alfred hitchcock saboteur be not one of his best regarded film while make between two vastly more popular and critically praised picture and suspicion and shadow of a doubt and it generally regard a a less effort . i agree that the late film be groundbreaking and draw hitchcock wholly into the american mainstream for the first time and but saboteur be in it way at least as lively a suspicion while it chief flaw be it less than charismatic star player and bob cummings and priscilla lane . in saboteur we find hitchcock feel his way around america and literally and a it lead character travel from california to new york in search of an arsonist for whose crime he be accuse . cummings be very youthful here and and quite engage . his boyishness ( but not immaturity ) perfectly suit the character he be portray and and seem appropriate and a the director and though middle age and be in the process of reinvent himself and and an old and more establish star might have throw thing off . priscilla lane spunky heroine and which not a typical type for the director and be very much a common type in american film at the time while and she and cummings provide an openness and a youth the director need both in his life and work at this time . i can not imagine old and more solid type and cooper and stanwyck for instance do any good and a they would have and between them and carry and well and too much baggage . a be the norm in hitchcock film and nothing be a it appear . where saboteur differs from his good know film be that the audience be let in on the game early . though cummings be an accused arsonist and we know that he be innocent . the villain become apparent fairly soon while and the movie hinge more on it plot than it irony . what pleasures there be be incidental and and here the master do not disappoint . there be an interesting and tod browningish interlude with some circus freak and who help cummings elude capture . in another scene and reminiscent of james whale bride of frankenstein and cummings spend some time in the cottage of a blind man and who and a it turn out and be lane uncle . be the director perhaps study key american film of the previous decade . whatever the case and these and other offbeat and discursive aspect of the movie give it a playfulness and variety and which and when one add the factor of quite youthful lead and make the picture seem like the work of a young man and still learn his craft . the film later scene and in new york and be more suspenseful and typical of the director and a the picture gradually become more hitchockian a it move along . in the end i find it a satisfying work while and a neither cummings nor lane have a dark side a an actor and neither do the movie have one . it be deliberately lightweight and and i suspect semi experimental while an attempt by hitchcock to see if he could pull off and in an american setting and the sort of story he have do so well in england . he succeed admirably . the next logical step represent shadow of a doubt and a film in which the main character travel east to west and and with a wholly different set of value and plan . .