In 1936, Hitchcock released two films. Secret Agent and Sabotage. Secret Agent was based on two stories in W. Somerset Maugham's Ashenden: Or the British Agent, while Sabotage is based on Joseph Conrad's Secret Agent. If this wasn't confusing enough, 6 years later he would released a film entitled Saboteur, which has no relation to Sabotage. All in all, there is often confusion among viewers as to which film is which, and I am sure in a month's time after having seen all three films, I will be unable to assign the plots to the proper titles.I have a confession to make: I feel asleep during the movie. I did go back and finish it the following day, and since I started it and meant to finish on the same day, there isn't a break in the goal. I'm not sure if the movie was that boring, or if I was just really tired, but that's what I get for watching most of these movies lying in bed late at night.
During WW1, the British Intelligent fakes the death of a soldier, who they send to Switzerland to carry out a secret mission. In Switzerland, he meets up with a female agent playing his wife and a contact in the country. The three of them must track down an enemy spy who will be fleeing behind enemy lines soon with information that would put British troops in the East in serious trouble. There is the usual Hitcockian elements throughout, and perhaps because I've seen so many, that these elements allowed me to quickly guess the entire plot from the first 10 minutes. Already having a good idea of how the film was going to carryout had me less involved in the film, probably why I fell asleep. Overall nothing spectacular. An early thriller that uses a few of the elements he'll later become known for but in an obvious way that lends to being very predictable.
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