[The Australian Panther]

Watching a DVD collection of 'The George Sanders SAINT'.
Went looking for Saint movies.  A few surprises.

Here is a link. To a fan-made list. So may not be complete.
The Saint Movies
https://www.imdb.com/list/ls058140002/

My collection doesn't include 'The Saint in New York' but does include all the other Sanders Saint movies.
Since its a Sanders collection it doesn't include,
The Saint's Vacation and The Saint's Girl Friday.
The next two Saint movies he lists aren't until 1960 - and they both appear to be French.
the dance of death 1960
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fU6OuZUxpCs
Is not a Saint movie but is based apparently on 'an idea by Lesile Charteris' - possibly they couldn't get the rights to the Saint?
The Saint Lies in Wait (1966) Stars Jean Marais
Not on YouTube but it looks good!

Then there are movies which are stitched together episodes of the TV series.
Then there is Andrew Clarke as ' The Saint in Manhattan' which I believe was a pilot. Mustache? Seriously?   
Then are 6 movies starring Simon Dutton, which I know nothing about. Also, Simon Dutton to my eyes looks nothing like the Saint.     

Then there is this one, apparently produced by Roger Moore and too new to be on that list.
The Saint Full Movie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c12Wis0w8TA
High Production values.

Simon Templar (The Saint), is a thief for hire, whose latest job to steal the secret process for cold fusion puts him at odds with a traitor bent on toppling the Russian government, as well as the woman who holds its secret. 

Not a bad movie for its type, but more James Bond than the Saint.
Can't work out who the lead actor is. He's not bad though.
Cheers!
       

[profh0011]

I've recently re-watched the first 8 films as part of my general 1930s-40s marathon.  I was considering upgrading to DVD, but there was just too many other things I was spending monmey for at the moment, and decided to put it off.  (Crazy enough, I did get the OnesMedia box set of THE FALCON-- all 16 of them in one set!!)

Way back, I had trouble getting a decent print of THE SAINT IN NEW YORK.  I've learned so much about that film I never knew for decades.  Lots of IMDB reviews complain the sequels were "toned down".  Those people never read the books.  "The Saint In New York" was never a "normal" Charteris book to begin with.  It was presented as a "flashback" to Templar's earlier days when he spent a lot of time in Chicago and such fighting gangsters.  VERY violent.  The novel sold like crazy, which is what inspired RKO to buy the film rights.  But they quickly ran in trouble with the Hayes Office, and their planned film was postponed for SEVERAL YEARS, and when they finally did it, they had to seriously tone it down, and totally recast all the parts.

So then they decided to buy the rights for ALL of Charteris' stories... but someone else really wanted to make Louis Hayward a big movie star, made him an offer, and he was out the door.  George Sanders was TOTALLY-wrong for the part... and I rank THE SAINT STRIKES BACK as the single worst SAINT film ever made.  Not his fault-- the script was ABOMINABLY-bad.  So... what a shock that the follow-up, THE SAINT IN LONDON-- actually filmed IN England-- and based on a short story-- I rank as the single BEST Saint film ever made!  Sanders is so good, that with a DAMNED-good script, he could overcome the fact that really, he had NO business being in those movies.  (See SON OF MONTE CRISTO-- Sanders plays the snide villain opposite Louis Hayward as the dashing hero.)

It took me a lot of years to figure out that THE SAINT TAKES OVER is a thinly-veiled remake of STRIKES BACK, both very loosely based on my favorite novel-- "Angels Of Doom".  I rank it as the 2nd-best Sanders SAINT film.  The others are just kinda dull.

RKO was giving Leslie Charteris all kinds of hassles, and he was so disgusted with how they were treating his character, he TOOK BACK the rights-- then, signed a new deal with RKO's brand-new British wing.  THE SAINT'S VACATION with Hugh Sinclair was a HUGE improvement on every single level... and the only criticism I have of it is that... Sinclair had a moustache.  (I've seen him without one.  He looked much better.)

RKO decided to thumb their nose at Charteris.  They looked around and decided to start a series based on Michael Arlen's one-and-only FALCON novel, THE GAY FALCON.  Now here it gets nuts.  I've read Charteris sued Arlen for plagiarism.  I'm surprised Charles H. Huff didn't sue Arlen first.  Huff created "Michael Waring", alias "The Falcon" in 3 novels in 1936-1938.  Michael Arlen created "Gaylord Falcon", alias "The Falcon", in one book in 1940.  In 1941, RKO began their FALCON series, and did 4 films about "Gay Lawrence".  Charteris sued RKO over THAT, too!

