Works Very Well As Light Entertainment

Rating: Null/10 (22 June 2001)

This film's wartime message may not be as convincing now as it was to its original audience, but "Saboteur" still works very well as light entertainment. Hitchcock used a lot of imaginative ideas that produce a fast-paced movie filled with good scenes, and whose entertainment value outweighs the rather stereotyped characters and what now comes across as a somewhat clumsy message.
Robert Cummings stars as an aircraft factory worker framed for a fatal fire caused by Nazi-sympathizing saboteurs. He spends most of the film trying to evade the police while trying to locate the saboteurs, using only a couple of small clues. Along the way, he runs into a great variety of mostly interesting characters, some who help him and others who try to turn him in. It's quite similar to, although not as good as, "The 39 Steps" or "North By Northwest". There is not much to most of the main characters or to the dialogue, but there are several pretty good action and suspense sequences.
You shouldn't expect the depth from "Saboteur" that you usually find in Hitchcock's thrillers, but there should be enough entertainment value here to satisfy most of his fans.