1940s Foreign Correspondent isn’t one of the best known Hitchcocks but it’s one of my favourites of all his movies.

Joel McCrea stars as the wise-cracking US correspondent sent to Europe in the days before World War II who encounters kidnapping, murder and treachery across the continent. There is also fine and funny support from George Sanders as his British associate. (I love how he casually calls to his housekeeper “…and cancel my rumba lesson” as he runs off to chase bad guys).

There are some great Hitchcockian set-pieces – a shooting in the rain in Amsterdam, a mysterious windmill which turns the wrong way, and an ingeniously shot plane crash sequence.  Hitchcock also balances some light humour scenes with a powerful ending of McCrea imploring America to “keep those lights burning” during a live radio broadcast from London as bombs rain down. Its a rip-roaring watch, for sure!

This image is from the original release Spanish herald, which I now have framed on my wall.