Home video
- Chasing down all the best editions of the Master’s wartime spy classic
- Many preserved or restored transfers but beware censored post-war prints
- All the best DVDs and Blu-rays come from America and Germany
- They’ve got all others beat on both the film and bonus features
- Just dodge the many treacherous transatlantic bootlegs
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Foreign Correspondent: Writing on a Classic; Collectors Guide, Part 2: Censorship and anti-Nazi films, 3: Home video
US 1948 re-release poster
Contents
Home video releases
Thankfully, despite its numerous censor cuts, most licensed home video editions have the film in good condition and completely unmolested, including its original English audio. The best of them look and sound pretty spiffy but if you want to catch this spy thriller in the best quality, target the post-2014, digitally restored releases in your sights. To cut a long story short, for both earlier and more recent releases, the Americans and Germans are winners all the way, so you should be well satisfied with the choices even if you don’t have a multi-region set-up.
Though it’s a undoubtedly a major Hitchcock, these days Foreign Correspondent tends to fall between the cracks in his American filmography. This is due to its rights being split up in different territories, so it doesn’t appear as often as its contemporaries in broadcast syndication packages and home video collections. For instance, in the US it was first released on VHS and Betamax by Lightning Video in 1985 before distribution passed to Warner Bros. who released it on VHS (1990 and 1999), LaserDisc (1991) and finally DVD (2004). The latter format was its only appearance in a box set. It’s now with the Criterion Collection, whose restoration is licensed for all the latest releases worldwide, and their BD (but not DVD) was included in just one limited edition box set. Even so, the film has expectedly been best served on its home turf and all other countries have fared much worse, with no releases or at best a single VHS and DVD.
Preserved transfers
Pick of the bunch: Warner’s US DVD recycles original publicity artwork
The pre-restoration DVDs are a very mixed bag, though most of them share the same decent transfer of a theatrical print with very minor signs of damage throughout. The majority are completely barebones, without so much as the film’s trailer by way of extras. The notable exception is the US Warner with an exclusive, generally clean transfer that’s the best-looking overall; the original trailer and “Personal History: Foreign Hitchcock” (2004, 34min), an exclusive featurette on the background of the film.
- US: Warner DVD (2004), also in 10-DVD AH Signature Collection
- UK: Universal DVD (2005), also in 17-DVD AH Collection and Ltd Ed
- Italy: Eagle 8-DVD/15-film AH Portrait (2005)
- Germany: Kinowelt DVD (2003, reissued 2007), also in 6-DVD/9-film AH: Master of Suspense
Conversely, note Universal’s transfer is quite poor and should be avoided, being soft, contrasty and often cropped all around. It features on the identical barebones and subtitle-free UK and Oz disc, the Spanish reissue and likely most of the others. Even worse are the Benelux and Scandinavian discs, where it’s unconverted from NTSC-PAL, so runs at 120 minutes instead of the correct 115. Other countries may be similarly afflicted; if you know please leave a comment. With Foreign Correspondent, like many other American classics whose rights vary from country to country, it doesn’t necessarily give others access to original, US-vaulted pre-print materials, and especially not the latest, US-owned restoration below.
The German Kinowelt DVD, while also bereft of extras, bar text screens and four unrelated trailers, picks up the pace again and has a very detailed, uncropped image with deep black levels; it’s certainly the best preserved PAL release I’ve come across.
- France: Studiocanal DVD (2008, reissued 2012), also in 2-DVD/3-film AH: Les Premières oeuvres 1932–1940, 6-DVD/10-film AH: Premières oeuvres and a magazine edition (sleeve) – beware: French edit w/forced subtitles
- Spain: RBA DVD (2004, Digibook 2008)
- Universal 2on1 DVD/alt (2009) w/Number Seventeen, also in 4-DVD/7-film H Collection: La primera etapa del Maestro del Suspense
The French disc does have some extras in the form of a couple of exclusive but non-subtitled French featurettes (4 and 28 min), and a modest gallery. It has a decent image too but it’s also definitely one to avoid as it’s the aforementioned, edited French theatrical print. Formerly released several times on VHS, it runs at 103 minutes instead of the 115 of the uncut PAL editions. This time around, English audio is an option but only with forced French subtitles. Ugh.
God only knows why Studiocanal chose to favour an edited French dub track (alt) over subtitling the original uncut version, as per the wonderful French Waltzes from Vienna DVD. After all, just a few years ago Kinowelt, a German Studiocanal subsidiary, did exactly that for their Correspondent DVD. In both cases, the edited dub is included as an option, reverting to original English audio with subs to cover the missing portions. Correspondent is now over eight decades old and the French are still waiting for an authentic release on any format.
- Sweden: Atlantic Film DVD (2004, reissued 2008), also in…
- Universal 5-DVD/9-film H Collection: Early Years of the Master of Suspense (2007) info, and 19-DVD/23-film Hitchcock
- Denmark: Midget Ent DVD/alt (2004)
- Finland: Future Film DVD (2004)
- Norway: SME DVD (2004)
Apart from the French anomaly, all other discs are unedited, completely English-friendly and have optional subtitles. They also all appear to be barebones, although the Japanese DVD at least has the English trailer and a 20-page booklet in Japanese.
