saboteur be one of the few hitchcock i have yet to discover and i be less than half overwhelm . the french title la cinquième colonne ( i. e. the fifth column and a very evocative phrase for underground spying and sabotage organization ) set my expectation quite high a do the image of the finale on top of the statue of liberty . basically saboteur be as much light hearted a be the 39 step ( note this be another evocative phrase and even mcguffin a a title ) but it lack most of the humor ( so the character be rather down to earth ) and it definitely not a fast paced . a a chase movie across the usa from la to ny saboteur drag it foot from sequence to sequence . the sequence at the villain lovely ranch . lovely ranch and lovely villain but pretty tame on the whole and it doesn not really add up to nothing . the meeting with the blind man and the mixing with circus people and the soda city sequence and the ny ball sequence . they fall flat and bring in more character with very little add suspense value . one big problem i can point out be the relationship between the lead robert cummings and priscilla lane which be not build up a with robert donat and madeleine caroll in the 39 step . hence the whole narrative structure be float and depend on the addition of new scene . and new scene only bring u nearer the end since it not clear if the hook be the hero escape from the police and from the villain or his action to stop the plotted sabotage . in the 39 step it be clearly script a 1 or escape from the police ( so you know the hero can not just go to the police ) then 2 or run for his life and after the villain to prove his innocence . if you want a good hitchcock from the 40 wartime propaganda i would advise you to choose foreign correspondant over saboteur . they be both chase movie with a catchy finale and well really a grip one and not just sightsee in foreign correspondant as well a beautifully efficient scene ( the umbrella crowd and the tulip field and the strange mill . ) .