Sabotage (the 1936 film)

Sabotage (1936)

Runtime: 76 minutes

Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock

Starring: Sylvia Sidney, Oskar Homolka, Desmond Tester, John Loder

From: Gaumont British Picture Corporation

Listen all of y'all, this is a review to the 1936 film Sabotage from Hitchcock (like the one I reviewed last night, A Lady Vanishes, back in his old British days); I am not reviewing again that awful Arnie movie which came out earlier this year with the same title. The review I did then makes it clear I'd rather not watch it ever again. Before anyone asks, no one in this movie is like Buddy Rich when they fly off the handle... OK, I'll stop with the reference to the Beastie Boys song, but the Buddy Rich “bus tapes” are pretty darn funny due to how deranged and how much of an A-hole he was when he was angry.

To steal the plot description from the IMDb: “Mr. Verloc is part of a gang of foreign saboteurs operating out of London. He manages a small cinema with his wife and her teenage brother as a cover, but they know nothing of his secret. Scotland Yard assign an undercover detective to work at the shop next to the cinema in order to observe the gang.” By the way, it's revealed almost right away that Mr. Verloc is one of the bad guys so that's not a spoiler; it's not a mystery as to whether he's engaging in the title act or not; rather it's suspenseful as the detective is investigating him without trying to get found out.

Overall, I am sure I'd rate the movie as about 3 stars on Letterboxd; for many directors they'd enjoy having a movie rated in such a way. With Hitchcock, though... that means it's pretty much a minor work for him. For me that's alright as that was before he got into Hollywood and he went on an amazing run where most of his work was from very good to great; here he was still honing his craft and paying his dues and getting experience before making it in America.

The movie was interesting, it had some real nice moments and a cool ending. Yet, despite that and a short running time, it overall is “only” a 3 star movie. It's a nice watch but in no way is it anything like the genius of Psycho, Rear Window, North by Northwest or Strangers on a Train. As long as you know that going in... you'll enjoy it and not feel let down.

I'll return Friday night.