Film Studies

Cinema Classics Seminar: Saboteur

Sightseeing with Hitch
Tuesday, June 23, 2026, 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm  
Instructor: Erich Hertz, Ph.D., Siena University

Often considered Alfred Hitchcock’s first truly American film, Saboteur (1942) extends his early Hollywood turn toward larger set pieces and asks what it might mean to be “American” just months after the attack on Pearl Harbor. In one of Hitchcock’s earlier uses of the “wrong man” plot, Robert Cummings plays Barry Kane, an aircraft worker framed for sabotage and forced into flight as he searches for a network operating in plain sight. His journey brings him into an uneasy alliance with Patricia Martin (Priscilla Lane), whose skepticism gives way to the recognition that the threat is not only foreign but also domestic. 

Our seminar will explore how these pressures organize the film’s concerns, with special focus on the instability of innocence under wartime conditions and the reshaping of public life through suspicion. While Saboteur works within thriller conventions, it also reflects early U.S. wartime anxiety, raising questions about how democratic identity is reconfigured when security becomes a dominant frame. We will consider how Hitchcock uses iconic American spaces to both align with and unsettle expectations, producing suspense that turns less on the enemy’s visibility than on the fragility of trust. 

Are you interested in “just” seeing this movie? Visit the public screening page here.

Cinema Classics Seminars offer an entertaining and engaging way to learn more about some of the true classics of world cinema. All students receive an introductory lecture before the film and a guided discussion after the film. In addition, those in attendance receive a ticket to see it on the big screen, as well as popcorn and a drink. Please note: the screening associated with this seminar will be open to the public, as well.

Please contact BMFI Programs and Education Manager Jill Malcolm with any questions.