Mise-En-Scene, Shots and Sound: Hitchcock’s Spare Use of Cinematic Repertoire in Sabotage’s Murder Sequence

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Alfred Hitchcock’s innovative and seminal contributions to cinema are visible all through his films, as evidenced by the fact that his name is associated with at least one zoom technique. The murder sequence in Sabotage is a clear example of this creativity. This segment of the film, which could be merely sensational, nonetheless reveals several profound characteristics of the relationship between Sylvia and her husband Verloc, and with her dead brother.

Hitchcock accomplishes this using a simple vocabulary of shots and angles, a few crucial sound effects, and no special effects. In addition to masterful acting by the protagonists, Hitchcock uses the objects in the scene almost as characters. To allow the actors to communicate the maximum content with the least amount of dialogue and overt violence, Hitchcock targets his application of the modest range of shot types in this section of the film.

At the outset of this sequence, Hitchcock uses an element in the environment; Disney cartoon; to demonstrate that, in spite of her apparent equanimity, Sylvia is catastrophically devastated by her brother’s death. On the movie screen, the innocent and charming Cock Robin bird, shot dead senselessly by an unidentified assailant, comes all too close to her brother’s death by explosion through no fault of his own. She telegraphs her inner distress as her facial expression collapses.

If she had simply broken down and cried, it would not have led the audience along with her. The audience is led with her to her own realization of her loss and her growing uncertainties about her husband.

Another element of the environment, the dinner set up with cutlery by the cook, serves to signal Sylvia’s increasing distress with her husband and recent events.

Verloc’s complete obliviousness to the effect of Stevie’s murder is signaled by his interaction with the table setting. He demonstrates his unconcern over her loss through his self-centered attention to fiddling with the covered dishes. He samples the food and complains about the greens; reminding both of them of Stevie’s death by suggesting that fresh greens be sent for. This task was allocated to Stevie in life, and the camera shot on the chair draws the viewer’s attention to his absence.

Near the end of the segment, Hitchcock assigns to another element in the mise-en-scene a crucial part. The caged birds chirp and hop with apparent unconcern. They remain bonded in a way that Sylvia and Verloc are no more, and perhaps never were.

Hitchcock uses a relatively restrained repertoire of shots to telegraph the interior processes of his characters. Hitchcock focuses the camera closely on the knife, and then her face, and then shows us how disturbing Sylvia’s own thoughts are to her by drawing the focus back into a more distant shot, to let us see her push the knife away from her in horror. We see the train of thoughts as clearly as if she had mused on murder aloud.

Verloc’s gaze, captured in close-up, fixes on the same cutlery, and his expression almost makes the viewer forget that the cutlery itself is not what can kill, but the bereaved and betrayed sister. When she takes up the knife too swiftly for him to get it, Sylvia has taken yet another step in her journey of preparing herself to avenge her brother. Thus, when, close to the end of this clip, after Sylvia has, apparently without completely intending to at that moment, plunged the knife into Verloc’s innards, we are not entirely surprised.

The segment is also characterized by a paucity of notable sounds. After Sylvia is out of range of the theatre, there is near silence. Hitchcock combines the few sounds he does use with careful camera use to further emphasize the internal thought processes of the characters. The viewer hears Verloc’s petulant and critical complaints, the clatter of cutlery as Sylvia thrusts it from her, the creaking of shoes and the expostulations of both Verloc and his wife as he comes to grips with her.

However, the camera cuts between Sylvia’s face, Verloc’s face, and the knife to draw the eye first to the knife cutting meat, then impaling the potato, then pushed away with a rare burst of sound, then, finally, Sylvia’s hands. Hitchcock gives the viewer Verloc’s point of view at this point, focusing on her folded hands, her wedding ring prominently visible right across the table from him.

As the viewer sees realization of his risk of reprisal dawning on Verloc, the camera follows him as he rises and circles the table. This demonstrates the deliberateness of Hitchcock’s austere choices elsewhere in this segment. Verloc’s murder is up close, but his death is shot from a greater distance, allowing us to infer Sylvia’s almost immediate abandonment of resuscitation. The bizarre floor-level final angle reprises Verloc’s point of view.

Hitchcock’s use of mise-en-scene and sparing use of special angles, shots, and sound all work together. They help us to understand Sylvia’s gradual approach to her murder of her husband.

