Hitchcock's homage to film-making

Rating: 8/10 (30 March 2006)

"Saboteur" will be one of the few films in which the director refers to the film-making process and doffs his hat to cinema.
The first reference is during the conversation of how the saboteurs intend to blow up the inauguration of a warship with the aid of a camera and other devices. One of the characters states "it is a pity that a good camera would be lost."
The second reference is the sequence in a film screening, where the audience is strangely laughing at a grim scene. So enraptured is the audience that they do not realize that armed saboteurs are trying to escape the dragnet of the law until someone among the audience is shot in the process.
The two references indicate: 1. The importance he gave to the camera; 2.The ability of cinema to mesmerise audiences; and 3. The possibility that audiences could react in unusual ways to what was presented, depending on how it was presented.
Hitchcock relied on good scripts and this one has patches of brilliancethe blind man's hospitality to a stranger and a motley circus crew's reaction to giving a ride to couple on the road. The first sequence mentioned involving Vaughan Glaser is remarkable for the fine words of wisdom and delivery, the second for its humanism seen from the viewpoint of fringes of society. I guess Hitchcock must have seen the 1932 Hollywood film "Freaks" or, if not, the scriptwriters had seen it, because much of this latter sequence harks back to this film in good measure.
What is great about "Saboteur" that we do not see in other works of Hitchcock? The title sequence with the shadow of a person emerging from a corner of the screen and a few minutes later the dense smoke blacking out the screen are unforgettable in black and white. In color it might not have had the same effect.
Hitchcock loved to copy his own earlier work and but improve on them each timemuch of "The 39 Steps" gets repeated here, handcuffs, chase with a woman across the country, terrorists, etc. And of course what he presents here in "Saboteur" gets picked up later: Statue of Liberty gets replaced by Mount Rushmore and the impromptu auction in "North by Northwest" and the telescope of "Saboteur" is replaced by binoculars of "Rear Window" and so on.
Two major Hitchcock elementssex and humortake a back seat. Sex is inferred by the bearded lady's statements and dark humor is presented when one of the saboteurs refer to his childhood with golden curls. This work of Hitchcock stands out for lovers of the craft of good cinema more than those who look for a good story. The first few frames of the film had me hooked! Then came the script that was superlative in several sections of the uneven film. The film will stand the test of time for serious film viewers. I wish we could see the sections of the film that were deleted!