Saboteur (1942)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1942
	Director: Alfred Hitchcock (The Birds, Vertigo)
	Actors: Priscilla Lane, Robert Cummings (Dial M for Murder), Otto Kruger
	Country: USA
	Genre: Thriller, Adventure
	Conditions of visioning: 03.03.2014, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: After a fire erupted in the factory where he works, Barry (Cummings) is accused of sabotage and will run through the country to clear his name.
Review: The oldest Hitchcock movie in the excellent Blu-ray box-set I have bought, Saboteur is in black & white and doesn't hide its age. I do not refer to the image quality which is quite good, or to the story which is an excellent suspense once (like always with the Master), but more to the overdone acting (with long pauses), the framing of the actors that had to make them look at their best, the habit of filming any possible shot in a studio (it always looks fake to me, even in black & white), and the high-pitched orchestral soundtrack. Hopefully, Hitchcock managed to make me forget those downsides thanks to a truely intriguing road-movie story perfectly fitting to its time (sabotage in a plane factory was a big deal in this time of war). Typically with the Master, the enemies are always on the heels of the hero (I noticed it even more on Torn Curtain). He also dircted some well-written role like the one of the blind uncle of the heroin ('blindly' trusting the hero to be innocent) or the one of Tobin the villain, extremely clever man always a step ahead of the hero. Hitchcock also manipulates the music to his need, for example muting it completely during the high tense scenes like the final one in the Statue of Liberty.
Rating: 6 /10