Sabotage Synopsis

Mr. Verloc is part of a gang of foreign saboteurs bent on the destruction of London. His nephew becomes an innocent victim of their plot. Meanwhile, Scotland Yard assigns an undercover detective to observe the gang.

Based on the Joseph Conrad novel The Secret Agent, this riveting drama stars Oscar Homolka as saboteur Karl Verloc, the owner of a small London cinema. Unknown to his wife (Sylvia Sidney) and her teenage brother Stevie (Desmond Tester), Verloc uses the theater as a front for his sinister terrorist activities, which eventually results in the shocking death of little Stevie. Verloc, though guilt-ridden, remains committed to his destructive plans.

When the Scotland Yard undercover detective (John Loder) reveals the truth to Mrs. Verloc, she vows revenge for the senseless killing of her brother and the other victims of her husband's deadly plot. Along the way, the detective falls in love with the grief-stricken Mrs. Verloc.

Directed by

Alfred Hitchcock

Writers

Joseph Conrad  Ian Hay
Jesse Lasky Jr.
 Helen Simpson
 E.V.H. Emmett

Producers

Michael Balcon ... producer
Ivor Montagu ... associate producer

Cast

Sylvia Sydney¹ ... Mrs. Verloc
Oscar Homolka¹ ... Karl Anton Verloc
Desmond Tester ... Steve
John Loder ... Sgt. Ted Spencer
Joyce Barbour ... Renee
Matthew Boulton ... Superintendent Talbot
S.J. Warmington ... Hollingshead
William Dewhurst ... The Professor
Frank Atkinson
Arnold Bell
Pamela Bevan
Peter Bull ... Michaelis
Albert Chevalier
D.A. Clarke-Smith Hal Gordon
Clare Greet ... Mrs. Jones (the cook)
Charles Hawtrey ... Studious youth at the aquarium
Martita Hunt ... The professor's daughter
Mike Johnson ... Extra In cinema crowd
Aubrey Mather ... W. Brown & Sons greengrocer
Frederick Piper ... Bus conductor
Torin Thatcher ... Yunct
Austin Trevor ... Vladimir
Jack Vyvian ... Detective
Sam Wilkinson ... Cinema patron who wants his money back

Original Music

Hubert Bath
Jack Beaver
Louis Levy

Cinematographers

Editors

Art Directors

O. Werndorff
Albert Jullion

Assistant Directors

Camera and Electrical Department

Costume Designers and Wardrobe Department

J. Strassner
Marianne ... wardrobe

Music Department

Sound Department

Production Companies

Gaumont British Picture Corporation

Shepherd