Sabotage (1936)
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| Film poster for Sabotage under its alternate title "The Woman Alone" |
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
An unknown terrorist organization plotting attacks in public places of
London is the central piece for Alfred Hitchcock’s motion picture Sabotage. Adapted from the Joseph Conrad
novel “The Secret Agent,” the film is titled Sabotage to not be confused with Hitchcock’s earlier film The Secret Agent, deciding to instead
title the picture after the definition of the act meant to be carried out. Of
course, Hitchcock takes his liberties with the story as only this extremely
creative director can. Packed within its
rather small 75 minute time frame is great suspense, creative editing, and
inspired cinematography that craft this picture a formidable piece in the body
of work for Hitchcock.
Sabotage is a suspense tale
of a young woman that discovers her husband is a member of a secret terrorist
group planning attacks on London. Karl Verloc (Oskar Homolka), an owner of a
small neighborhood cinema, is a part of a secret band of terrorists from an
unnamed foreign country setting up attacks on English soil. His young wife
(Sylvia Sidney) is completely unaware of his intentions while befriending Ted,
an undercover agent posing as a neighboring grocer. As Ted’s true identity is
revealed and he cracks down on Verloc’s operation with fellow terrorists,
Verloc finds it more difficult to carry out his mission. In his stead Verloc
sends out Stevie (Desmond Tester), his wife’s dear kid brother, to unknowingly
place the bomb, which Stevie believes is only film cans, which is set to go off
at Piccadilly Circus at an exact time. Stevie becomes distracted causing the
bomb to fail to destroy its target, but killing the boy. Verloc confesses to
his wife of the bomb which killed her brother, and after a pause she mueders
her husband. Ted, who has come rather fond and sympathetic to her, tries to
keep her from confessing the murder to authorities, but in the act of
confession all evidence of the murder is erased as a second bomb that goes off
in the cinema destroys all evidence of the murder.
Through his mastery of taking inspirations of the original story and
turning it into plot points and characters at that work in the medium of
movies, Hitchcock creates a film that is highly engrossing and full of
suspense. The story centers first on Verloc, then moves its attention to his young
wife, to whom we become very sympathetic towards. In reality the audience is
the overall omniscient being that sees all and is brought to the edge of their
seats as we observe the events unfold on the screen. We know Verloc is guilty,
but we watch curiously as he creates and shares alibis. We know Stevie holds a
time bomb and we strain as an average boy he is easily distracted leading to
his ultimate demise. We know Ted Verloc’s wife is an innocent young lady naïve
to the actions of her husband, and we watch her become jaded by him, becoming a
emotional train wreck as she discovers his true self and the actions that
killed her brother.
Sylvia Sidney, an American actress seen in such films as City Streets and Fury, found Hitchcock too difficult to work with, never to star for
him again. She holds the emotional core of the picture up until she is told of
Stevie’s death. Then we transfer to Ted, played by John Loder, for the short
conclusion of the picture. Loder’s character comes off as a usual male lead
role in Hitchcock’s future films, playing the part of a man trying to play his
way undercover to accomplish his task, though here we have little actual
emotion connection to the male character. Oskar Homolka provides us with the
villain. His thick accent and eastern European looks makes him a fine, easy
target for audiences to dislike. On the cusp of what would be World War II,
Homolka becomes the face of an enemy in the picture for a real life threat
brewing up in Europe. Though never stated in the picture is obvious Verloc was
German, though Hitchcock would change the character’s first name for the original
Adolf as stated in the novel to Karl to avoid further allusions to the growing
foreign enemy.
The picture has “stars” with the names of the actors, but the true star
of the picture really is Hitchcock himself. Watching this film one would notice
the fine tuning of his cinematography, something Hitchcock planned out to
painstaking detail in storyboards, well before its wide use in filmmaking decades
later. His framing explained emotions, from emptiness with wide shots on individuals,
to inner struggle in close ups of the wife with very vacant eyes as she
considers her revenge. He would move the camera more, while at the same time
showing less, understanding that audience knows what is there and what the
characters are doing or observing, but stays focused on the inner emotion of
the characters than the actions that are carrying out.
Perhaps the finest moments of suspense in the picture is that of Stevie
unknowingly carrying the bomb that is set to go off as the boy becomes
distracted and slowed, leading to his death on a city bus while delivering the
package. All within the same scene we are made aware of the package, its
significance, and its time for it to go off. We fear for Stevie as he is
continually delayed, first by his own accord, then by public events that stop
him. Will he make it on time to deliver the bomb and get away? Or will he not
make it? Will others be hurt? He is just an innocent boy doing innocent things,
yet it is the most suspense in the picture as he just stops to look at a
traveling salesman or gets caught behind a parade. It is also the most
surprising moment in the film as he bomb eventually explodes, killing poor Stevie
and all people on the bus. This moment was an adaption inspired by the original
novel, but shocked critics for the gruesomeness of an idea. Decades later
Hitchcock was said to have regretted the decision to make the scene as he did,
wishing he did not kill the boy in the end.
On a small note is the appearance of a Walt Disney Silly Symphony “Who Killed Cock Robin?” Due to the film taking
place primarily around a cinema, an aspect that Hitchcock changed to from the
original book, it allowed him to allude to modern films. In it he makes note of
audience’s fascination to murder mystery movies many times, but for a short
time he shows this Disney cartoon. Disney was the top animation studio of the
time in America and around the world, something not highly thought of in
creative circles during the period, but was known for its quality. Here
Hitchcock uses the cartoon as a moment to break the wife’s haze before clearing
her thoughts as the cartoon starts to sing “Who Killed Cock Robin?” It may not
seem like much, but it does link Hitchcock to Disney, and gives Disney an added
sense of how much it affected people and the world with its animation. It might
be looking into it too much to say so, but Disney was the small studio about
rise to unknown heights very soon, and here we see a glimmer of how well the
studio and its productions were received; at least in Britain.
Sabotage would in future
years be somewhat of a lesser known film of Hitchcock, with him in coming years
finally making his way to Hollywood and proceeding forward with cinema history.
This picture is a fine example of the great understands the director had over
his medium. He took a novel and nearly completely changed it, keeping only core
ideas and still managed to make a wonderful film. The picture pulls you in and
makes you feel suspense on a more intimate level. Clawing at your armrests you
wait for something you know that will happen. This is a sign of a very well
made picture.
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