I mean, lesser Hitchcock is still Hitchcock...
While he doesn't nail the themes he tackles in some of his more effective thrillers, Saboteur feels like a breakthrough for him in some ways. On the heels of his first true masterpiece (IMO) Shadow of a Doubt, he seems to have a fine grasp on how to build suspense and has finally figured out his signature camerawork. Zooming in on important details, and letting audiences in on details that the characters don't know became signature to his work later in the 40s and into the 50s. The Statue of Liberty sequence seems to be a precursor to the Rushmore sequence in North by Northwest as well.
What it comes down to is it just doesn't have the sequences or level of suspense that you come to expect with Hitchcock. It is by no means a bad movie, but it's not his most effective. It feels like he remade this into North by Northwest after he gained more experience directing, and knew how to flush out his ideas more.
I mean, lesser Hitchcock is still Hitchcock...
While he doesn't nail the themes he tackles in some of his more effective thrillers, Saboteur feels like a breakthrough for him in some ways. On the heels of his first true masterpiece (IMO) Shadow of a Doubt, he seems to have a fine grasp on how to build suspense and has finally figured out his signature camerawork. Zooming in on important details, and letting audiences in on details that the characters don't know became signature to his work later in the 40s and into the 50s. The Statue of Liberty sequence seems to be a precursor to the Rushmore sequence in North by Northwest as well.
What it comes down to is it just doesn't have the sequences or level of suspense that you come to expect with Hitchcock. It is by no means a bad movie, but it's not his most effective. It feels like he remade this into North by Northwest after he gained more experience directing, and knew how to flush out his ideas more.
