{ "id": "epwttvz6jf", "slug": "saboteur", "title": "Saboteur", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.crime-thriller-mystery", "label": "Crime, thriller, and mystery films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.crime-thriller-mystery" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.crime-thriller-mystery.1920s-1940s-films", "label": "1920s–1940s films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.crime-thriller-mystery.1920s-1940s-films" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "United States · 1800 to 1945: Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "path": [ { "id": "geo.us", "label": "United States", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1800", "label": "United States · 1800 to 1945", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1800.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800.culture" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1800.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Saboteur (1942) is Alfred Hitchcock's American espionage thriller for Universal, starring Robert Cummings, Priscilla Lane, and Norman Lloyd, in which a wrongly accused factory worker chases a Nazi saboteur to a Statue of Liberty finale; distinct from Hitchcock's 1936 Sabotage.", "snippet": "Saboteur (1942) is Alfred Hitchcock's American espionage thriller for Universal, starring Robert Cummings, Priscilla Lane, and Norman Lloyd, in which a wrongly accused factory worker chases a Nazi saboteur to a Statue of Liberty finale; distinct from Hitchcock's 1936 Sabotage.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.crime-thriller-mystery.1920s-1940s-films", "markdown": "# Saboteur\n\n**Saboteur** is a 1942 American espionage thriller directed by [Alfred Hitchcock](https://www.edgepedia.org/alfred-hitchcock) and released through [Universal Pictures](https://www.edgepedia.org/universal-pictures), in which aircraft factory worker Barry Kane, falsely accused of a deadly act of sabotage, crosses the country to find the real saboteur and expose a Nazi spy ring. It was Hitchcock's fourth film since arriving in Hollywood and his first there to originate in his own imagination, and it ends with a famous chase across the [Statue of Liberty](https://www.edgepedia.org/statue-of-liberty).[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/27445-SABOTEUR) • [2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/74665/saboteur)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Release | Premiered in Washington, D.C. on 22 April 1942, one week later than planned because of wartime problems scheduling a private press train; AFI lists a US release of 24 April 1942[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/27445-SABOTEUR) • [3](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/27445-SABOTEUR?cp=1&pos=0&sid=9d5deeb2-2456-4554-bc2f-0d3b94e10982&sr=15.452634) |\n| Cast | Robert Cummings (Barry Kane), Priscilla Lane (Pat Martin), Otto Kruger (Tobin), Norman Lloyd (Frank Fry), Alan Baxter, Clem Bevans[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/27445-SABOTEUR) |\n| Writers | Peter Viertel, Joan Harrison, and Dorothy Parker, from Hitchcock's original story idea[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/27445-SABOTEUR) |\n| Production | Filmed from 17 December 1941 to late February 1942 in black and white; 108 minutes, 9,785 feet[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/27445-SABOTEUR) |\n| Rights deal | In November 1941 producers Frank Lloyd and Jack Skirball bought the screenplay and Hitchcock's services from David O. Selznick for $20,000[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/27445-SABOTEUR) |\n| Reception | 81% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (31 reviews); Metascore 64 on Metacritic; commercially successful[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/saboteur) • [5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/saboteur/critic-reviews/) • [6](https://academic.oup.com/kentucky-scholarship-online/book/34148/chapter-abstract/289477287) |\n| Finale | The climactic scene takes place on Liberty Island at the Statue of Liberty, where Kane catches the real saboteur and clears his name[7](https://iavmuseum.org/saboteur/) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nBarry Kane, who works in munitions, is wrongly blamed for the blaze at the Stuarts Aircraft Factory in Los Angeles, a fire in which his closest friend, Ken Mason, died. He realizes the real saboteur is Frank Fry, a man who handed him a fire extinguisher that turned out to be full of gasoline. Following an envelope addressed to Fry, Kane travels to the Deep Springs Ranch in Springfield, California, whose owner, Charles Tobin, denies knowing Fry but has Kane arrested; Kane escapes by jumping off a bridge.