Soundtrack and home video
- Not just Torn Curtain: Saboteur also has two separate scores
- The alternate score is on most physical home video releases
- Carefully chosen diegetic music underlines key plot points
- Three different transfers on three home video disc formats
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Saboteur: Writing on a Classic | Collectors Guide, Pt 2: Soundtrack and home video
Spanish reissue DVD; sleeve based on US original and 1948 Realart re-release lobby cards
Contents
- Soundtrack
- Home video
- Related articles
Soundtrack
Although it’s based on an original screenplay, Saboteur is surprisingly among the few Hitch films birthing no discernible remakes or spin-offs whatsoever, whether on stage, radio, TV, cinema or any other media. What’s more, as with the similarly propagandist Foreign Correspondent before it, there have been no re-recordings or releases of Saboteur’s stirring score. That is, apart from a minute of music lifted directly from the striking opening credits of the film itself on Enlightenment’s bootleg set, Alfred Hitchcock: The Classic Soundtrack Collection. Save your money and stick to the clip above.
Said score is by incredibly prolific composer Frank Skinner, who started out with several decades as a vaudeville pianist, noted arranger for New York dance orchestras and music publisher. In his late 30s, he moved onto composing and arranging for the screen, spending almost all of his second career crafting custom and stock music for all manner – around 700! – of features, shorts and TV shows at Universal Studios.
- Frank Skinner’s New Method for Orchestra Scoring (1935)
- Underscore: A Guide to Scoring Music for Films or Television (1960) – Frank Skinner
Skinner’s score, in addition to briefly harking back to his dance band days in Saboteur’s ballroom scene, is also bolstered by various instances of diegetic music, all of which hold particular significance to the plot. Perhaps the most notable of these are two snatches of then current hits. When Kane visits Mrs. Mason, a radio is playing an uncredited instrumental version of quintessential WWII classic “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy“, first performed by The Andrews Sisters in Buck Privates, Abbott and Costello’s 1941 army comedy. (As an aside, am I the only one who thinks the song reminiscent of “Johnny B. Goode“?!) The second is sung by the saboteur gang while driving to New York; “Tonight We Love” by Freddy Martin and His Orchestra featuring Clyde Rogers is a since much-covered tune adapted from Tchaikovsky’s “Piano Concerto in B Flat Minor”.
After the defiantly resolute Kane hitches a lift in a truck, we hear him whistling Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67, aligning with its author’s theme of heroic struggle. Further, it was taken up by the Allies in WWII as a symbol of victory over the Axis powers as the opening “da-da-da-dum” motif serendipitously equates to the letter “V” in Morse code. Elsewhere in the film, the patriotic American evergreen “Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean” is played by a band at the battleship’s launch. And let’s not overlook the piano rendition of Summer Night on the River, one of Delius’s Two Pieces for Small Orchestra, by Patricia Martin’s blind uncle Philip who, despite his disability, sees more than most sighted people. His instinctive, unerring faith in someone he recognises as an innocent soul in need of help recalls that given by another kindly uncle, Erica Burgoyne’s in Young and Innocent, and the crofter’s wife Margaret in The 39 Steps.
Especially given its contentious subject matter, like many Allied films of the period Saboteur didn’t surface in many war-ravaged countries until long after the dust had begun to settle. Even then, much overt political content had to be removed, as already happened on its original release: problematic footage was excised altogether and dubbed dialogue was often heavily rewritten. This also occurred with Foreign Correspondent and various other Hitchcocks. For its December 1949 French theatrical release, Saboteur was edited down from its original 109 to 97 minutes; the French DVD exclusively includes the original and censored versions, with the latter separately encoded and dubbed.
1958 German poster
In Germany, Saboteur understandably didn’t appear until even longer after WWII – May 1958, in fact. It was accompanied by a then new dub (alt), which appears on the identical DVDs issued in Germany, UK, Australia, Scandinavia and the Netherlands; all non-American BDs; and all 4k discs. It retains Skinner’s rousing, martial music for the opening credits but following that, as happened with the bowdlerised German edit of Correspondent, the entire film is rescored; this time by German composer Kurt Heuser. Thankfully though, Saboteur wasn’t cut there on release, so the dub runs for its full length and makes for a fascinating comparison. It’s on the identical UK, German, Dutch, Scandinavian and Australian DVDs; and all the identical BDs and UHD-BDs.
