haverstock/Jones is seen typing a message addressed to Globe New York when somebody knocks on the door. Haverstock/Jones vocally invites the visitors without any confirmation. It takes him a second to understand that conspirators were disguised as policemen to kill him. He excused himself, entered the bathroom, and silently escaped from the window.

Following the sound of shattering glass, we see Haverstock/Jones accidentally touch a wire, and suddenly the lights of E and L of HOT’EL’ turn off.

Hitchcock rhythmically designed the repetition of the frame/ dialogue/action without entirely mirroring every aspect of the first movement. We understand that something has changed, in terms of motivation. But Hitchcock goes further, he wrenches the second movement with some sudden gestures that collapse even the vague symmetry that could have been there, in spite of these variations. Although there are traces of the first movement in the second one, it is not entirely mimicked as such.

Reference: 

The Analysis of Film, Raymond Bellour