So, when RKO's British branch did THE SAINT MEETS THE TIGER in late 1941, the lawsuit saw to it that while it was released in England, it wasn't released in America until 2 years later, by a different distributor!  Tragically, it was the last SAINT film for more than a decade.

Meanwhile, after 4 FALCON films, Sanders got bored and really, really wanted to move on.  The 4th film was THE FALCON'S BROTHER, and was the only time George & his real life brother Tom ("Tom Conway") ever acted together.  Gay got killed at the end, and "Tom Lawrence" took as as The Falcon.  He did 10 of them from 1942-46.

But now it gets even crazier.  The Blue Network did a FALCON radio show from 1943-1954 featuring "Michael Waring" -- THE ORIGINAL "Falcon"!  5 different actors played him on the radio.  Then in 1948-49, another studio did 3 FALCON movies also featuring "Michael Waring".  And then, someone else did a FALCON tv series with Charles McGraw as "Michael Waring".






I need to add... something I figured out thanks to someone at THIS message board... the 1997 movie THE SAINT with Val Kilmer, despite its title, is NOT a "Saint" movie AT ALL.  Even though it has characters in it named "Simon Templar" (NOT his real name, in the film) and "Inspector Teal".

In is, in fact, loosely based on Louis Joseph Vance's 1914 novel "The Lone Wolf", about an orphan who grows up to be a professional thief, and takes the name "Michael Lanyard".  He runs afoul of a criminal gang, and falls in love with a woman who inspires him to GO STRAIGHT.

This is NOT, in any way, "Simon Templar" (which was Templar's REAL NAME in every previous "Saint" book, movie, radio show, comic, TV episode, whatever).

It really flips me out when Hollywood types license ONE character or story... but then do ANOTHER, uncredited, AND UNPAID.



Oh, by the way... it seem NOBODY knows where a decent print of THE SAINT IN NEW YORK can be found, or if one exists.  Currently, ALL existing prints have been made from a 16 mm print.  NO S***.  For a movie that apparently made a TON of money when it came out... this is OBSCENE.  (My best copy, recorded straight off TCM, looks fuzzy as hell.  The others from TCM are all VERY sharp.)

[profh0011]

THE SAINT:  The Man Who Was Lucky
When “Protection” Leads to M U R D E R    (8 of 10)

"Lucky Joe Luckner" runs a protection racket. When one of his intended victims refuses to pay, he decides to "make an example" of him. But when he accidentally beats the man TO DEATH, he realizes he also has to kill the man's partner, who SAW it. Complicating matters is Luckner's girlfriend-- who's really in love with his next intended victim!

Another GREAT episode adapted from a Leslie Charteris short story. Roger Moore is in top form here. As AWFUL as he was as Bond (AND HE WAS), that's how GREAT he is on this show, especially in the B&W episodes. In one scene, he overhears Luckner slapping around a woman. A henchman tries to stop him. "Where do you think you're going?" "I'm not-- YOU are!" Templar twists the guy's arm then kicks him in the rear. Stepping into Luckner's office... "Who the heck are you?" "Let me introduce myself." BACKHAND slap to the face, then RIGHT hook to the jaw, sending the guy FLYING across the room. YYYEAH! And he does it with a smile.

This also introduces Inspector Claude Eustace Teal to the TV series, here played by Campbell Singer. Singer was the first of no less than 4 DIFFERENT actors to play the part on the series, and as I recall, he was BY FAR the best! They must have had some trouble filling the slot as they went thru 3 different actors in quick succession, before finally "settling" on Ivor Dean, who appeared in MOST of the episodes. I never liked Ivor Dean's portrayal of the role, and wouldn't you know, the LEAST of the 4 actors is the one who got the steady job. (It's just like comic-books!) The only other thing I've seen him in was THE AVENGERS episode "Who's Who?", where he was one of Steed's superiors in the Ministry (and a thick-headed one at that). Apparently he also played Dr. Watson in a 1951 SHERLOCK HOLMES production-- I'd love to see that!

The villain of the piece, "Lucky Joe Luckner", is played by Eddie Byrne, who puts across a really contemptuous piece of human garbage. Half the time watching the story, I kept thinking he was a dead-ringer for Norman Osborn! I've also seen Byrne in Hammer's THE MUMMY, THE VENGEANCE OF FU MANCHU, and 3 more SAINT episodes.

