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Sabotage (1936)
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Writers: Joseph Conrad (novel) Charles Bennett (screenplay)
Cast: Sylvia Sidney, Oskar Homolka, Desmond Tester
Genre: Suspense Thriller Drama
I wish the movie was as cool as that photo suggest! But I found this plenty average. Even by 1930s standards there wasn't anything to write home about. If this wasn't a Hitch film I doubt it would even be remembered. As far as the way the film was put together it all seemed to be pretty cohesive...that is until we get to the boy carry the bomb on the bus scene.
After the movie I listened to a 25 minute interview from the 1960s with Hitch and Peter Bogdanovich. Hitch said audiences at the time hated the boy on the bus scene, and that he would never again show a build up of suspense if the bomb was going to go off. He would only do it, if it didn't go off.
I'm not sure what audiences hated exactly about that scene, but what didn't work for me was the aftermath of little Stevie's death, and the way Hitch tried to show Sylvie Sidney reacting to his death. It just didn't work for me as it didn't feel like she had enough emotional impact on the screen, which then made me fall out of the story and stop believing what I was seeing. All this then caused the ending to be a let down.
The other weak point of the film is the Scotland Yard detective who's a love interest, he had zero chemistry and no screen presences. I read that Hitch had wanted another actor to play the role but he became sick and so was not available.
I had seen this movie before but it didn't really stay with me. A nice film, but nothing to special.
+
Sabotage (1936)
Writers: Joseph Conrad (novel) Charles Bennett (screenplay)
Cast: Sylvia Sidney, Oskar Homolka, Desmond Tester
Genre: Suspense Thriller Drama
"A saboteur is on the loose in London. He's part of a foreign conspiracy to set off a bomb so as to break the will of the British people. A Scotland Yard detective is hot on his trail. As the detective closes in on the bomber, the bomber begins to make mistakes." CR
I wish the movie was as cool as that photo suggest! But I found this plenty average. Even by 1930s standards there wasn't anything to write home about. If this wasn't a Hitch film I doubt it would even be remembered. As far as the way the film was put together it all seemed to be pretty cohesive...that is until we get to the boy carry the bomb on the bus scene.
After the movie I listened to a 25 minute interview from the 1960s with Hitch and Peter Bogdanovich. Hitch said audiences at the time hated the boy on the bus scene, and that he would never again show a build up of suspense if the bomb was going to go off. He would only do it, if it didn't go off.
I'm not sure what audiences hated exactly about that scene, but what didn't work for me was the aftermath of little Stevie's death, and the way Hitch tried to show Sylvie Sidney reacting to his death. It just didn't work for me as it didn't feel like she had enough emotional impact on the screen, which then made me fall out of the story and stop believing what I was seeing. All this then caused the ending to be a let down.
The other weak point of the film is the Scotland Yard detective who's a love interest, he had zero chemistry and no screen presences. I read that Hitch had wanted another actor to play the role but he became sick and so was not available.
I had seen this movie before but it didn't really stay with me. A nice film, but nothing to special.
+