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Saboteur (1942)

This project is a mix and match collection of Hitchcock’s other works on a number of levels.  It shares a similar title and theme to 1936’s Sabotage, it’s virtually an American remake of his first classic The 39 Steps, and many of the plot points and ideas are identical in North by Northwest. 

The story is about a man who has been wrongfully accused for the sabotage of a military aircraft manufacturing facility.  The man then travels across the entire country in pursuit the true villain, eventually finding him to be a member of a secret group of Nazis who are planning a number of terrorist attacks on American soil. The film ends in a beautifully filmed sequence on top of the Statue of Liberty; one of the most famous in the Hitchcock library. 

The film was produced in the early months of World War II, and contains a number of slightly over dramatic patriotic speeches, though it is difficult to criticize the attitude of mindset of the time. The film was under a fairly tight budget restrain, with a lot of money being dumped into pre-production and a more going into a number of wonderful sets and scenes that Hitchcock demanded. The final result is a fair film with number of truly memorable moments. 

There is a scene in the film with the half sunken USS Normandie floating on it’s side while still at bay.  The Navy asked Hitchcock to remove the footage noting that they didn’t want the public to think that the ship was deliberately sunk. Evidently the ship was indeed deliberately sunk by the Mafia, who was trying to convince the American government to hire them as watchdogs for Nazi sabotage. 

But you didn’t hear that from us, you know what I mean?

(Directed by Hitchcock)

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