Sabotage should not be confused with Hitchcock's film Secret Agent, which was also released in 1936, but which instead is loosely based on two stories in the 1927 collection Ashenden: Or the British Agent by W. Somerset Maugham.[1] It also should not be confused with Hitchcock's unrelated 1942 American film Saboteur.
In 2017, a poll of 150 actors, directors, writers, producers and critics for Time Out magazine ranked the film 44th best British film ever.[2] In 2021, The Daily Telegraph ranked the film at No. 3 on its list of "The 100 best British films of all time".[3]
Plot
In London, sand is put into the bearings of an electrical generator, causing a power blackout. At a cinema owned by Karl Verloc (Oscar Homolka), people demand their money back. Verloc enters through a back entrance to the living quarters above. He washes sand from his hands, but when his wife (Sylvia Sidney) comes for him, he pretends to have been asleep. He instructs her to refund the money, saying he has "some money coming in" anyway. As the money is about to be disbursed to the customers downstairs, the lights go back on.
The next day, Verloc meets his contact. They are part of a gang of terrorists from an unnamed European country who are planning a series of attacks in London, though no exact motive is made clear. Verloc's contact is disappointed that the newspapers mocked the short loss of electricity, and instructs Verloc to place a parcel of "fireworks" at the Piccadilly Circus tube station on Saturday, during the Lord Mayor's Show. Verloc is not comfortable with killing, but his contact says to get someone else to do it. Verloc is given the address of a bird shop, whose owner also makes bombs.
Scotland Yard suspects Verloc's involvement in the plot and has placed Detective Sergeant Ted Spencer (John Loder) undercover as a greengrocer's helper next to the cinema. He befriends Mrs. Verloc and her little brother, Stevie (Desmond Tester), who lives with them, by treating them to a meal at Simpson's. At this point, Spencer and Scotland Yard are unsure whether Mrs. Verloc is complicit in the terrorist plots or innocently unaware; but by the end of the meal, he is convinced she is innocent and is falling for her.
Verloc goes to the bird shop. The bomb-maker says he will prepare a time bomb and set it to explode at 1:45p.m. on Saturday. Later that night, members of the terrorist group meet in Verloc's living room above the cinema. Detective Spencer attempts to eavesdrop on the conversation, but is seen and recognized. The meeting ends abruptly and the members scatter, worried that they are all being followed. Verloc tells his wife the police are investigating him, but maintains his innocence.
The next day, Verloc receives a package containing two caged canaries – a present for Stevie – and the bomb. Spencer shows up with Stevie and tells Mrs. Verloc of Scotland Yard's suspicions. Verloc sees them talking, and becomes nervous. Before he can be questioned, Verloc asks Stevie to deliver a film canister to another cinema, and since it is on his way, to deposit another package in the cloakroom at Piccadilly Circus station by 1:30p.m. He says it contains projector parts to be repaired and the repairman will collect it there.
Unknowingly carrying the time bomb for Verloc, Stevie is delayed by several events, including the Lord Mayor's Show procession. Now late, Stevie manages to talk himself aboard a bus to Piccadilly Circus, even though flammable nitrate film is not allowed on public vehicles. The bomb explodes on the bus, killing Stevie and others.
Verloc confesses to his wife, but blames Scotland Yard and Spencer for Stevie's death, since they were the ones who prevented Verloc from delivering the bomb himself. Soon afterwards, as they are preparing to eat dinner, she becomes infuriated and stabs him to death with a knife. When Spencer arrives to arrest Verloc he realises what has happened, but he insists that she should not admit stabbing her husband. Even if it was self-defense, she might not be believed in court. Spencer plans to abandon his career and leave the country with her.
The bomb-maker goes to Verloc's flat to retrieve the birdcage in case it might incriminate him, but the police, who already suspect him, follow him. When they arrive, Mrs. Verloc tries to confess, but moments after she says her husband is dead, the bomb-maker sets off a bomb he was carrying, killing himself and destroying Verloc's body.
Afterwards, the police superintendent is unsure whether she spoke before or after the explosion, as Ted and Mrs. Verloc flee the city.
Hitchcock wanted to cast Robert Donat – with whom he had previously worked in The 39 Steps (1935) – as Spencer, but was forced to cast another actor (John Loder) owing to Donat's chronic asthma.[1][4][5] According to Hitchcock, in his interviews with the French director François Truffaut, Alexander Korda, to whom Donat was under contract, refused to release him. Hitchcock, who was not happy with Loder's casting, later commented, "The actor we got wasn't suitable, and I was forced to rewrite the dialogue during the shooting".[6] Charles Bennett says Sylvia Sidney was upset when Loder was cast as she agreed to make the film to work with Donat.[7]
Hitchcock also chose the young Bobby Rietti – later known as Robert Rietti – to play the part of Steve, but was not able to sign him for legal reasons.
