Saboteur

Hitchcock’s 1942 film offers us the classic tale of a person wrongly accused trying to prove against the odds that he is innocent.  Barry Kane’s (Robert Cummings) life is perfectly mundane and normal until a fire at the plane factory where he works kills his best friend.  The fire is proven to be arson and Barry Kane quickly becomes accused of treason.  Having no allies, he goes on the run, determined to prove his innocence.

Whilst on the run, Barry Kane tracks down the head of the treasonous organisation who are, using the cover of the war, trying to seize power.  These wrongdoers are members of the greedy rich that are an alien world to Barry; he could never fit into this lifestyle.  The true saboteur is largely uneducated and relies on cunning more than brains to serve his masters.  He is the ultimate patsy, totally forgotten at the end and left to die.  The film is littered with classic Hitchcockian set pieces, from the film’s denouement atop of the Statue of Liberty to the shoot out at Radio City and the wonderfully comic interlude aboard the circus wagon with the circus ‘freaks.’   But it is the film’s climax that makes this film something special because unlike other films of its ilk, in this film, the hero, who values life, tries to save the man who killed his friend and left him to take the blame.

As with all Hitchcock films, this film has a fabulous script and cast.  Robert Cummings as the wrongly accused traitor is wonderfully sympathetic as we begin to believe him.  Otto Kruger is a joy to watch as the rich traitor, corrupted by greed and the need for power.  The direction of this film is superb.  This film is a diamond in the rough, an under-appreciated gem.  Hitchcock proves to us in this film what a genius he is and what an eye he has for what will work on the big screen.