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 | Subway

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:

Based on Joseph Conrad's novel "The Secret Agent", this sports a different title as Alfred Hitchcock's previous film was called Secret Agent (1936), which was based on stories by W. Somerset Maugham.

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 Master's Preference (2005)

Soundtrack:

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

Sabotage

What you'll find is signature Hitchcock touches. Such as the brilliant mobile framing, and how he lets the players use their eyes to tell the story in visual terms.

Watch how Mrs. Verlock's face is suddenly stricken when she sees the bird get killed in the cartoon movie right after the moments she tries to laugh her grief off.

Look at the beautiful graphic match of the turtle aquarium to Mr. Verlock's sick fantasy of what happens to some buildings. I also really liked the intense scene in the dinner table, that Hitch accentuates with his beautiful camera movement. And oh, that wicked angle when we see Mrs. Verlock right past the doorway, and in the F.G., the feet of the slain Mr. Verlock.

I really don't know how Hitch did that double-decker explosion. It was really clever as it was really quick. I hafta see this film again to figure out how they did that train blast.

People say this is an elaborately detailed thriller; I can see part of that --- you'll laugh when you watch the last scene where the police officers realize something they didn't earlier.

Best of all, SABOTAGE is only 75 minutes in runtime. Yes sir, better than a hundred or 110.

Retitled A Woman Alone in the U.S.

Grade A+

10/10