Reception
Frank S. Nugent of The New York Times praised the film as "a masterly exercise in suspense."[8]Variety wrote, "Competent and experienced hand of the director is apparent throughout this production, which is a smart one and executed in a business-like manner from start to finish." However, the review noted that the motivation of the terrorists "is not made clear. As a result, the audience watches the piece and its suspensive moments with interest, and when it is over, is still hazy as to the why and wherefore."[9]Harrison's Reports called it "A thrilling melodrama," adding that Hitchcock "again shows his skill in building up a situation to a tense climax."[10]The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote, "The individual genius of Hitchcock is very clearly shown in the distinctive and original direction," and called Oscar Homolka's performance "remarkable."[11]John Mosher of The New Yorker called it "rather exciting for the most part. It's a lively, minor Alfred Hitchcock picture."[12] Writing for The Spectator, Graham Greene gave the film a good review, pronouncing that "in Sabotage for the first time [Hitchcock] has really 'come off'". Greene identified the children's matinée scene as an "ingenious and pathetic twist stamped as Mr Hitchcock's own", and he praised the melodrama present in the screenplay writing, the dialogue, and the acting cast generally. Greene's only complaint was in relation to the acting of the "unconvincing" detective (Loder) and the "invincibl[y] distaste[ful]" prep school student (Tester).[13]
Sabotage garnered 92% approval on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 7.4/10.[14]
Adaptation
Bennett liberally adapted Joseph Conrad's novel, transforming the highly political Tsarist-era agents provocateurs into foreign agents without any obvious political leanings.[1][4] Verloc's shop is transformed into a cinema, with the films being shown echoing the story, and the policeman investigating the case is an undercover officer posing as a greengrocer.[15][1] Since the film was produced in the years immediately preceding World War II, the unnamed hostile power behind the bombings has been assumed by many viewers to be Nazi Germany. However, the film does not specify this, and indeed, Verloc's first name has been changed, presumably because his name in the novel, Adolf, had too many connotations by the time the film was made.[1]
Stevie, Mrs. Verloc's brother, is portrayed as an ordinary schoolboy, with few of the visionary attributes of his literary counterpart. Stevie's death is a climactic moment in the plot, providing insight into Hitchcock's views about how the innocent suffer through random acts of violence.[15] When a critic condemned Stevie's death as brutal and unnecessary, Hitchcock said that he regretted including it in the film, not because of the brutality, however, but because it violated his method of suspense, whereby tension eventually had to be relieved. Yet, Hitchcock remained faithful to the novel in having the bomb go off,[4] and it also allowed him to justify in the movie that the boy's sister would eventually kill her husband, who was responsible for the boy's death, and got away with it.
Allusions
The fact that many scenes of the film were set in a cinema allowed Hitchcock to include references to contemporary films and storylines. Perhaps the most famous of these is the final film sequence, an excerpt from a Walt DisneySilly SymphonyWho Killed Cock Robin? (1935).[1]
Legacy
Quentin Tarantino used the scene where Stevie is initially not allowed onto the bus due to the nitrate film he is carrying, in his film Inglourious Basterds. This was used to explain the use of nitrate film for the character's terrorist plot.
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 feature films, many of which are still widely watched and studied today. Known as the "Master of Suspense", he became as well known as any of his actors thanks to his many interviews, his cameo roles in most of his films, and his hosting and producing the television anthology Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955–65). His films garnered 46 Academy Award nominations, including six wins, although he never won the award for Best Director, despite five nominations.
Fury is a 1936 American crime film directed by Fritz Lang that tells the story of an innocent man who narrowly escapes being burned to death by a lynch mob and the revenge he then seeks. The film was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and stars Sylvia Sidney and Tracy, with a supporting cast featuring Walter Abel, Bruce Cabot, Edward Ellis and Walter Brennan. Loosely based on the events surrounding the Brooke Hart murder in San Jose, California, the film was adapted by Bartlett Cormack and Lang from the story Mob Rule by Norman Krasna. Fury was Lang's first American film.
Friedrich Robert Donat was an English actor. He is best remembered for his roles in Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps (1935) and Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939), winning for the latter the Academy Award for Best Actor.
Secret Agent is a 1936 British espionage thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, adapted from the play by Campbell Dixon, which in turn is loosely based on two stories in the 1927 collection Ashenden: Or the British Agent by W. Somerset Maugham. The film stars Madeleine Carroll, Peter Lorre, John Gielgud, and Robert Young. It also features uncredited appearances by Michael Redgrave, future star of Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes (1938), Michel Saint-Denis as the Coachman, and Michael Rennie in his film debut.
