Cat. No. DVDM 1662: SABOTAGE ~ SYLVIA SIDNEY / OSCAR HOMOLKA / JOHN LODER. FORCE ENT. FV1496.
FORMAT: PAL REGION: 4.
BLACK & WHITE RUNNING TIME: 67 MINS.
REVIEW: Sabotage was based on story by Joseph Conrad (originally titled Secret Agent). As Secret Agent was the title of Hitchcock’s previous picture, it was renamed. The film was the most controversial he produced in Britain because of one scene where a young boy is killed. Hitchcock told Ken Ferguson in a 1970 interview that this was the biggest mistake he had ever made in a film. The film was actually banned in Brazil because it upset public order, according to the government of this country. Hitchcock had permission from Walt Disney to include a scene from the Silly Symphony cartoon Who Killed Cock Robin? It is shown just as Sylvia Verloc (Sylvia Sydney) learns of her brothers death. She sits in the darkened theatre listening to the laughter of the audience, not knowing whether to laugh or cry over her tragic loss.
Verloc (Oscar Homoika) is a saboteur who uses his cinema as a camouflage. His wife (Sidney) and her young brother (Desmond Tester) reside with him. Ted, an investigator posing as a grocery clerk, becomes friendly with Mrs. Verloc and her brother. When is comes to light that he is an agent and Verloc is accused of sabotage Verloc gives the boy a parcel containing a bomb. The scene in which the young boy unknowingly carries the explosive onto a crowded London bus is one of the most terrifying and mind-lingering moments ever put on film. A true Hitchcock classic!
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