[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/27445-SABOTEUR?cp=1&pos=0&sid=9d5deeb2-2456-4554-bc2f-0d3b94e10982&sr=15.452634)\n\nTaking refuge with the blind composer Philip Martin, Kane is then forced to abduct Martin's niece, the New York model Patricia Martin, when she tries to turn him over to the police. After their car breaks down in the California desert, the two hitch a ride with a circus troupe and reach the ghost town of Soda City, a hideout of the saboteurs Freeman and Neilson. Kane convinces them he is one of the gang and is offered passage to New York, where he uncovers the ring and foils its attempt to blow up a U.S. battleship being launched at the New York Naval Yard. The chase ends atop the Statue of Liberty, where Kane catches Fry and clears his name.[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/27445-SABOTEUR?cp=1&pos=0&sid=9d5deeb2-2456-4554-bc2f-0d3b94e10982&sr=15.452634) • [7](https://iavmuseum.org/saboteur/)\n\n## Production\n\nHitchcock pitched the project, originally conceived as \"the sabotage picture, an American picaresque,\" to [David O. Selznick](https://www.edgepedia.org/david-o-selznick), the producer who controlled his contract. Selznick's story editor, Val Lewton, rejected the script, calling it the sort every studio rejects after the most cursory reading, so Selznick forced Hitchcock to shop the property around. In November 1941 producers Frank Lloyd and Jack Skirball bought the screenplay and Hitchcock's services from Selznick for $20,000, and the project landed at Universal Studios. The money spent acquiring Hitchcock and his script left little for casting and production.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/27445-SABOTEUR) • [2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/74665/saboteur)\n\n**Casting compromises.** Hitchcock wanted Gary Cooper for Barry Kane and [Barbara Stanwyck](https://www.edgepedia.org/barbara-stanwyck) for the female lead, and reportedly also pursued [Henry Fonda](https://www.edgepedia.org/henry-fonda) and [Margaret Sullavan](https://www.edgepedia.org/margaret-sullavan), but Universal assigned contract players Robert Cummings and Priscilla Lane instead. Lane was borrowed from Warner Bros. and missed the first weeks of production because of her schedule on *Arsenic and Old Lace*; Hitchcock later said she was cast without his input or approval. For the villain, Hitchcock wanted an all-American type to evoke the right-wing America Firsters who had supported Hitler before the war, and approached Western star Harry Carey, whose wife objected to her husband playing a Nazi. John Halliday was considered but was living in Hawaii under wartime travel restrictions, so the role went to Otto Kruger, whom Hitchcock found too much a conventional heavy. For the saboteur Fry, Hitchcock wanted an unknown; Houseman recommended the stage actor Norman Lloyd, for whom the film marked a feature debut.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/27445-SABOTEUR) • [2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/74665/saboteur) • [8](https://www.tcm.com/articles/220480/behind-the-camera-saboteur) • [4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/saboteur)\n\nFilming ran from mid-December 1941 to February 1942. While preparing storyboards alongside associate art director [Robert Boyle](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-boyle) on December 7, 1941, Hitchcock was interrupted by a Universal security guard in a Civil Defense helmet, who reported that [Pearl Harbor](https://www.edgepedia.org/pearl-harbor) had been bombed by the Japanese; both the attack and America's entry into the war made completing the film feel more urgent. To capture footage of [Radio City Music Hall](https://www.edgepedia.org/radio-city-music-hall), a liberty ship being launched in New Jersey, and the Statue of Liberty, Hitchcock dispatched a team to New York led by John Fulton, the special-effects cameraman, who photographed both still images and moving scenes. Universal was concerned about the more than 50 sets Hitchcock ordered, and he cut corners where he could, building the Park Avenue mansion's ballroom onto a staircase left over from a Deanna Durbin musical and using a back-lot storage building as the doomed aircraft plant.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/74665/saboteur) • [8](https://www.tcm.com/articles/220480/behind-the-camera-saboteur)\n\n## Censorship and propaganda\n\nWar with Germany freed American filmmakers from the constraints of the Neutrality Act, so the common enemy could be identified on screen without fear of censorship. Production Code censors instead focused on several class-conscious remarks inserted in the script by the left-leaning writer [Dorothy Parker](https://www.edgepedia.org/dorothy-parker), suggesting a disdain for the police and the upper classes. Hitchcock succeeded in his aim of making a thriller warning the United States of the dangers of internal sabotage and the pro-German leanings of the America First Party.[6](https://academic.oup.com/kentucky-scholarship-online/book/34148/chapter-abstract/289477287)\n\nParker came in to write a few scenes, mostly the patriotic speeches given by the hero. Hitchcock reportedly shot a cameo in which he and Parker, riding in a car, spy the hero grappling with the heroine; Parker's line \"My, they must be terribly in love\" was given to another actor, the scene was dropped, and Hitchcock's cameo was re-shot as a fleeting appearance as a deaf-mute on a New York sidewalk.