Sabotage

Director: Alfred Hitchcock Alfred Hitchcock

Overview

Oskar Homolka plays a London movie-theatre owner who maintains a secret life as a paid terrorist. Homolka's wife Sylvia Sidney doesn't suspect Homolka of any wrongdoing, but she's picked up enough second-hand information about her husband's activities to arouse the interest of government agent (John Loder). Posing as a grocer, Loder moves next door to the Homolkas, befriending Sidney and her precocious young brother Desmond Tester. Sensing that he's being watched, Homolka sends Tester out to deliver a reel of film. The reel contains a time bomb, but Homolka is certain that the boy will deliver his package on time and will be safely away by the time the bomb explodes. Thus begins one of Hitchcock's most electrifying suspense sequences, as the unsuspecting boy is delayed en route to his destination. Sabotage was based on Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent; the film was retitled A Woman Alone in the US.

Product Details

Release Date:	07/09/2015
UPC:	0644827295920
Original Release:	1936
Source:	Reel Vault
Language:	English
Sales rank:	29,974

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Sylvia Sidney	Mrs. Verloc
Oscar Homolka	Her Husband,Karl Verloc - Sylvia's Husband
John Loder	Ted
Desmond Tester	Her Young Brother
Joyce Barbour	Renee
Matthew Boulton	Supt. Talbot
S.J. Warmington	Hollingshead
William Dewhurst	A.S. Chatman
Austin Trevor	Vladimir
Torin Thatcher	Yunct
Aubrey Mather	Greengrocer
Peter Bull	Michaelis
Charles Hawtrey	Studious Youth
Pamela Bevan	Miss Chatham's Daughter (uncredited)
Sara Allgood	Actor
Martita Hunt	Miss Chatham - The Professor's Daughter (uncredited)
Sam Wilkinson	Cinema Patron Who Wants His Money Back (uncredited)
Clare Greet	Mrs. Jones - Cook (uncredited)
Arnold Bell	Actor
Albert Chevalier	Cinema Commissioner (uncredited)
Frederick Piper	Bus Conductor (uncredited)
Hal Gordon	Actor
Frank Atkinson	Bit Part
Betty Baskcomb	Minor Role
D.A. Clarke-Smith	Bit Part
J. Hubert Leslie	Conspirator
Fred Schwartz	Tailor
Jack Vivian	Actor
Mike Johnson	Actor
Jack Beaver	Composer
Louis Levy	Composer

Technical Credits

Helen Simpson

Alma Reville

E.V.H. Emmett

Jesse Lasky Jr.

Campbell Dixon

Ian Hay

Charles Bennett

Michael Balcon	Producer
Alfred Hitchcock	Director
Ivor Montagu	Producer
Helen Simpson	Screenwriter
Alma Reville	Screenwriter
E.V.H. Emmett	Screenwriter
Jesse Lasky Jr.	Screenwriter
Campbell Dixon	Screenwriter
Ian Hay	Screenwriter
Charles Bennett	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

Alfred Hitchcock relished in playing off of his audience's suspicions, and this early suspense film accomplishes just that. Made when Europe was on the verge of war, Sabotage focuses on Mr. Verloc, the incarnation of the heavily accented neighbor who may not be as benign as he seems. This xenophobic approach works to the film's advantage, as the sight of Verloc and his shadowy associates plotting the destruction of London surely must have grabbed English audiences in 1936. Hitchcock's fascination with espionage and crime is evident, as always, especially in the scene where Verloc meets his contact in the aquarium. Another favorite Hitchcock element present is having a wife slowly come to distrust and fear her husband. Sylvia Sidney plays this transformation beautifully. In the early scenes she is warm and friendly, but as the film progresses, she begins to tighten up, and in the final scenes, her hatred toward Verloc is utterly convincing. As for Oscar Homolka, from the start it's obvious he's up to something, but he is convincing as a small cog in a much larger wheel, a pathetic man who is overwhelmed by the pressures imposed upon him. But the centerpiece of the film is the nerve-racking journey of Mrs. Verloc's younger brother Steve, as he travels through London unaware that the reel can he carries contains a bomb. The bomb, of course, is set to a timer, and each delay adds increasing tension as the hour of detonation approaches. The sequence is pure Hitchcock, as there is nothing more suspenseful than to see an innocent in danger. Sabotage may be a couple of notches below The 39 Steps and The Lady Vanishes, but it is still classic Hitchcock.

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