12 Feb Saboteur
Saboteur, WWII Spy Movie starring Robert Cummings
(1942) After an explosion in a Los Angeles aircraft factory, a munitions worker is falsely accused of sabotage. He runs all over the country trying to clear his name, a la “The Fugitive” Dr. Richard Kimble.
Alfred Hitchcock directed this film and actually came up with the original idea for it. It was Hitchcock’s first fully American film with production beginning shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
The propaganda theme was evident throughout but perhaps not too much for the time. The message was loud and clear … “Saboteurs” or “fifth columnists” look and act just like you and me. And don’t assume that you can trust the closest authority. He might be in on it too!
The year Saboteur came out Robert Cummings, who played the male lead, joined the U.S. Army Air Corps and served as a flight instructor. According to Wikipedia, in 1938 he became the first certified flight instructor in the U.S.
Classic Hitchcock ending! I won’t spoil it for you.
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