Kitty Hollywood - Foreign Correspondent - 1940

There's really only a couple of things left to say that I didn't already say in the review. The more I watch this film, the more I enjoy it. Walter Wanger was passionate about getting this film made. He had a strong belief that the United States ought to have been involved in World War Two much earlier, and this film was a deliberate attempt to ruffle some feathers. He had been very keen on making the political subject of this film exact, of making it all about Germans and Nazis and Hitler (Hitler does get a mention at the start of the film, but not as the villain of the piece) but he was persuaded to do otherwise. He and Hitchcock argued a number of times about the updates Wanger constantly wanted to insert into the film to make it more politically up to the minute, but in the end Hitchcock got his way, pointing out that the months spent in post-production would render it out of date by the time the film began.

Hitchcock and Walter Wanger

Hitchcock himself was in a bit of an emotional bind during the making of this film. He had gone over to the States in 1938, as a result of the contract he signed with David O'Selznick. This was viewed in some British circles as Hitchcock ditching his home country as soon as trouble was brewing, and there were mutterings about his disloyalty to Mother England that bothered him very much indeed. He needed to find a way to convey to all his audiences, English and American included, that his England was very important to him indeed. I believe he succeeds with this film.

Alma Reville & Hitchcock on their way over to the States - 1938

And finally, the plane crash. The great and wonderful plane crash. I think the best way of telling you about it, honestly, is to quote Hitchcock's (and Francois Truffaut's) own words:

AH: ...between them, through the cabin window, we can see the ocean coming closer. And then without a cut, the plane hits the ocean and the water rushes in, drowning the two men. That whole thing was done in a single shot, without a cut!



FT: I suppose the way you did it was to combine some transparencies with streams of real water.

AH: I had a transparency screen made of paper, and behind that screen, a water tank. The plane dived, and as soon as the water got close to it, I pressed the button and the water burst through, tearing the screen away. The volume was so great that you never saw the screen.



A little later on there was another tricky shot. Just before the plane sank, we wanted to show one of the wings, with people on it, breaking away from the body of the plane. At the bottom of a large water tank, we installed some rails and we put the airplane on those rails. And we had a branch rail, like on the railways, so that when the wing broke away, it moved off on that branch track, It was all quite elaborate, but we had lots of fun doing it.



I mean - SERIOUSLY. Watch the thing, It's amazing. And apparently, Herbert Marshall had a special tank created for him as he only had one proper leg. The amount of water and waves would have done him quite the bit of damage otherwise.

As I said - it's a fascinating film. Check it out.