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Foreign Correspondent(1940) Screenplay:Charles Bennett,Joan Harrison (from the autobiography"Personal History" by Vincent Sheean,
CAST: Joel McCrea, Laraine Day,
George Sanders, Herbert Marshall,
Albert Bassermann, 
PLOT: An Amrican Newspaperman (McCrea) in Europe at the eve of World War II finds himself more involved than he wishes when he meets an elderly Dutch diplomat who is kidnapped by the Nazis. In true Hitchcock style McCrea gives chase, and in the process falls in love with the daughter of an Englishman posing as the aristocratic head of a pacifist organization who turns to be a Nazi spy. At the end of their adventure McCrea and the girl (Laraine Day) return to America, only to find that the father is trying to escape on the same plane. When the plane is shot down by the Nazis, the father sacrifices his life for his daughter. 
Foreign Correspondent is considered by some as a minor Hitchcock's production, but nethertheless it is a quite entertaining film with some remarkable scenes, starting with the assassination in the rainstorm at the beginning of the film. The nail biting chase across the flat lands of Holland and in an old windmill and especially the plane crash at the end of the film.
The film gathered two Oscar nominations, for Best Film and Best actor in a supporting role for Albert Bassermann. Not bad for a minor film! 
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| Joel McCrea, Laraine Day, George Sanders |
Suspicion (1941) Production: RKO
Scenography: Alma Reville, Joan Harrison,Samson Raphaelson based on the novel" Before the fact" by Francis Iles
CAST: Joan Fontaine, Cary Grant, Nigel Bruce,
Leo G. Carroll, Dame May Whitty, Isabel Jeans,
Cedric Hardwicke, Heather Angel,
PLOT:Joan is a woman who suspects that her husband is scheming to murder her. The husband was played by cary Grant, the first of several solid appearences in Hitchcock films, but his presence weakened the plot at the end, as the studio(RKO), after having conduct sondages among the public in several pre-release screening, decreed that no star of his magnitude would be allowed to play a murderer. And against Hitchcock own ideas the film ends with an happy ending, as it is ONLY Fontaine's suspicion that he is trying to kill her.
Joan Fontaine gave a poignant and touching performance as the resigned spinster who is unexpectedly liberated from her unhappy circumstances by a charming man who whisks her off her feet, just to suspect that the man had evil plans in his mind. She justifiably won her only Oscar for best actress. She actually never attained the heights she achieved in her work with Hitchcock.
The film was also nominated in the Best Film category. Hitchcock also managed to extract one of Cary Grant's finest performances,revealing a potentially manipulative and darker quality behind the comic timing and handsomeness of the actor. But he and he alone was permitted to do so by the actor who restricted himself to the familiar image of the man in the smiling mask with all other directors. 
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Mr. and Mrs. Smith (1941)
Screenplay: Norman Krasna
CAST: Carole Lombard, Robert Montgomery,
Gene Raymond, 
PLOT:
Mr. and Mrs. Smith,was as light as fluff. A divorced couple, played by Lombard and Montgomery, gradually come to realize the strength of their love and eventually come back together again. Made purely as a concession to his friend Lombard it was a light diversion for Hitchcock and the film stands as an agreable'screwball' comedy. (Tragically it was Lombard's penultimate film as she died in a plane crash the following year) 
Saboteur(1942) Screenplay: Alfred Hitchcock, Dorothy Parker,
CAST:
Robert Cummings, Priscilla Lane,
Norman Lloyd, 
PLOT:
The film deals with the topical theme of Nazi saboteurs at work in US aircraft factories. It was Hotchcock's warning to watch out for the enemy within, the Fifth Column. In part the film recall earlier Hitchcock's work (the 39 steps in particular) and features Robert Cummings as the central figure.An archetypicalHitchcock hero, he is wrongfully accused of sabotage, and goes on the run pursued by the real saboteurs and police. The heroine for whom Hitchcock was forced to accept Priscilla Lane, at first disbelieves Cumming but then aids him in his escape and to prove his innocence. The most famous scene in "Saboteur" is when the real saboteur (Norman Lloyd) plunges to his death from the Statue of Liberty. The scene builds up to an almost unbearable level of suspense, with the man watching terrified as the shoulder starts splitting from his jacket, leaving his life litterally hanging by a thread before plunging to his death. 
Joan Fontaine holding the Oscar for Best Actress 1941 for her role in "Suspicion" (with previous year winner Ginger Rogers) Click on the picture to visit Ginger Roger's fan site |