Search - Alfred Hitchcock Collection, Vol. 1: Sabotage on DVD

Sabotage

Leo Catalano | San Francisco,, CA United States | 04/07/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I am an early Hitchcock film lover. His early British films show the Hitchcock touch starting to emerge. What I especially love about this series is the excellent remastering that was done with them. The old copy of "Sabotage" that I have is dark and not clear. This series has made an excellent effort at "cleaning up the picture", improving the sound, and making the movie much more enjoyable. Thank you for preserving these old Hitchcock treasures. Please keep it going!
Leo Catalano"

Early Hitch Suspense Thriller!

Scotman | Mt. Shasta, CA | 05/17/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Early Alfred Hitchcock thriller, set in late 1930s London. A Scotland Yard detective posing as a fruit stand salesman, is casing this small London theater, watching this man who may be involved in terrorist activities.

The film starts where there is a sudden blackout across London. Some men show up and each says only one or two words: "Sabotage!" and "On Purpose!" Quite dramatic. The English though get together and start to laugh about it.

The newspapers read "London Laughs at Blackout!"

Well, the instigator {Velock} and his boss (a mysterious guy in a bowler hat who hangs out at the zoo of all places) meet and the boss is not happy. He arranged to have our reluctant fellow plant some explosive at Piccadilly Circus. Our boy is desperate for money and so goes along with the plan.

Saturday is set. Velock gets a note: "London must not laugh on Saturday".

Meantime our detective friend's cover is blown!

Meantime, while our detective friend is still trying to get info from Velock's wife, Velock receives a bird cage. (One of the terrorists is an explosives expert who runs a bird shop as a front). Inside the case is a small box.

Velock leaves with it. The suspense builds as you sympathize with Velock's wife, who has no clue that her husband has gotten involved in terrorism, heartache for the detective who clearly likes the guy's wife and kid, and terror as no one but a select few know where the bomb is to be planted.

Velock can't leave the theater for fear of police involvement, so he uses his wife's 12 year old brother to take the package away to a cloakroom at the Circus. The cad! Trouble is, this boy gets distracted easily. And as you see him hanging out with this time bomb, it's really scary!

The audience can only guess what device is in this wrapped box! Will it detonate? Yikes!

Hitch keeps showing clocks, 1:15 is getting closer and closer as our boy is watching a parade! OMG! Everything is so sweet & innocent, life goes on as death is in their midst. Amazingly done.

And people do die in this film. Indeed so!

I'm leaving a lot out of the story so as to avoid spoilers, but I really like the action and the building of suspense here. The film has a different pacing than his later American films, but has that suspense, through expert photography and script, to keep an audience on the edge of their seats.

Recommend:

Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection (Lifeboat / Spellbound / Notorious / The Paradine Case / Sabotage / Young and Innocent / Rebecca / The Lodger)
"