The Welcome to this special bonus episode of Down these Main Streets, our annual birthday salute to

Alfred Hitchcock.

One of the all-time Hollywood great, Southred Hitchcock really needs no introduction.

His filmography contains undisputed classic after classic,

including Vertigo, rear window, notorious, psycho, and the birds. Each year for his birthday

we honor the Master of Mystery and Suspense with one of his classic films

recreated for radio. During the golden age big screen

stars appeared on the air and condensed versions of hits from the movie theater

and several of Hitchcock's classics of 1930s and 40s were among those

dramatized on Screen Guild Theater, the Lux Radio Theater, and the show we'll hear

today Academy Award.

The hook of this particular series was that it presented films that had been nominated

for or won an Oscar.

In the case of foreign correspondent, Hitchcock's 1940 spy thriller,

it was nominated for six, including Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay,

and Best Supporting Actor for Albert Basserman.

Sadly it was shut out and took home no awards that year.

The film stars Joel McCray as Johnny Jones, the titular foreign correspondent, dispatched overseas for an interview,

where he stumbles onto a conspiracy on the eve of World War II.

Co-starring Herbert Marshall, Lorraine Day, Edmund Gwen, and George Sanders, foreign correspondent

is a lot of fun.

And you can see the DNA of later Hitchcock pictures like North by Northwest and its

...