FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT (1940)

In the months leading up to WWII an American newspaper boss is frustrated with the lack of reliable information coming from his foreign correspondents, so he assigns a no nonsense crime reporter (McCrea) to the task.  McCrea's first assignment in Europe is to interview a Dutch diplomat named Van Meer.  Things happen and Van Meer is assassinated as he's talking to McCrea.  McCrea chases the killer and in doing so discovers that the victim of the killing was a double and Van Meer is actually alive!  McCrea is persuaded to briefly hold on to this information while they try to rescue Van Meer.  Meanwhile, enemy assassins are trying to kill McCrea and suppress his story.

I wasn't all that impressed with FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT.  The assassination scene and the subsequent chase scene are both well made and exciting...although the cops reaction times during the assassination were pathetic.  Other than those two sections (and a few bright moments with Laraine Day as McCrea's love interest), the rest of the movie is pretty dull.  Yeah, I'm sure audiences were thrilled at the airplane scene (although not too thrilled since the film lost money), but watching it nowadays it just doesn't hold up.  Moderate pace that needed speeding up, average acting, a large number of distracting mistakes, lots of scenes are obviously rear projected, heavy-handed propaganda throughout including the ending.  Worth a watch for those interested in Alfred Hitchcock, but it's nothing to get overly excited for.

After watching the film I did some reading up and I found this interesting quote from Joel McCrea talking about Hitchcock: "He had a habit of drinking champagne for lunch and I remember one day after lunch we shot a boring scene with me just standing there talking.  After it was over I expected to hear him call 'cut', but I looked over and he was sleeping, snoring with his lips sticking out.  I called for the cut, he woke up and asked if the scene was good.  I said 'The best in the picture.' and he said, 'Print it.'"

Lights above the set clearly visible.

"Excuse me sir, it appears your mustache has fallen off."

THE IMPATIENT YEARS (1944)

Opening in a divorce court Jean Arthur and Lee Bowman was a divorce...right now!  The judge is willing to grant them their wish, but when Jean's father Charles Coburn tells the judge (via flashback) what really happened and then devises his own plan to make them work for their divorce the judge agrees.  See, during the flashback we learn that Jean and Lee met a year and a half ago while he was on a four day furlough in San Francisco.  It was love at first sight so they immediately got a marriage license, but then they had to wait two days to get married.  They do and on their wedding night they had an out of this world fuckfest.  So much so that she got pregnant.  Now nearly a year and a half later Lee comes home on a 30-day furlough only to find that the woman he married is a total square!  Plus she lives with her father and some sniveling boarder who's secretly in love with Jean.  The initial meeting works out horribly, so they wanna call it quits and get a divorce, but the plan Coburn sells the judge is to force them to go back to San Francisco and retrace their steps for that entire four days.  I'm sure you can guess how it ends.

From what I've read the idea for this movie was to reunite the three stars of the previous years hit THE MORE THE MERRIER: Jean Arthur, Joel McCrea and Charles Coburn.  Now that would make a lot of sense, since TMTM is a delightful wartime romantic comedy that's still great even now. Arthur and Coburn both signed up, but McCrea didn't.  I don't know why, but if I had to wager a bet he probably got a whiff of that lame script and went running for the hills.

I love Jean Arthur and Charles Coburn, but you've got to have a script that works and chemistry between the two leads.  This one has neither.  With McCrea there would have been chemistry, but that still leaves the weak story.  The idea of a couple getting to know each other in a home environment after they've already been married and had a child is full of possibilities, but unfortunately everything in this possibility comes off as lazy, too convenient and forced.  Also the side story about the boarder a complete waste of time because first off it's never built up properly (the dude is a total wiener and Arthur isn't interested in him at all) and secondly it's never resolved!  One moment he's there, then boom movies over.

Lame story, zero chemistry between Lee and Jean, poor attempts at humor, interesting supporting cast with lots of familiar faces (including Luke Skywalker's Uncle Owen), slow pace.  The film had its moments (I got a good giggle out of the military guy at the dance club), but there's so much better stuff out there I wouldn't really worry about it.