Alfred Hitchcock Collection, Vol. 1: Sabotage

Starring:Sylvia Sidney, Oskar Homolka, Desmond Tester, John Loder, Joyce Barbour, Matthew Boulton, S.J. Warmington, William Dewhurst, Martita Hunt, Jack Vyvian, Charles Hawtrey, Pamela Bevan, Arnold Bell, Mike Johnson, Frederick Piper, Aubrey Mather, Albert Chevalier, Frank Atkinson, Austin Trevor, Torin Thatcher
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Studio: Madacy Records
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

Alfred Hitchcock's 1936 drama, among his darkest, is the one to which he regretfully pointed later as the exception that proved his usual rule about good suspense: you have to let an audience know the precise danger that a character doesn't know he imminently faces. Then you have to withdraw or cancel out the danger lest viewers feel betrayed. The "betrayal" in Sabotage rather famously involves a bomb, a boy, and a bus. But in the context of the story (based on Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent, inevitably confused with Hitchcock's quite different film called Secret Agent), the twist has a devastating significance, ushering in the director's pet themes about the proximity of chaos to ordinary life and the nature and transference of guilt. Sylvia Sidney stars as the naive American wife of a German spy, the latter using a movie theater as a cover for his terrorist activities. When he asks his wife's young brother to make a delivery--a package containing a ticking bomb, unknown to the child--a bus delay causes the boy to die in the timed explosion. Sidney's character murders her spouse in revenge, but as in Hitch's great Blackmail, the deed is obscured by a sympathetic lawman who ultimately shares her secret. Wrong or right, right or wrong--the clear distinctions don't often exist in the great director's movies, and Sabotage is no exception. The print of the film used in the DVD release is serviceable and probably comparable to an average 16mm classroom or museum presentation. The DVD also includes a Hitchcock filmography, trivia questions, a director biography, and scene access. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews:

Early Suspense Filled Great From Hitch.......2006-09-27

Sylvia Sydney, who graced the screen for more than 70 years stars in "Sabotage". Younger viewers may remember Miss Sydney as "Juno" in Beetlejuice" or "Grandma" in "Mars Attacks". If you have never seen any of her earlier works(this one from 1936), you are in for a real treat. In this terrific thriller, she is Mrs. Verloc. A lovely woman who is slowly becoming suspicious of her husband's(Oscar Homolka) strange activities.And with good reason, he is involved in a deadly conspiracy.

It is the eve of WWII, and people in Britain are becoming aware of Nazi activity. Various occurrences of Sabotage seem to be popping up around the cities. Small at first, a black out is the first sign, but when a bomb explodes and kills everyone on a bus, the evidence points to Mr. Verloc.Scotland Yard detective Ted Spencer(John Loder)is on the case and must catch the culprit before he kills again. And of course, along the way falls for the beautiful Mrs. Verloc. Hitch does a great job(as always) at keeping us involved with the characters, the story, and keeping the suspense going. You'll recognize his signature traits all through the film."Sabotage" is based on a novel by Joseph Conrad who also wrote "Heart of Darkness".

Where's Hitch....Sorry, the elusive Mr. Hitchcock does not seem to make an appearance in this one.

This film is also available on a double feature Hitch DVD with "The Lodger". Another great old thriller, that is a silent made in 1927. You can find it easily by entering B00000JNVC, the ASIN into the Amazon search.

Be thrilled and chilled to the early works of the master...enjoy...Laurie

Careful! Don't read other reviews unless you see Spoiler Alert!.......2006-01-04

OK, Sabotage is one of the "musts" for Hitchcock fans. The early sound film that really startled audiences with its camera work and editing, adding up to a couple of devestatingly good suspense scenes.

BUT... Some of the reviews posted here on Amazon give away one of the big scenes. DON'T READ THESE REVIEWS UNTIL YOU'VE SEEN THE FILM!

And see it, by all means.

Simply Ahead of Its Time.......2005-06-16

In the same year this movie was released, Chrysler was trying to sell "Airflow" models. People did not buy Airflows because they looked funny and unconventional. Many folks felt that a "lesson learned" from the Airflow was that innovation should not get too far ahead of a customer base, lest it produce a consumer failure.

Outrage was expressed about this movie because a bomb blew up a child and many others on a bus in London.

If the child had not been "fleshed out" as a major character in the film, the degree of concern would have been much, much less. But since we, the audience, "knew" the boy, we are not only shocked but...outraged.

So maybe we should blame Hitch for anesthetizing us to terrible violence and death. But his point's still good: any time any sector of society invests in violence in pursuit of a political aim, there is a risk. Suicide bombers are regarded by us as morally repugnant, but how far away is that from any decision to risk any life to make a political point?

War is a voracious thing. Use with care, I guess.

That aside, this is one of Hitchcock's best, but is often passed over because of the infamy it earned. I'd say watch it and judge for yourself. Especially compare its depiction of domestic tranquility and the subtleties of love between married people who learn unspeakable things about one another...you'd almost have to say it's a Sopranos prequel.

Ancient Hitch tale of deception.......2003-02-11

Sabotage was a serviceable Hitchcock tale of espionage while he was still making films in England.

The flick is based around the machinations of Mr. Verloc, a foreign spy and saboteur based in London and played by the sinister bushy eyebrowed Oskar Homolka. His wife played by Sylvia Sydney, who together with Homolka run a cinema, is clueless as to his clandestine activities. The film opens with Mr. Verloc causing a widespread power outage by fouling the generators with sand

A Scotland Yard detective played by John Loder is working undercover at a fruit and vegetable store next to the cinema, suspicious of Homolka and watching him. Unable to carry out his next act of terrorism due to the surveillance, Homolka commissions Sydney's young brother to unwittingly transport and deliver a package containing a bomb. Tragically, traffic delays cause the bomb to explode prematurely, killing the young boy and other passengers on the bus he was on.

In very atypical fashion, Hitchcock has a totally innocent victim fall prey to violence. He, however, followed the movie morality code of the time in this case as the villian gets his just desserts. Justice is served and vengeance is meted out.

Hitchcock's worst.......2002-12-20

I'm a particular fan of Hitchcock, and I've seen quite a few of his movies. My favorite is "North by Northwest" -- also my favorite movie by any director, my favorite movie PERIOD. My second favorite is "Spellbound". Although I subsequently read the novel "Sabotage" is based on, Joseph Conrad's excellent "The Secret Agent", and although I subsequently watched another film adaptation of this novel, the excellent "Secret Agent" (1996) with Bob Hoskins, Patricia Arquette, and Robin Williams and a score by Philip Glass, I hadn't when I watched "Sabotage". Thus my opinion is unbiased by the novel and this other movie. "Sabotage" is clearly the worst Alfred Hitchcock picture I know. HAVING subsequently read the novel and a much better adaptation, I am now in a position to say what went wrong with "Sabotage"; I wasn't then. Essentially "Sabotage" is too squeamish. It twists itself into knots to make its heroine sympathetic. It bowdlerizes its story's political content. (I don't want to give this political content away. There are, however, crosses and double-crosses, intrigues, and timely anti-terrorist tactics reminiscent of the regime of a certain twenty-first-century un-elected American president.) Read "The Secret Agent" by Joseph Conrad. Watch "Secret Agent", its 1996 film adaptation.

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