This was the first of the Saint movies, based on the novels of Leslie Charteris (1907-1993). The real name of Charteris was Leslie Charles Bowyer Yin. His father was a Singapore Chinese, and Leslie was thus born in Singapore. (He obtained US citizenship in 1946.) As part of the CBS Playhouse television series, this same story would be filmed again in 1987 with Andrew Clarke playing the Saint. (I have not seen that one.) In this film, Simon Templar, 'the Saint', is played by Louis Hayward. It is not the only time Hayward played the character, despite the fact that in several succeeding 'Saint' films, the role was played by George Sanders. Hayward did appear again as Simon Templar in 1953 in THE SAINT'S RETURN (see my review of it). Hayward was excellent as the Saint, having just the right kind of peculiar personal touch for the part, with an air of reckless mischief combined with half-crazed restless brilliance. It is a pity that he did not play this character more than twice. He did get one thing wrong, though: at one point he is meant to telephone COLUMBUS 4-1098, but he dials a random number instead. (If you're going to learn your lines, you should learn your numbers as well.) The film itself is very good, with many witty lines of dialogue. Although the plot is nothing to get excited about, and the action is run of the mill, the film nevertheless holds one's attention. There is good solid support from several of the character actors. Jonathan Hale is excellent as the honest police Inspector. (He was so reliable as a character actor it is not surprising that he appeared in no less than 247 films.) Paul Guilfoyle is marvellous as Hymie, one of the murderous henchmen of a gangster gang, who keeps expressing his admiration and amazement at Templar with boyish asides. One particularly witty line of Templar's is delivered to a thug who has just struck him in the face. He drolly says: 'My friends generally wash their hands before they strike me. But you obviously aren't a friend.' Hayward definitely mastered the mad insouciance of Templar. The film is well worth seeing for those who like 1930s detective movies.
Review of The Saint in New York
