Saboteur (1942)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Alfred Hitchcock

Writers:

Peter Viertel (original screenplay) &
Joan Harrison (original screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

24 April 1942 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Mystery | Thriller | War

Tagline:

3000 miles of terror!

Plot:

Aircraft factory worker Barry Kane goes on the run across the United States when he is wrongly accused of starting a fire that killed his best friend.

Plot Keywords:

On The Run | Cross Country | Navy Ship | Espionage | Christening

Awards:

1 nomination

US TV Schedule:

Tue. Oct. 21

6:00 PM

TCM

Cast

Robert Cummings	...	Barry Kane
Priscilla Lane	...	Patricia 'Pat' Martin
Otto Kruger	...	Charles Tobin
Alan Baxter	...	Freeman
Clem Bevans	...	Neilson
Norman Lloyd	...	Frank Frye
Alma Kruger	...	Mrs. Henrietta Sutton
Vaughan Glaser	...	Phillip Martin (as Vaughan Glazer)
Dorothy Peterson	...	Mrs. Mason
Ian Wolfe	...	Robert, the Butler
Frances Carson	...	Society Matron
Murray Alper	...	Mac - the Truck Driver
Kathryn Adams	...	Mrs. Brown - Tobin's Daughter
Pedro de Cordoba	...	Bones aka The Human Skeleton - Circus Troupe
Billy Curtis	...	The Major - Midget - Circus Troupe
Marie LeDeaux	...	Titania / Fat Woman / Circus Troupe (as Marie Le Deaux)
Anita Sharp-Bolster	...	Esmerelda / Bearded Lady / Circus Troupe (as Anita Bolster)
Jean Romer	...	Marigole - Siamese Twin (as Jeanne Romer)
Lynne Romer	...	Annette - Siamese Twin (as Lynn Romer)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Walter Miller	...	Midget (scenes deleted)
Gerald Pierce	...	Elevator operator (scenes deleted)
Oliver Blake	...	Deputy Sheriff-Driver (uncredited)
Veda Ann Borg	...	Actress on movie screen (uncredited)
Al Bridge	...	Marine MP Sergeant (uncredited)
Ralph Brooks	...	Dance extra (uncredited)
Paul E. Burns	...	Farmer (uncredited)
Don Cadell	...	FBI man (uncredited)
Jack Cheatham	...	Detective outside movie theater (uncredited)
Hans Conried	...	Edward (uncredited)
Kernan Cripps	...	Man in movie audience (uncredited)
Sayre Dearing	...	Dance Extra (uncredited)
Helen Dickson	...	Dance Extra (uncredited)
Ralph Dunn	...	FBI agent at Mason's house (uncredited)
John Eldredge	...	Footman (uncredited)
Paul Everton	...	Party Guest (uncredited)
Pat Flaherty	...	George, Elevator Operator (uncredited)
James Flavin	...	Motorcycle cop (voice) (uncredited)
Eddie Foster	...	Driver for saboteurs (uncredited)
Jack Gardner	...	Pat's taxi driver (uncredited)
Eugene Gericke	...	Plant worker (uncredited)
Art Gilmore	...	Radio Broadcaster (voice) (uncredited)
Gus Glassmire	...	Mr. Pearl (uncredited)
William Gould	...	Stranger on sidewalk (uncredited)
Charles Halton	...	Second Sheriff (uncredited)
Sam Harris	...	Party Extra (uncredited)
Vinton Haworth	...	Other man in the movie (uncredited)
Margaret Hayes	...	Wife in movie (uncredited)
Selmer Jackson	...	FBI Chief (uncredited)
Milton Kibbee	...	Man killed in movie theater (uncredited)
Rex Lease	...	Plant cafeteria worker (uncredited)
Will Lee	...	Rogers (uncredited)
Alexander Lockwood	...	Marine (uncredited)
Nancy Loring	...	Young mother (uncredited)
Lou Lubin	...	Man (uncredited)
Jimmie Lucas	...	Taxi driver (uncredited)
Frank Marlowe	...	Man in newsreel truck (uncredited)
Kermit Maynard	...	Cowhand (uncredited)
Margaret Ann McLaughlin	...	Baby Susie Brown (uncredited)
Dick Midgley	...	FBI agent (uncredited)
Belle Mitchell	...	Adele, Tobin's maid (uncredited)
Robert Mitchum	...	Passerby (uncredited) (unconfirmed)
Margaret Moffatt	...	Mrs. Moore, Neighbor (uncredited)
Henry Norton	...	Party Guest Extra (uncredited)
Gene O'Donnell	...	Jitterbug (uncredited)
George Offerman Jr.	...	Plant worker (uncredited)
Paddy O'Flynn	...	Counterman at Statue of Liberty (uncredited)
Emory Parnell	...	Henry, Husband in movie (uncredited)
Ruth Peterson	...	Society woman (uncredited)
Lee Phelps	...	Plant security officer (uncredited)
Paul Phillips	...	Driver (uncredited)
Cyril Ring	...	Party guest (uncredited)
William Ruhl	...	Deputy marshal (uncredited)
Jeffrey Sayre	...	Henchman (uncredited)
Shadow	...	Dog (uncredited)
Charles Sherlock	...	Barry's taxi driver (uncredited)
Harry Strang	...	Motorcycle highway patrolman (uncredited)
Virgil Summers	...	Kenneth "Ken" Mason (uncredited)
Jean Trent	...	Blonde aircraft worker (uncredited)
Archie Twitchell	...	Motorcycle cop (voice) (uncredited)
Dale Van Sickel	...	FBI assistant - phone operator (uncredited)
Claire Whitney	...	Wife in movie audience (uncredited)
Matt Willis	...	First Sheriff (uncredited)
Marjorie Wood	...	Farmer's wife (uncredited)
Will Wright	...	J.C. Lormans, Company official (uncredited)
Barton Yarborough	...	First FBI man at Mason's house (uncredited)
Duke York	...	Deputy sheriff (uncredited)

