# Hitchcock's "Sabotage" (1936) on TCM at 8:00 tonight!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchcocks-sabotage-1936-on-tcm-at-8-00-tonight/257352>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [July 28, 2004, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchcocks-sabotage-1936-on-tcm-at-8-00-tonight/257352 "2004-07-28T23:59:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchcocks-sabotage-1936-on-tcm-at-8-00-tonight/257352/1 "2004-07-28T23:59:33Z")

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…Starring Sylvia Sydney (the old lady in “Mars Attacks”), Oscar Homolka, and John Loder.

The only strike against this one is the awful sound & print quality – at least of the version I’ve owned on VHS and DVD.

Anyway, it’s a taut, gritty thriller under its deceptively domestic-melodrama veneer (a pattern Hitch would use again, in **Shadow of a Doubt** ).

If you’ve never caught this one before, do try it. It’s been one of my Hitchcock faves for many years…

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**Author:** ![Albert\_Rose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Albert\_Rose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Albert_Rose)\
**Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchcocks-sabotage-1936-on-tcm-at-8-00-tonight/257352/2 "2004-07-29T00:21:17Z")

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It was based on Joseph Conrad’s _Secret Agent_, incidentally. I like the movie – the kitchen knife scene is famous in film classes all over the land.

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**Author:** ![Victoria\_Silverwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8c91f0/32.png) [@Victoria\_Silverwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Victoria_Silverwolf)\
**Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchcocks-sabotage-1936-on-tcm-at-8-00-tonight/257352/3 "2004-07-29T06:18:17Z")

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This is a fine film. Without giving away too much, the plot depends on the death of a particular character which is shocking even today. (In the sense of “I can’t believe they killed so-and-so.”) There’s a scene on a bus which is full of nail-biting suspense. Don’t get it mixed up with **Saboteur** , which is also a fine Hitchcock film.