Very underrated

Rating: 8/10 (24 February 2013)

Saboteur (1942) is a somewhat forgotten Hitchcock suspense thriller. It stars Robert Cummings, Priscilla Lane, Otto Kruger, Alan Baxter, and Norman Lloyd. One thing about this movie is that it has some striking similarities to The 39 Steps (1935) and North By Northwest (1959). A man who is falsely accused of something is chased across the country with a climax that takes place on a national monument. This movie has some humor in it, but overall it is darker than North By Northwest. It can be classified as a World War II propaganda movie and clocks in at 1 hour, 49 minutes. Hitchcock recycled a lot of his movie themes and plots over the years, and basically I see this movie as a trailblazer for the superior North By Northwest, although Saboteur is a good movie, no doubt. I really like this movie's black and white cinematography and overall atmosphere, particularly the scenes at night. You never know what you'll encounter when you're traveling across the country at night. Watch to find out what's encountered.
The acting overall is pretty good. The musical score by Frank Skinner is run-of-the-mill. It does the job, but it's nothing that's very distinctive. The movie has a good dose of classic Hitchcock suspense. I find that the more I watch this movie the more I like it.