Saboteur

Saboteur
1942 - Universal
Directed By Alfred Hitchcock



SYNOPSIS

Aircraft factory worker Barry Kane (Robert Cummings) is accused of sabotage when a fire at the plant kills his best friend. Instead of going into custody, Barry escapes and vows to find the real saboteur. Along the way he meets a model (Priscilla Lane) and convinces her of his innocence. Together they realize their opponent is much greater than one man... and the group plans to strike again!



MY THOUGHTS

A lesser known Hitchcock film is an exciting thrill ride from start to finish.


Saboteur is one big chase. The cops are always after Kane, and Kane is always pursuing the villains. The film starts off strong and the suspense builds and builds steadilly until the exciting conclusion.
The non-chase scenes in the film should by all means slow it to a crawl, but Hitchcock fills them with Kane meeting very colorful and unusual characters, like a truck with the cast of a circus sideshow, an old coot truck driver, and a kindly wise old blind man.

There a few corny parts to the film, mainly dealing with wartime patriotism, but they don't detract from the film and actually help hammer away at its themes.

The film is clearly an Alfred Hitchcock one. Many themes that run through his films appear here as well.
A good portion of his films feature an 'everyman' (average guy) caught up in something way over his head and is falsely accused of a crime who must prove his innocence. This along with 'The 39 Steps' and 'North By Northwest' fit that description to a 'T.' This film's climax on the Statue of Liberty's torch is also reminiscent of Mount Rushmore in North by Northwest. Other bits and pieces in the film also would pop up in his later films.
Inventive camera angles, his unique use of locations, and his dark sense of humor (the billboards) are also present.

Robert Cummings suits the 'everyman' role perfectly. He seems like your average Joe. Priscilla Lane's role was not a typical Hitchcock woman. There's usually something devious about them. Instead, Lane's role is more of a spunky sidekick. The two have decent chemistry.
The villains are the real treat. They're more three dimensional than most bad guys of the time and they're almost on the level with James Bond villains in their fiendishness. (is that a word?) It was very inventive to have one of the big bosses to be an older society woman.

Though not a masterpiece, Saboteur should be more praised than it is, and remains a very exciting thrill ride.