BEST FILMS OF 1942
by Mike Lorefice

Casablanca
Michael Curtiz

***

Cat People
Jacques Tourneur

****

The Magnificent Ambersons
Orson Welles

***1/2

Full Movie Review

Mrs. Miniver
William Wyler

***

The Palm Beach Story
Preston Sturges

***

Saboteur
Alfred Hitchcock

Typical Hitchcock chase film has the cops hunting down the wrong man while the right ones are up to no good. Val Lewton, who was Selznick's story editor at the time, passed on the script and Hitchcock wound up making the picture on loan to Universal. Unfortunately, by the time Selznick cashed in on his lions share Universal had little left for the budget. Hitchcock wanted Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, and Harey Carey as the All American right wing wacko who supports Hitler, but wound up with Robert Cummings, Priscilla Lane, and Otto Krueger, the first two wooden line readers and the later not rising above a narcissistic caricature of the wealthy. Despite several weaknesses, considering how similar the film is on paper to North By Northwest, it's no reach to think the casting played a large part in preventing it from reaching Hitchcock's upper echelon. The bit parts are more memorable, a blind man who at the time is the only one that can see Cummings innocence and group of circus players who wind up utilizing the democratic process to vote on whether to turn Cummings in to the police or hide him from them. The film has a certain urgency because it was released after America entered WW II, and I'd guess it played better then because it was geared toward the patriotic mindset of the times. Too often the film seems to be out and out wartime propaganda though it's sometimes redeemed by Dorothy Parker, whose contributions include linking patriotism to paranoia with subtle wit. Still the script is pretty weak, with stiff dialogue that sounds scripted and the whole film has a certain phoniness and unbelievability to it. The film has very good bits and pieces though. There's a tense scene where Cummings is trying to let an auto fan break his handcuffs while watching Lane try to flag down a car and tell them he's the man the police want for sabotage. There another example of Hitchcock using an object to invoke guilt, in this case a rattling fire extinguisher in a truck reminds Cummings of the one he handed to his now dead best friend not knowing it was filled with gasoline. To me the best sequence is when the two stars are trapped at a Park Avenue charity ball, which unbeknownst to almost all the patrons is hosted by the top Nazi supporter, and they have to attempt to use their cunning to escape. This scene is reminiscent of 39 Steps and is one of a few that show how big a part social class plays in "innocence" and "guilt". The monumental adventure closes with the real saboteur hanging around the statue of liberty a little too literally for his tastes, unfortunately for him his stitches might not hold up long enough for them to give him a rope to hold onto. [12/2/05] ***