Saboteur (1942)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Alfred Hitchcock

Writers:

Peter Viertel (original screenplay) &
Joan Harrison (original screenplay) ...

Release Date:

24 April 1942 (USA)

Genre:

Mystery | Thriller | War

Tagline:

3000 miles of terror!

Plot:

Aircraft factory worker Barry Kane goes on the run across the United States when he is wrongly accused of starting a fire that killed his best friend.

Plot Keywords:

Factory | Sabotage | Fire | On The Run | Chase

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Robert Cummings	...	Barry Kane
Priscilla Lane	...	Patricia 'Pat' Martin
Otto Kruger	...	Charles Tobin
Alan Baxter	...	Freeman
Clem Bevans	...	Neilson
Norman Lloyd	...	Frank Frye
Alma Kruger	...	Mrs. Henrietta Sutton
Vaughan Glaser	...	Phillip Martin (as Vaughan Glazer)
Dorothy Peterson	...	Mrs. Mason
Ian Wolfe	...	Robert, the Butler
Frances Carson	...	Society Matron
Murray Alper	...	Mac - the Truck Driver
Kathryn Adams	...	Mrs. Brown - Tobin's Daughter
Pedro de Cordoba	...	Bones aka The Human Skeleton - Circus Troupe
Billy Curtis	...	The Major - Midget - Circus Troupe

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

France:U | USA:Approved (certificate no. 8268) | Brazil:12 | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Chile:14 | Finland:S | Germany:16 | Ireland:PG | Peru:14 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, California, USA

Company:

Frank Lloyd Productions

Trivia:

Alfred Hitchcock originally wanted Margaret Sullavan or Barbara Stanwyck for the leading female role. But the role went to Priscilla Lane.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: Fry orders the taxi to go downtown from midtown Manhattan, but on the way they pass by the sunken ship on their right which is supposed to be in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Brooklyn is to the east of Manhattan so it's impossible to see the ship on their right.

Quotes:

[to Tobin]
Barry Kane: Why is it that you sneer every time you refer to this country? You've done pretty well here. I don't get it.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)

Soundtrack:

Tonight We Love

Pure Hitch

This is one of the classic Hitchcock films. It's not really a great film but its classic Hitchcock all the same. It's got the cross- country chase, the interesting characters and situation along the way, the innocent hero and the blonde, the oily villain and his crazed henchman, the big ending, (North by Northeast?).

I think it's a little weak that every nice person- save for the girl, instinctively knows Bob Cummings is innocent the moment they meet him. If you ran into a guy who is accused of torching a defense plant and his best friend with it, who you immediately decide that he's not so bad? Also the horrendous nature of the accusation would make the `It Happened One Night' type scenes that draw the hero and heroine together rather unlikely. The wartime patriotic speech at the end can certainly be forgiven. What movies in 1942 didn't have a speech like that?

The big thing, of course is the ending. Sweet old Norman Lloyd in his younger days finds, as Ben Hecht said, that `he needs a new tailor.' It's a model for many similar scenes later. One wonders why there was no denouement. Lloyd tells Cummings that he will clear him and then dies. Is Cummings on his way to jail at the end? An earlier scene suggests that the police already on his side. Wouldn't it be better to make that unclear and then have a scene afterwards where we find out he's off the hook?