Joel McCrea’s speech at the end of Hitchcock’s “Foreign Correspondent,” in a broadcast from London during the blitz.
As relevant today as in 1940.
“Okay, we’ll tell ’em, then. I can’t read the rest of the speech I had, because the lights have gone out, so I’ll just have to talk off the cuff. All that noise you hear isn’t static – it’s death, coming to London. Yes, they’re coming here now. You can hear the bombs falling on the streets and the homes. Don’t tune me out, hang on a while – this is a big story, and you’re part of it. It’s too late to do anything here now except stand in the dark and let them come… as if the lights were all out everywhere, except in America. Keep those lights burning, cover them with steel, ring them with guns, build a canopy of battleships and bombing planes around them. Hello, America, hang on to your lights: they’re the only lights left in the world!”
Watch the full movie (1940) – Foreign Correspondent 1940 Action, Romance, Thriller
Brought me to tears. I know so much about WWII- I wish our young people had some knowledge of how horrible it all was, so they would WAKE UP to it as a possible REALITY for US. Heartbreaking that families do not talk about history, so young people learning nothing and will have NO Survival Skills to help them stay alive if war comes to our country.
All the gadgets they have are used for ‘fun’ only. Just my opinion… PUT AN END TO THE TEACHERS UNION.
Going to watch this weekend!