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/74665/saboteur)\n\n## Reception and legacy\n\nThe film did well at the box office and less well with critics, though the Statue of Liberty finale was widely remembered.[6](https://academic.oup.com/kentucky-scholarship-online/book/34148/chapter-abstract/289477287) TIME's 1942 review judged that \"Saboteur's ingredients are not uncommon, but Master Hitchcock deals them out in a sinister manner that makes them appear so.\"[9](https://time.com/archive/6781342/the-new-pictures-may-11-1942/) Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote that Hitchcock and his writers \"scoff at speed limits this trip.\"[5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/saboteur/critic-reviews/) Modern aggregate scores are 81% on the Tomatometer and a Metascore of 64.[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/saboteur) • [5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/saboteur/critic-reviews/)\n\nThe film is often described as an American variation on Hitchcock's British *The 39 Steps* (1935), with its wrongly accused man on the run, and its Statue of Liberty climax is seen as anticipating the [Mount Rushmore](https://www.edgepedia.org/mount-rushmore) sequence of *North by Northwest* (1959).[10](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/saboteur/) • [11](https://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/saboteur.php) Its box-office success secured Hitchcock's foothold in Hollywood for the films that followed.[10](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/saboteur/)\n\n**Not the same film as Sabotage.** *Saboteur* (1942) should not be confused with Hitchcock's British *Sabotage* (1936), freely adapted from [Joseph Conrad](https://www.edgepedia.org/joseph-conrad)'s novel *The Secret Agent*; Hitchcock had already used the title *The Secret Agent* for a 1936 Maugham adaptation, which is why Conrad's title became *Sabotage*.[12](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/959-sabotage) • [13](https://hitchcockwiki.com/files/mediawiki/b/ba/Conrad_and_Hitchcock_%281975%29.pdf)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Saboteur (1942), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/27445-SABOTEUR)\n2. [Saboteur, Turner Classic Movies article by Brian Cady (2004)](https://www.tcm.com/articles/74665/saboteur)\n3. [Saboteur (1942), AFI Catalog, synopsis and history page](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/27445-SABOTEUR?cp=1&pos=0&sid=9d5deeb2-2456-4554-bc2f-0d3b94e10982&sr=15.452634)\n4. [Saboteur, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/saboteur)\n5. [Saboteur critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/saboteur/critic-reviews/)\n6. [John Billheimer, \"Saboteur (1942),\" in Hitchcock and the Censors, Kentucky Scholarship Online (2019)](https://academic.oup.com/kentucky-scholarship-online/book/34148/chapter-abstract/289477287)\n7. [Saboteur, Intrepid Air, Space & Sea Museum (IAVM)](https://iavmuseum.org/saboteur/)\n8. [Behind the Camera: Saboteur, Turner Classic Movies, by Rob Nixon (2008)](https://www.tcm.com/articles/220480/behind-the-camera-saboteur)\n9. [The New Pictures, May 11, 1942, TIME](https://time.com/archive/6781342/the-new-pictures-may-11-1942/)\n10. [Saboteur, Film at Lincoln Center](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/saboteur/)\n11. [DVD Verdict review of Saboteur](https://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/saboteur.php)\n12. [Mark Fleischmann, \"Sabotage,\" The Criterion Collection (1988)](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/959-sabotage)\n13. [Conrad and Hitchcock: The Secret Agent Inspires Sabotage (1975)](https://hitchcockwiki.com/files/mediawiki/b/ba/Conrad_and_Hitchcock_%281975%29.pdf)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Crime, thriller, and mystery films (individual works) › 1920s–1940s films*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/saboteur", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/saboteur.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Saboteur\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/saboteur. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Saboteur](https://www.edgepedia.org/saboteur)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/saboteur](https://www.edgepedia.org/saboteur). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Saboteur\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/saboteur. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Saboteur is Alfred Hitchcock's American espionage thriller for Universal, starring Robert Cummings, Priscilla Lane, and Norman Lloyd, in which a wrongly accused factory worker chases a Nazi saboteur to a Statue of Liberty finale; distinct from Hitchcock's 1936 Sabotage." }