Heuser frequently opts for more graceful, reflective themes, rather than Skinner’s almost relentless, strident orchestration. This is particularly apparent in the end credits; whereas the original is brash and triumphant, the rescore is much softer and a little melancholic, perhaps reflecting that it’s no time for celebration. After all, numerous innocent people have just died and though the chase is ended, the bloodiest fighting is far from over on the global stage. Largely designed as propaganda, it can’t be denied the film is often overly talky and heavy-handed; Heuser’s accompaniment goes some way to smoothing its jagged edges and is easily the equal of the original music most are used to. It’s worth watching (and listening to) it this way at least once – natürlich mit Untertiteln, wenn Sie kein Deutsch sprechen.
When the 4k release was first announced, my first thought was rather than repeatedly giving us the same old content, albeit with incrementally improved A/V on the feature (as they did), a major selling point would be the option of the German score wedded to the English dialogue and effects – “The version you’ve never heard!” If a music and effects-only dubbing track or even the original music stems, or (likely stereo) tape masters survive, it would be a relatively simple process but this was mere wishful thinking; it is, after all, Universal we’re talking about. Their modus operandi is giving us nothing new in the audio department unless it’s something no one needs or ever asked for, such as the ersatz remixes for Vertigo and Psycho.
Swedish poster by Gosta Aberg
Preserved transfer
This 2001 US DVD features a colorized publicity still from an original US lobby card; set
Saboteur follows the same release pattern of many Hitch Universals, in that from 2001 an older video-era master was issued on DVD worldwide and each country has reissued the exact same disc ever since. North America is the sole exception, where a 2005 remaster first appeared in the 15-DVD Masterpiece Collection then was released separately the following year and ever since. Saboteur’s older transfer is no slouch: it’s slightly dark, grainy and worn in spots but overall has an organic, filmlike texture that suits the story well.
- Germany: DVD (2001, reissued 2006)
- France: DVD (2001, reissued 2006/2007, 2013, 2017)
- Spain: DVD/alt (2001, reissued 2008)
- Also issued in Japan, Mexico, Brazil, etc
Remastered transfer
US DVD
- US/Canada: DVD (2006), also in these box sets
- US: BD (2013)
- Canada: BD (2013)
- UK: BD (2013)
The remaster has several pluses over the previous transfer: it’s clearly taken from an earlier generation, better condition element and has more info on all sides. But its migration to US-only DVD could have been handled better as it suffers from slight vertical stretching and has been a little over-brightened and DNRed, losing some grain and detail in the process. This leads to it looking somewhat more flat and washed-out than it should.
- Italy: BD (2013)
- Germany: BD (2013)
- France: BD (2013)
- Spain: BD (2013)
- BD also issued in Japan, Mexico, Brazil, etc
Thankfully, none of these flaws manifested in the remaster’s move to BD and it easily beats the previous versions in all areas. All of Universal’s Hitch BDs, which first arrived in 2012 box sets, are exactly the same everywhere, being region free and primarily in English with some regional variations in sub/dub options. In Saboteur’s case there are only a few discs, the main ones being the North American with English, French, Spanish subs and English audio. Most prevalent is the one issued almost everywhere else, with a total of 14 sub and nine audio language options, and which includes the previously described 1958 German dub with its fascinating, full length alternate score.
UK BD
Restored transfer
US 4k UHD-BD/BD
For its 2022 appearance on UHD-BD, Saboteur was remastered in 4k and given an extensive clean-up, so is now even more detailed and virtually spotless, with almost all persistent flaws minimised or even removed altogether. All 4k discs carry over the previous extras and these are the only individual releases; most countries have it in a box set.
Summary
All DVDs and BDs worldwide are alike in terms of image and extras; the former have a very good older transfer, the latter a superior remaster. The sole exception is the US DVD issued from 2005 onwards, with its remastered but slightly flawed transfer that’s something of a sidegrade from all previous DVDs. And at least visually, the latest 4k remaster is expectedly the best of the lot.
All discs feature the same extras, first produced for DVD: the “Saboteur: A Closer Look” featurette (2000, 35:20), original trailer (1:55) and three image galleries (3:40, 1:10, 7:30). You’ll find many comparative screenshots courtesy of the invaluable Hitchcock Zone: various DVDs and BD, Caps-a-holic: BD and 2001 DVD, and DVDClassik: French BD and DVD.
Though far fewer than the literally countless bootlegs of Hitch’s British films, there are still many rip-offs. This time it’s anything not from Universal, such as those from Spain (A&R Productions), Chile (Cinematekka/box), East Asia (Cine Korea, Cleo Entertainment), Russia (Deval), etc.
Original US poster art
Saboteur: Writing on a Classic | Collectors Guide, Pt 2: Soundtrack and home video
Related articles
This is part of a unique, in-depth series of 150-odd Hitchcock articles.
