MovieChat Forums > Saboteur (1942) Discussion > Won't anyone stand up for this movie?

Won't anyone stand up for this movie?

posted 17 years ago by mangoloid
44 replies | jump to latest

It feels horrible coming onto this board and seeing so many people complain about Saboteur. Everyone seems to have some sort of argument with the plot and its complete departure from realistic logic. I ask, Why? Questioning the plot in this film, in many films, is trivial. The plot of Stars Wars isn't far-fetched?

No, Saboteur does some very exciting things cinematically and is more than deserving of real attention. Does nobody else find the scene in the theater (with the movie playing) absolutely exhilerating? Is nobody positively blown away by the Statue of Liberty sequence? There is more to a film than its narrative. Narrative is cinema's whore and deserves to be abused for the fun of the camera. Image and Motion, after all, are the supreme masters of film, and to judge a film without considering its use of image an motion is a woeful mistake. Saboteur does far more than your average film (and just as much as other Hitchcock films).

Won't anybody stand up for this film? Is nobody intelligent enough to dig beyond the absurd plot to see what the film actually accomplishes?

I proclaim ignorance in everything I say.

[–] jenniferles1000 16 years ago

I like the movie especially the scene with the circus people but i have to admit it does lose its way in the second half i give it a seven.

[–] TheRealBambi 16 years ago

I loved this film! It's one of my favorite Hitchcock movies. It was a far-fetched time with a crazy meglomaniac gassing people in Europe~very appropriate timing for a far-fetched plot.

I especially loved the visuals ... great landscapes, wonderful shadows, shiny cars, smoke .... good stuff.
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[–] 5thHobbit 16 years ago

I watched it for the first time last night and loved it.

Anyway, don't worry about what people on IMDb say, especially on the individual film boards. It is rarely an indication of the way most of the movie-going world feels about something.

And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.

[–] belva0308 15 years ago

[–] rexshard93 15 years ago

Agreed. A Great film.

[–] savard18bedard 15 years ago

I feel the screenplay is intellingent.However not at the level of THE BIG SLEEP 1946, or Casablanca 1942, clearly few movies are.
Mrs. Sutton: I will not have my benevolence abused.
Any of the dialogue involving the blindgentleman in the cabin are simply well thought out but natural.
I enjoy them also ( apple),well save them for dessert.
Mr Tobins dialogue is also quite captivating. These characters are what makes a movie memmorable.
Great movie 9/10

The Burbs 1989:
Pretty girl, friend of yours? No, came with the frame.

[–] cash_carstar 15 years ago

This movie totally rocks!! Hitchcock just doesn't disappoint me. The problem with the IMDB board is that a lot of losers come on here just to trash the heck out of classics or movies in general. A lot of them get a kick out of it. It's easy to know where they are coming from if you look at their previous posts because 90% of what they post is trashing of this film or that film.

Just because a film is 60 odd yrs old doesn't mean it's beyond reproach.

There was a perfectly intelligent critique of the film a few posts above you. Rather than address it you just dump a generalization in the thread, and contributed nothing of worth, really.

I think there are plenty of trolls that just go around crapping on everything, and I also think there are a bunch of faux intellectuals who attack anyone who dare discuss a particular film with anything but lavish praise. Almost every board here has someone suggesting "Stick to Transformers" and oftentimes it's completely unwarranted.

This film was absurd, and no amount of apologia or excuse making for "the times" gets it off the hook. See "The Lady Vanishes" which HItchcock directed five years earlier for a brilliant rah, rah wartime film.

The theme of this film seemed to be "judge a book by it's cover". Time and again the good/smart people were the ones who inexplicably aided and abetted a wanted man because he "seemed nice". One character even brings up "innocent until proven guilty" while he's hiding the guy. Clearly the man had no faith in the system upholding that very sentiment.

Almost everything that happens in this film is nonsensical. North by Northwest does everything this film tries to do and succeeds where this film utterly fails. Is it wholly without merit? No. But it's only saving grace is the iconic final set piece and the competency of the direction and cinematography.

"That's what a gym teacher once told me."

[–] belva0308 15 years ago

A) I wasn't talking about your comments at all.
B) My OPINION is that it is good and while not my FAVORITE Hitchcock, it is good and far above some of the other movies that are considered "passable" nowadays.
C) You are entitled to your opinion.
D) There ARE a lot of losers on the imdb board that trash movies without any logical reason. I happen to think you have some good points. My comments don't apply to you. So please don't take it personally.

"It came with the frame"

[–] cash_carstar 15 years ago

Not offended. It was actually someone else's comment I was referring to.

Sorry if I jumped on your back. Just wanted to make the points I made, not attack you.

"That's what a gym teacher once told me."

[–] belva0308 15 years ago

No problem! ; )

"It came with the frame"

[–] TheLittleSongbird 15 years ago

While not in my top 5 favourite Hitchcocks, this is a very overlooked film, no matter how slow it is at first or how incomplete the scripting is. Hitchcock's direction is superb, the cinematography is great, the music outstanding and the acting good. Also some really effective scenes, not only the statue of liberty climax but the circus troupe encounter and the Radio City Music Hall shoot-out. Very good film in my opinion. 8/10

"Life after death is as improbable as sex after marriage"- Madeleine Kahn(CLUE, 1985)

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] directorscut 11 years ago

The plot in this film is no more far fetched or implausible than most of Hitchcock's film.

Proud member of the Pro-film Anti-digital Society (PFADS).

[–] jayrussell1993 10 years ago

It was a real popular movie and made lots of money when released. Nobody had dvd's in 1942 where they could stop motion & rewatch scenes over & over again and bitch & moan. People were working hard for a buck and for the war effort and they didn't have a lot of spare time to ponder plot holes, etc.