- Benelux: Universal DVD (2007), also in 5-DVD/9-film H Collection 3, 15-DVD H Collection and 20-DVD/24-film AH set/alt
- Poland: Kino Świat 4-DVD H Masterworks (2008) info
- Hungary: Caesar Film DVD (2007) – reissued 2009 w/added Hu dub
- Greece: Modern Times 2on1 DVD w/Pierrot le Fou (1962) – newspaper giveaway
- Australia: Universal DVD (2010)
- Japan: Kinokuniya DVD (2004)
Kinowelt’s German DVD is the top pre-restoration pick for PAL region 2-locked collectors, labelled “rekonstruierte lang fassung” (reconstructed long version); reissue sleeve.
Restored transfer
The best a (hu)man can get: Criterion’s US BD outruns the competition
“This new digital transfer was created in 2k resolution on a Lasergraphics scanner from the 35mm original camera negative. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices warps, and jitter were manually removed using MTI’s DRS and Pixel Farm’s PFClean, while Digital Vision’s Phoenix was used for small dirt, grain, noise management, and flicker. The original monaural soundtrack was remastered at 24-bit from a 35mm optical soundtrack. Clicks, thumps, hiss, and hum were manually removed using Pro Tools HD. Crackle was attenuated using AudioCube’s integrated workstation.” – Restoration notes
- US: Criterion BD, Digipak BD/2-DVD and 2-DVD (2014), also in 4-BD/5-film Classic H
- Criterion Prime Video HD
- Germany: Alive BD and 2-DVD (2020)
The 2014 restoration’s exemplary visuals reveal more information all around as compared to even the best of the older transfers, while the audio has surprisingly powerful dynamic range, especially carrying the action scenes remarkably well.
- Spain: Divisa BD and DVD (2019)
- Denmark: Soul Media DVD (2023)
- Brazil: Versátil 3-DVD/6-film O Cinema de H/alt (2015) info
- Japan: Pony Canyon BD and DVD (2014)
Choosing between this batch is made simpler in that aspect but it’s a different story regarding their extras. Criterion’s entry is packed with their usual superb array – around 2½ hours’ worth. These consist of two new featurettes (19 and 25 min; one is extracted here), a 1972 Dick Cavett Show interview with Hitch (62min), the sole radio adaptation and “Have You Heard?” The Story of Wartime Rumors (alt, article, TV report), a photo thriller “directed” by Hitch for Life magazine. It’s a cautionary piece espousing the wartime maxim that “Careless Talk Costs Lives” and features a Hitch cameo as a bartender in one of the photos. Lastly, Criterion include a 20-page booklet with an informative essay by James Naremore and a sleeve designed by Patrick Leger. In all, an unbeatable package.
Heralding War with Springy Step – J. Hoberman, The New York Times
But never fear, as Germany is almost on a par with the US: handily, they have optional English and German subs, and retain most of the US extras, with the only omissions being the radio adaptation and LIFE feature. But exclusive additions are a second new trailer (and 12 others, all in German), 20-page essay booklet by Roland Mörchen and slipcase. In all, it’s the perfect option for region B-locked buyers. A very minor point is the BD’s optional German dub (alt) wasn’t pitch-corrected when “stretched” from its original 25fps (4% faster) PAL TV/DVD runtime, so it sounds a semitone too low but this will be indiscernible to most.
Rounding up, Spain have only a gallery and trailer (spec/screenshots), while the Brazilian set has 130 minutes of extras but most are for its other films. The Danish and Japanese discs are barebones. Note that like the German, the Spanish discs’ 1989 TV dub was recorded at PAL speed and also not corrected for the BD.
The (close second) best a (hu)man can get: Alive’s German BD is the worthy runner-up for region B-locked buyers
As with the British Hitches, bootlegs of this title abound worldwide, but take note of the most egregious offenders:
- Spain: LaCasaDelCineParaTodos, Resen BD-R, Vellavisión, Suevia El Mundo/Crin Ediciones
- Italy: DNA, Sinister Film DVD-R/reissue/BD-R
- Brazil: Classicline, Continental/box/box, Microservice
- Chile: Cinematekka/box
- Korea: Oak Tree, Peter Pan
Predictably, these and other countries have many more rip-offs. The Spanish DVDs, whose labels are all connected, recycle the same cruddy, lo-fi transfer but the worst among them has to be Crin’s awful twofer with Blackmail. It has 84 + 115 minutes of film squashed onto a single-layer disc, with an expectedly rock-bottom bitrate. Fraudsters DNA’s severely cropped, faux widescreen disc takes the prize for the worst Italian abomination. As ever, if it’s not on the kosher lists, don’t buy it or waste your time watching it.
Screenshots
Laraine Day and Joel McCrea are wet and all aglow on the Spanish Divisa BD
There are many useful comparison screenshots of the preserved and restored releases at the invaluable Hitchcock Zone and Caps-a-holic; here are a few more:
Foreign Correspondent: Writing on a Classic; Collectors Guide, Part 2: Censorship and anti-Nazi films, 3: Home video
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This is part of a unique, in-depth series of 150-odd Hitchcock articles.
