Trivia for
Saboteur (1942)

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• The shot of the ship on its side toward the end was an actual shot of the ocean liner SS Normandie, which had caught fire and capsized at its pier in New York. The fire was an accident, not sabotage (a cutting torch accidently set fire to some kapok life vests), though there were rumors of sabotage at the time.
  
  
• Director Cameo: [Alfred Hitchcock] A man visiting the newsstand in front of the drug store where Barry Kane is taken upon arriving in New York City.
  
  
• Alfred Hitchcock originally wanted Margaret Sullavan or Barbara Stanwyck for the leading female role. But the role went to Priscilla Lane.
  
  

• Originally, Barry Kane was to be named Barry Ford, Patricia Martin was Teddie Miller and Philip Martin was Edward Miller.
  
  
• Rumored to contain Robert Mitchum as an extra.
  
  
• Before he sold the property and the services of Alfred Hitchcock to Frank Lloyd Productions for $20,000, David O. Selznick had originally planned to film it himself with Gene Kelly, who had not as yet made a movie, in the leading role.
  
  
• Film debut of Norman Lloyd.
  
  
• Alfred Hitchcock chose to use the European "Finis" at the end of the film rather than the traditional "The End."
  
  
• Alfred Hitchcock's original director's cameo was cut by order of the censors. He and his secretary played deaf-mute pedestrians. When Hitch's character made an apparently indecent proposal to her in sign language, she slapped his face. A more conventional cameo in front of a drugstore was substituted.
  
  
• Alfred Hitchcock originally wanted Gary Cooper for the male lead, with Harry Carey as the chief villain.
  
  
• Hitchcock wanted Gary Cooper or Joel McCrea for the leading role. Cooper wasn't interested in doing a thriller. McCrea wanted to work with Hitchcock again, but was unavailable. So the role finally went to Robert Cummings.
  
  

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