Directed by
Alfred Hitchcock

Writing credits
Peter Viertel		(original screenplay) &
Joan Harrison		(original screenplay) &
Dorothy Parker		(original screenplay)
Alfred Hitchcock		(story) uncredited

Produced by
Frank Lloyd	....	producer
Jack H. Skirball	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Frank Skinner		(musical score)

Cinematography by
Joseph A. Valentine		(director of photography) (as Joseph Valentine)

Film Editing by
Otto Ludwig
Edward Curtiss		(uncredited)

Art Direction by
Jack Otterson

Set Decoration by
Russell A. Gausman		(as R.A. Gausman)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Fred Frank	....	assistant director
Vernon Keays	....	second unit director (uncredited)

Art Department
Robert F. Boyle	....	associate art director (as Robert Boyle)
Dorothea Holt	....	illustrator (uncredited)

Sound Department
Bernard B. Brown	....	sound director
William Hedgcock	....	sound technician

Special Effects by
John P. Fulton	....	special effects (uncredited)

Stunts
Russell Saunders	....	stunt double: Robert Cummings (uncredited)
David Sharpe	....	stunt double: Norman Lloyd at the Statue of Liberty (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
James V. King	....	camera operator (uncredited)
Virgil Summers	....	best boy (uncredited)
Charles Van Enger	....	cinematographer: second unit (uncredited)

Music Department
Charles Previn	....	musical director

Other crew
Adele Cannon	....	set continuity

Production Companies

• Frank Lloyd Productions (for)
• Universal Pictures

Distributors

• Universal Pictures (1942) (USA) (theatrical)
• Realart Pictures (1948) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• CIC Vídeo (Brazil) (VHS)
• Filmes Alcântara (Portugal)
• MCA/Universal Home Video (USA) (laserdisc)
• Universal Films (1949) (France) (theatrical)
• Universal Films (1949) (France) (16 mm)
• Universal Home Entertainment (USA) (DVD)
• Universal Home Video (Brazil) (DVD)
• Universal Pictures Benelux (2007) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Universal Pictures (2001) (DVD)
• Universal Pictures (2001) (VHS)

Other Companies

• David O. Selznick Productions Inc.  Alfred Hitchcock through the courtesy of

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

France:U | USA:Approved (certificate no. 8268) | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Chile:14 | Finland:S | Germany:16 | Ireland:PG | Peru:14 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, California, USA

Company:

Frank Lloyd Productions

Trivia:

Director Cameo: [Alfred Hitchcock]A man visiting the newsstand in front of the drug store where Barry Kane is taken upon arriving in New York City.

Goofs:

Continuity: After arriving at the Statue of Liberty, a close-up shows Priscilla Lane in a very strong wind mussing her hair. In the next shot her hairdo is perfect.