The climax, where the audience is left in suspense, guessing, involves Simon pulling off an elaborate con-job in order to get a confession of the murder out of the Luckner. As he tells Teal, "I am going to hand him to you on a plate!" All Teal can say is, "If ANYTHING happens to him, I'm going to put you away FOR LIFE!" Still, at story's end, despite himself, Teal congratulates Templar for what he did.

Also in the fine cast are Harry Towb as the good-natured mild-mannered Marty O'Connor (the intended target), who I've seen in DOCTOR WHO ("Terror of the Autons"), THE AVENGERS ("Killer") and the 1954 SHERLOCK HOLMES ("The Split Ticket"). Teal's sidekick is played b John Forbes-Robertson, who I've seen in THE NEW AVENGERS ("Dirtier By The Dozen") and THE LEGEND OF THE SEVEN GOLDEN VAMPIRES (as Dracula!). "Cora", the girl loved by Marty & lusted after by Luckner, is played by Delphi Lawrence, who was the shady lady in the DANGER MAN episode "View From The Villa". The vivacious Jane (who decides to trust Simon, despite her fear that he might be "one of those talkers") is played by Vera Day, who doesn't seem to have done much film work, which is a shame. But oddly enough, I did see her in LOCK, STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS, made much, much later in 1998!

Any fan of Roger Moore NEEDS to see these early stories-- they're really him at his all-time BEST. All the same, I can't help but wondering, watching him here, how it might have been in Louis Hayward had done a SAINT TV series in the 50's, instead of THE LONE WOLF?
   (6-6-2011)

[profh0011]

I got THE SAINT box set recently, all 120 episodes in one go.  So nice to be finally able to not only pgrade the entire Roger Moore series, but also watch them in the correct order.  When I taped them off 3 different channels in the 80s (and the B&W episodes were run separate from the color ones-- I HATE when they do that), I never knew what day would be one I already had and what day would be a "new" noe for my collection.  When I realized I'd finally gotten all 120, it was such a relief.  (With THE UNTOUCHABLES, I gave up at 75 episode... for decades, I'm still missing about 50 of them.)

So I'm watching one episode a week, and enjoying them... but tonight, got up to one I REALLY enjoyed from start to finish.  Now here's the guy who became my favorite adventure hero during the 1980s.  I was inspired to go write a review... only to find I'd already done one back of this episode in June 2011.


Had I written it now, I would have mentioned, I consider Campbell Singer to be the 2nd-BEST Teal ever, right after Gordon MacLeod, who played him in THE SAINT IN LONDON, THE SAINT'S VACATION (a cameo) and THE SAINT MEETS THE TIGER.  I consider LONDON the best Saint film EVER, VACATION one of the best, and TIGER arguably the closest in style the RKO series ever got to the Roger Moore series, 2 decades later.

I do wonder why they wound up going thru 4 different Teals over the course of the run.  I wish Singer had stuck around.  Ivor Dean, in particular, was DULL and annoying.

Oh yeah, and I have seen THE MAN WHO DISAPPEARED (1951), where Singer played Watson opposite John Longdon as Sherlock Holmes.  Longdon also was in a Tara King AVENGERS, "Who Was That Man I Saw You With?", but it probably most known for the Sheriff of Nottingham on the 50s ROBIN HOOD series.

Weird coincidence:  Charles Houston, who plays the lead henchman, was in the very same AVENGERS that Harry Towb was in, "Killer".  This often happens if you have the same director involved, but not here.


Some people reading at the IMDB apparently didn't like my review.  Maybe they disagreed with my view that Moore NEVER should have played James Bond!   


Finally:  I recently checked my video tapes... I had 2 copies of THE SAINT IN NEW YORK.  Here's the crazy part.  The TCM copy from the early 2000s was fuzzy.  But!  The AMC copy from the 90s... LOOKED SHARPER.  How the hell did that happen?  Good thing I didn't toss it out.

Louis Hayward was the most authentic "Simon Templar" ever.  At least, in NEW YORK.  In RETURNS, he's way too serious, sombre, moody... as is the whole film.  It was made by Hammer.  That had to be the worst match-up imaginable.  Also, Hayward was not the same guy who went to WW2.  He's just as serious and sombre in all the LONE WOLF tv episodes I've seen on Youtube so far.  Strangely, while he did look a bit older, he was still smiling quite a bit in AND THEN THERE WERE NONE (1945), which I recently upgraded to DVD.  That film's in Public Domain, but some research told me the BEST COPY currently available is the 2001 Image Entertainment DVD.  All the others (including a recent Blu-Ray) are HORRIBLE.

Hayward seems more like Templar in the Agatha Christie movie than he did in the later Hammer film.