Sabotage (1936)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Alfred Hitchcock

Writers:

Joseph Conrad (novel)
Charles Bennett (screenplay)

Release Date:

11 January 1937 (USA)

Genre:

Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

...A Bomb Plot ...A Killing ...Justice

Plot:

A Scotland Yard undercover detective is on the trail of a saboteur who is part of a plot to set off a bomb in London. But when the detective's cover is blown, the plot begins to unravel.

Plot Keywords:

Cinema | Detective | Bomb | Scotland Yard | Theatre

Cast

Sylvia Sidney	...	Mrs. Sylvia Verloc (as Sylvia Sydney)
Oskar Homolka	...	Verloc - Sylvia's Husband (as Oscar Homolka)
Desmond Tester	...	Stevie - Sylvia's Young Brother
John Loder	...	Detective Sergeant Ted Spencer
Joyce Barbour	...	Renee
Matthew Boulton	...	Superintendent Talbot
S.J. Warmington	...	Hollingshead
William Dewhurst	...	Professor A.F. Chatman

Also Known As:

I Married a Murderer (USA) (reissue title)
Sabotage (USA)
The Hidden Power
The Woman Alone (USA)

Runtime:

76 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Full Range Recording System)

Certification:

Finland:K-12 (1995) | Finland:K-15 (2006) | Iceland:12 | Sweden:11 (re-rating) (1980) | Sweden:15 (original rating) | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Finland:(Banned) (1937) | Germany:12 | UK:PG | USA:Unrated | Norway:16 (1937)

Filming Locations:

Shepherd's Bush, London, England, UK

Company:

Gaumont British Picture Corporation

Trivia:

Robert Donat was originally slated to play Ted Spencer, but a prolonged illness prevented him from playing the role.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In one of the final scenes where the police are removing the audience from the theater, prior to the audience getting up to leave, three dummies can clearly be seen sitting in the back row. Apparently this was an attempt to make the theater appear more full.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Man in power plant: Sand.
2nd Man in power plant: Sabotage.
3rd Man in power plant: Wrecking.
4th Man in power plant: Deliberate.
2nd Man in power plant: What's at the back of it?
3rd Man in power plant: Who did it?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Village (2004)

Soundtrack:

Love's Old Sweet Song (Just a Song At Twilight)

One of favourite films

I thoroughly enjoy this film and always have like the lovely Sylvia Sydney who recently deceased. She was the star of the 1931 Goldwyn classic Street Scene with Beulah Bondi set in the NYC tenements of the time. Sabotage has a lot going for it even though I know a lot was done on sets at Gaumont-British, probably at Lime Grove/Shepeherd's Bush, the London street scenes are well done and I am always interested in films with theatres and film projectors. Desmond Tester who played the c11 year-old boy who is blown up at the Mayor"s street parade came to Australia in the early days of TV here, after 1956 and was well known here. This film like Street Scene is on DVD. Sabotage DVD I have is from Delta Entertainment(Laserlight)in USA and is under US$10 and the print is excellent as is the soundtrack(Tony Curtis introduces) but the bonus film of Hitichcock's 1926 The Lodger is extremely poor. It is worth it for Sabotage alone. Street Scene is equally good quality to view on DVD.