Saboteur 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Saboteur 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Universal has released the 1942 Alfred Hitchcock film 'Saboteur' to the UHD format. The disc is currently available individually (this release) and as part of a larger five-film UHD boxed set along with Shadow of a Doubt, The Trouble with Harry, Marnie, and Family Plot. New specifications include 2160p/HDR video. No new audio track is included. No new extras are included, either, but the UHD disc does house all of the legacy supplements.

Saboteur 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The included screenshots are sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray disc.

As was the case with Shadow of a Doubt, viewers will note that a fairly substantial clean-up effort has been made to bring this image to a polish. While the odd speckle remains, the differences between this product and the previous Blu-ray, which featured a fair number of pops and scratches and vertical lines, are stark. Better, the image boasts superior clarity and textural exactness under the 2160p resolution parameters. The level of sharpness and definition are magnified by a good extent, improving overall image stability and fine detail across the board, even in darker scenes. The picture thrives with the newfound level of fine point intimacy, boasting excellent definition and attention to detail on faces and clothes but also the various cross-country highlight reel points of interest where viewers will find a new level of high-resolution details not available in any previous home video version. The picture features a handsome grain structure as well, though there are instances when it pushes very sharp and almost statically so rather than appear more organically inclined. Still, this is, texturally, a very good 4K image. The HDR grayscale is beautiful, too. Shade differentiation is nicely realized here with subtle gradations and exacting balance throughout. Black level depth is terrific, greatly outpacing the old Blu-ray for accuracy and stability, and the same can be said for whites, which are much brighter and far more vivid. This is a very satisfying UHD image from Universal, well deserving of the high-quality film it accompanies.

Saboteur 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Saboteur arrives on the 4K UHD format with a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 lossless soundtrack. The presentation is very good all around, certainly lacking the fullness and absolutely clarity a more recently engineered track could provide. This is faithful to the source, which has its limits for clarity (such as during the escape scene at a waterfall around the 27-minute mark and a rainstorm a few minutes later), but even without pinpoint audio engineering this lossless track handles duties well. Music is adequately wide, and dialogue is snuggled into a center imaged area. While not a perfect listen, any flaws seem to trace back to the source rather than to Universal's encode. Note that this does appear to be the same track the studio used for the 2013 Blu-ray. For a full audio review, please click here.

Saboteur 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

While no new supplements have been added for this release, the UHD disc itself does carry over the four legacy extras, which are outlined below (please click here for full review coverage). As it ships individually, the legacy Blu-ray disc is included. A Movies Anywhere digital copy code has been included with purchase. This release features an embossed slipcover.

• Saboteur: A Closer Look (1080p, 4x3, 35:06).
• Storyboards (1080p, 4x3, 3:41).
• Alferd Hitchcock's Sketches (1080p, 4x3, 1:11).
• Production Photographs (1080p, 4x3, 7:31).
• Theatrical Trailer (1080p, 4x3, 1:54).

Saboteur 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Universal has done nothing but up the video presentation for this release, but frankly that's plenty. The video presentation is very good, and fans are going to be very happy, to put it mildly, with the end result. The audio track is fine; there was no need to remix to multichannel. It would have been nice to see a few new extras thrown in for good measure, but what is here is fine. Very highly recommended, either individually or as part of the larger five-film collection.