I was drawn to watch and re-watch some Alfred Hitchcock movies after covering The White Shadow (1923) a few weeks back. I decided, after polling some of my Cinema and Media Studies folks, to give Saboteur (1942) a spin. In many ways, it embodies the formula of the classic Hitchcock thriller: a man is wrongly accused of a horrible crime and must clear his name with the help of a beautiful woman (see also North by Northwest, The 39 Steps, The Wrong Man) and add in a cross-country chase (again, see North by Northwest, another film that reaches its climax atop a national landmark). Barry Kane (Robert Cummings) is a blue collar worker at an airplane plant during World War II. One day, Barry meets a strange co-worker by the name of "Fry" (Norman Lloyd) and, shortly after, a fire breakouts at the plant, killing Barry's best friend and leaving Barry the prime suspect.
