Saboteur (1942)

Actors: Priscilla Lane, Robert Cummings and Norman Lloyd
Dir: Sir Alfred Hitchcock

A wartime movie about war. A typical Hitchcockian plot, where the hero is wrongly chased by police and law for a crime he didn’t commit. The hero is constantly on the run while he investigates and finds the real culprit to get his name cleared.

Aircraft worker Barry Kane is accused of causing fire in the factory which kills his best friend and injures many. While Barry says the fire could have been caused by a fellow called Fry, the police don’t believe because there is nobody called Fry in the factory. Barry becomes a fugitive to unravel the mystery and clear his name.

The movie is much ahead of its time. Unbelievable camera work and action sequences make you wonder if the film was really shot in 1942. the famous being the climax action sequence atop the Statue of Liberty.

Trivia: Sir Alfred makes an appearance by the end of the first hour of the movie. He is seen standing in a shop in New York, with his back facing the camera as the saboteurs car pulls up.

Sir Alfred’s cameo was supposed to be a slightly bigger role. He and his secretary at that point in time, Ms. Carol Steven were supposed to walk through the streets as a deaf and dumb couple. In this scene Sir Alfred was supposed to make some gestures (sign language) to his partner to get slapped by her (because the gesture was supposed to be an indecent proposal). Later this act was dropped by Hitchcock as he feared it might be construed derogatory by the deaf and dumb community.