Quotes:

Frank Fry: I don't like autumn.
Patricia "Pat" Martin: You're not being very nice to a lonely girl. You look as though you might be lonely too.
Frank Fry: I got to catch that boat.
Patricia "Pat" Martin: 15 minutes shouldn't make such a big difference Mr. Fry.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins (1985)

Soundtrack:

Tonight We Love

Hooray For Norman Lloyd!!!

In 1938 Orson Welles' Mercury Theater Group put on a classic stage production of Shakespeare's JULIUS CAESAR, in which Welles reset the story from the Roman Empire of 44 - 43 B.C. to 1938 Europe. Caesar was now a typical fascist dictator, and Brutus and his fellow conspirators were trying to free their country. The performances were well recalled, in particular two: George Coulouris as Mark Antony (played as a typical Fascist rabble rouser, as only Coulouris could do), and Norman Lloyd as a mediocre poet named Cinna. Cinna is a minor part in the play (it is not even seen in the classic film version of JULIUS CAESAR by Joseph Mankiewicz with Louis Calhern, Marlon Brando, John Guilgud, and James Mason). He is walking home shortly after the "Friends, Romans, Countrymen" speech, and the Roman citizenry is in a mindless anger at the conspirators. One of the conspirators is also named Cinna. When they confront the poet Cinna they jump to a fatally wrong conclusion. The way that Welles directed the scene, a nervous and frightened Lloyd is trying to get out of the confrontation...and quickly. As he has described it on television a year or so ago, the stage became deadly silent for a timed pause, and then the mob jumped him and frightened the audience by the stunning violence of it all.

It helped make the career of this multi-talented performer - he has been producer, director, and actor. He is best known to recent audiences as "Dr. Daniel Auschlander" on ST. ELSEWHERE on television. But his first movie role did not pop up until 1942. He played Frank Fry, the real saboteur in Alfred Hitchcock's SABOTEUR.

Hitchcock wanted to do SABOTEUR as a sequel (of sorts) to FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT, where he used Herbert Marshall as representative of suspect English pacifists (possibly "Cliveden" Set types) who were actually agents of Nazism. Being Hitchcock, he made sure that Marshall's character was actually dignified, proud of his real patriotism (even if misguided) to Germany, and eventually heroic to redeem himself for his daughter's sake. In his original plan for SABOTEUR he planned to make Harry Carey the villain - and a type of "American First" leader, like Charles Lindberg (see KEEPER OF THE FLAME). It was a smaller version of the debacle of trying to make Cary Grant a murderer and villain in SUSPICION the previous year: Hitch could not buck RKO and Grant's agent on that one, even though Grant was willing to try it, because of Grant's image. Here it was Carey's following as a popular, father-like, character actor and western star. So Hitch could not do what he really wanted to do.

Robert Cummings gave a decent performance but no more as the suspected saboteur who blew up a factory in the film. He criss-crosses the country trying to find the real saboteur (Lloyd), and running into many interesting "fifth columnist" types (like Clem Bevans, playing a particularly bitter old man who is helping the Axis). The head of the sabotage ring is wealthy Otto Kreuger, who gives a nice performance as a sophisticated villain. His first comment on meeting up with Cummings in his townhouse is to say it reminds him of the title of a novel. He pulls out of a bookcase THE DEATH OF A NOBODY by Jules Romain. Apparently he likes 20th Century French literature.

Cummings is hampered (at first) by Priscilla Lane, but she becomes an ally of his when she slowly realizes he was framed. Together they try to prove his innocence. They are fleeing the police and the enemy agents at the same time (with mixed results). We have seen this situation before. Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll had gone through the same thing chasing Godfrey Tearle in THE THIRTY-NINE STEPS, set in Great Britain. Unfortunately Donat and Carroll were better performers, and their script was better too.

But Lloyd is properly sinister. And he was to have as memorable a conclusion here as he had on stage in JULIUS CAESAR.

SPOILER COMING UP:

The conclusion of SABOTEUR was one of the best known in the films of Alfred Hitchcock. The Statue of Liberty is the setting when Cummings confronts Lloyd in the torch of the statue. Lloyd falls over the side, and Cummings tries to pull him up or hold until help comes. But the coat Lloyd wears starts ripping, and he falls shortly after clearing Cummings in the hearing of the police. It was a good sequence to conclude the film with. And it was a wonderful way for Lloyd to be introduced into movies.