The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale is a novel by Joseph Conrad, first published in 1907. The story is set in London in 1886 and deals with Mr. Adolf Verloc and his work as a spy for an unnamed country. The Secret Agent is one of Conrad's later political novels in which he moved away from his former tales of seafaring. The novel is dedicated to H. G. Wells and deals broadly with anarchism, espionage, and terrorism. It also deals with exploitation of the vulnerable in Verloc's relationship with his brother-in-law Stevie, who has an intellectual disability. Conrad’s gloomy portrait of London depicted in the novel was influenced by Charles Dickens’ Bleak House.
Sidney Alderman Blackmer was an American Broadway and film actor active between 1914 and 1971, usually in major supporting roles.
Sylvia Sidney was an American stage, screen and film actress whose career spanned over 70 years. She rose to prominence in dozens of leading roles in the 1930s. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams in 1973. She later gained attention for her role as Juno, a case worker in the afterlife, in Tim Burton's 1988 film Beetlejuice, for which she won a Saturn Award as Best Supporting Actress.
Oskar Homolka was an Austrian film and theatre actor, who went on to work in Germany, Britain, and America. Both his voice and his appearance fitted him for roles as communist spies or Soviet officials, for which he was in regular demand. By the age of 30, he had appeared in more than 400 plays; his film career covered at least 100 films and TV shows.
Saboteur is a 1942 American spy thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock with a screenplay written by Peter Viertel, Joan Harrison and Dorothy Parker. The film stars Robert Cummings, Priscilla Lane and Norman Lloyd.
The 39 Steps is a 1935 British spy thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll. It is loosely based on the 1915 novel The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan. It concerns a Canadian civilian in London, Richard Hannay, who becomes caught up in preventing an organisation of spies called "The 39 Steps" from stealing British military secrets. Mistakenly accused of the murder of a counter-espionage agent, Hannay goes on the run to Scotland and becomes tangled up with an attractive woman, Pamela, while hoping to stop the spy ring and clear his name.
In 1922, Alfred Hitchcock obtained his first shot at directing for Gainsborough Pictures with the film Number 13 but due to financial difficulties was never completed.
John Loder was established as a British film actor in Germany and Britain before migrating to the United States in 1928 for work in the new talkies. He worked in Hollywood for two periods, becoming an American citizen in 1947. After living also in Argentina, he became a naturalized British citizen in 1959.
Charles Herbert Frend was an English film director and editor, best known for his films produced at Ealing Studios. He began directing in the early 1940s and is known for such films as Scott of the Antarctic (1948) and The Cruel Sea (1953).
The Adventures of Tartu is a 1943 British Second World War spy film directed by Harold S. Bucquet and starring Robert Donat. It was a morale booster of the era portraying Nazis as highly corruptible due to their desire to seduce women and to gain personal advancement.
Sydney Desmond Tester was an English film and television actor, host and executive. He was born in London, England, and started his career as child actor, among his most notable roles, was that of the ill-fated boy Stevie in the Alfred Hitchcock film Sabotage (1936).
Midshipman Easy is a 1935 British adventure film directed by Carol Reed and starring Hughie Green, Margaret Lockwood, Harry Tate and Robert Adams. The screenplay concerns a young man who runs away from home, joins the navy and goes to sea in the 1790s. He rescues a captive woman from a Spanish ship and battles pirates and smugglers. The film was based on the novel Mr Midshipman Easy (1836) by Frederick Marryat.
Frederick Piper was an English actor of stage and screen who appeared in over 80 films and many television productions in a career spanning over 40 years. Piper studied drama under Elsie Fogerty at the Central School of Speech and Drama, then based at the Royal Albert Hall, London.
The Secret Agent is a 1996 British drama-thriller film written and directed by Christopher Hampton and starring Bob Hoskins and Patricia Arquette. It is adapted from Joseph Conrad's 1907 novel of the same name.
The Secret Agent is a three-part British espionage television drama serial based on the 1907 novel The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad. The show stars Toby Jones, Vicky McClure, Stephen Graham, David Dawson and Ian Hart. The three-part series began airing on BBC One on 17 July 2016. It is the fourth BBC adaptation of the novel, others having previously been made in 1967, 1972 and 1992.
The Secret Agent is a 1992 drama miniseries in three parts, made for the BBC. Directed by David Drury, it is the television adaptation of the 1907 novel The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad. Starring David Suchet, Cheryl Campbell, and Peter Capaldi, it was first shown in the United Kingdom from 28 October to 11 November 1992. In the U.S. it was the final production introduced for Masterpiece Theatre by host Alistair Cooke.
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