SHOT # Starts at:	DURATION	SCALE	ANGLE	CAMERA MOV.	TRANSIT- ION(S)	SOUND	ADD’L COMMENTS
1: 0	12 sec	Long shot	Level	None	Cut	Synchronous diegetic	Audience is appreciative
2: 12	3 sec	Close-up	Level	None	Cut	Asynchronous diegetic	Reaction shot; Sylvia appears happy
3:15	13	Long shot	level	None	Cut	Synchronous diegetic	Audience is appreciative
4:28	3	Close-up	level	None	Cut	Asynchronous diegetic	Reaction shot: Sylvia appears shocked
5:31	2	Long shot	level	None	Cut	Synchronous diegetic	Audience is appreciative
6:33	2	Close-up	level	None	Cut	Asynchronous diegetic	Reaction shot: Sylvia’s face crumples
7:35	12	Two-shot then a panning and tracking shot	Slightly high angle	Camera follows her as she rises and walks down aisle to exit	Cut	Asynchronous Diegetic And Synchronous diegetic (dialogue)	Sylvia appears stricken. Housekeeper stops by to announce that dinner is dished up, & she is leaving, nearly indistinguishably. Sylvia rises, walks towards exit
8:56	3	Medium shot	Tiny elevation in angle	Camera tracks her as she comes to door and opens it	Cut	Asynchronous diegetic	Sylvia exits the theatre and enters the adjoining living quarters: appears distressed but walks purposefully
9:59	7	Medium shot	Slightly below level angle – at level of table or waist	Camera follows her as she enters, approaches the table and lifts the covers	Cut	Appears to be silent	Sylvia opens door, closes it, approaches table, lifts covers and begins serving food for the seated Verloc hastily
10:1.06	6	Medium shot	Level with Verloc’s upper torso	None	Cut	Verloc speaks	Verloc tells Sylvia to pull herself together, and nods approvingly
11: 1.12	3	Medium shot	Level with Sylvia’s waist	None	Cut	silence	Sylvia scowls while serving
12: 1.15	9	Medium shot	Level with the Verloc’s upper torso	None	Cut	Initial silence followed by Verloc’s complaint about cabbage	He lifts the covers, tastes the food, scowls at the cabbage
13: 1.24	2	Medium shot	Level with Sylvia’s waist	None	Cut	Asynchronous Diegetic Verloc complaining about the cabbage	Sylvia looks at him with apparent incredulity or irritation
14: 1.26	5	Medium shot	Level with the Verloc’s upper torso	None	Cut	Synchronous diegetic: Verloc complaining about overcooked cabbage	Verloc continues to complain about the cooks’ inability to properly cook greens
15: 1.31	3	Medium shot	Level with Sylvia’s waist	None	Cut	silence	She serves food, cutting meat and dishing up potatoes
16: 1.34	11	close-up	Slightly elevated angle	Tracks her gaze down to her hands and the cutlery	Cut	silence	Camera focuses on meat knife impaling potato
17: 1.45	4	Close–up	Level but slightly elevated	None	cut	silence	She raises her eyes
18: 1.49	7	Medium shot	Level with her shoulders			Synchronous diegetic Clatter of cutlery	She almost throws knife away from her
19: 1.56	4	Medium shot	Level	None	Cut	Synchronous diegetic Verloc eschewing cabbage	He scrunches up his face, and asks whether they could not send out for lettuce, a task usually assigned to the exploded Stevie.
20: 2.0	4	Medium shot	Slightly below level	None	Cut	Sudden silence	Sylvia appears appalled
21: 2.04	1	Medium shot	Level	None	Cut	Silence	He scowls and looks at her
22: 2:05	1	Medium shot	Level	None	cut	Silence	She looks to her right and down.
23: 2.06	2	Medium shot	Slightly elevated angle	None	Cut	Silence	The brother’s empty chair
24: 2.08	5	Medium shot	Slightly depressed angle	None	Cut	Silence	Sylvia looks at chair and then at food
25: 2.13	4	Close-up	High angle	None	Cute	Silence	Serving plate with meat on it
26: 2.17	11	Medium shot – slightly pulled back, then coming in for more of a close-up at 2.27 of this clip	Level	None	Cut	Silence until 2.22 of this clip, when the cutlery clatter on the plate	Sylvia continues serving food, lingering over the knife stuck in the potato, suggesting uncertainty about what to do with her cutlery and her hands, which she finally clasps. As the camera focuses on her comes in close, she looks at Verloc with a trembling lip.
27: 2.28	4	Close-up	Level	None	Cut	Silence	Verloc scowls, tilts his head, looks towards the cutlery
28: 2.32	4	Close-up	Level	None	cut	Silence	Sylvia’s hands at waist level clasped with her wedding ring showing
29: 2.36	6	Close-up	Level		Cut	Silence	Verloc’s eyebrows suggest realization
30: 2.42	3	Medium shot	Level	None	Cut	Silence	Sylvia appears agitated
31: 2.45	5	Close-up	Level	None	Cut	Silence	Verloc appears apprehensive- makes premonitory motions to get up, almost rising out of the frame
32: 2.50	19	Medium shot	Slightly elevated	Camera tracks him as he rises and moves around table, pulling in close at end of shot	Cut	Synchronous diegetic: creak of chair	Verloc continues rising and moving around table
33: 3.09	5	Medium shot	Level	Focus pulls in on Sylvia	Cut	Asynchronous diegetic: creaking of Verloc’s shoes	Sylvia appears worried, agitated, uncertain what to do or think or feel.
34: 3.14	20	Two shot	Level, then following both their gazes down to the knife and then up again	Pulling in closer to the two heads	Cut	Asynchronous diegetic: creaking of Verloc’s shoes Then Synchronous diegetic: Verloc utters something indistinguishable and Sylvia cries out	Sylvia appears terrified. Verloc approaches close, makes an indistinguishable utterance, and then they both nearly simultaneously cry out.
35: 3.34	2	Close-up two shot at chest level	level	none	Cut	Silence	Knife in Verloc’s midsection
36: 3.36	6	Long-to-medium 2-shot	level	None	Cut	Synchronous diegetic – Sound of falling body	Verloc collapses in her arms and she lets him fall
37: 3.42	8	Close-up	Level	None	Cut	Silence, then Asynchronous diegetic: bird chirps	Reaction to the dying body, then looking across room
38: 3.50	1	Close-up	High angle	None	Cut	Synchronous diegetic: chirps	Lovebirds in cage, chirping and hopping
39: 3.51	12	Close-up	Level	None	Cut	Synchronous diegetic: Sylvia whispers	She looks around in distress while saying “Stevie, Stevie.”
40: 4.03	23	Long interior shot	Foot level	None	Fade to black	Synchronous diegetic: Sylvia’s footsteps	She steps unsteadily around the body, steadies herself on a side table, and sits down in the far hallway with her forehead in her hand

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Mise-En-Scene, Shots and Sound: Hitchcock’s Spare Use of Cinematic Repertoire in Sabotage’s Murder Sequence

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