Fugitive on the run

Rating: 6/10 (6 December 2015)

Saboteur was made in 1942 and thus is a propaganda film by Alfred Hitchcock.
The subject is Nazi sympathizers in America working to sabotage key targets such as factories and military installations.
Robert Cummings plays Barry Kane an aircraft factory worker wrongfully accused of sabotage which killed his co-worker. He crossed the path of the real saboteur and now with few clues is on the hunt for him and clear his name.
The film owes a lot to a previous Hitchcock effort that he made in Britain, The 39 Steps. Both films have similar plot devices as the hero is in a cross country pursuit chased by law enforcement authorities and fascist sympathizers. On the way he meets some people who assist him such as a truck driver, or a travelling circus and more importantly Kane meets up with beautiful model Patricia Martin (Priscilla Lane) who is wary of him and tries to turn him in at first.
The film very much feels like a remake of The 39 Steps but Cummings lacks the dash of Robert Donat and just looks like too much a solid stock actor. There is some black humour and effective visual touches as Kane goes from California to the skyscrapers of New York.
This is still a film that shows us a Hitchcock trying to feel is way round filming in America trying to find actors who will represent his vision. Here he is well served by the bad guys. The suave and wealthy Otto Kruger lusting after power in the new world order and Norman Lloyd the villain who gets his hands dirty.
What is effective is the climax at the Statue of Liberty. Not for the first time where Hitchcock will got an American landmark and it is so effectively filmed.