The Saint Takes Over

George Sanders is my favorite saint. But some of the movies are a bit weak, usually the plot.

In this movie, the plot is about as good as you can expect from the RKO saint movies. It mostly makes sense, unlike some of them.

Paul Guifoyle (sp?) is back in this one, and that's a good thing. I really enjoy his comedic style at times. It's hard not to smile at his funny expressions and mispronunciations (does anyone else wonder where the gangster henchman habit of butchering pronunciations came from?)

Wendy Barrie is not too bad. I wish she had better lines or something, but it's not bad.

The usual Fernack(sp?) is present, and again, that's a good thing. I feel he should be a bit brighter given that he's a police detective, but I guess the dumb cop/detective is an old stereotype. Anyway, the saint is a bit like Bugs Bunny where his superiority is contrasted to idiots - so again, a tried and true stereotype.

As I say, this is one of my favorites. It's light, it moves right along, has the comic elements and the entertaining Sanders as saint.

Excellent entry in the RKO Saint series with well-written original script, good camera work and transitions, good directing to handle some twists in the plot, good editing to keep the flow constant, and good acting. George Sanders is suave and witty. Jonathan Hale simply is Inspector Fernack. Paul Guilfoyle plays a mobster who goes straight (and drinks milk) because he cannot take the pressure. He will return in a later entry in the series. Story begins on an ocean liner headed to the U.S. where the Saint meets but cannot connect with Wendie Barrie. She eventually succumbs to the Saint's charms but she breaks his heart in the end. The Saint assists Inspector Fernack clear his name from a frame. A few bodies fall along the way. Good entertainment and above average for this type of film. Watch it.

This nifty little movie demonstrates the rock-solid virtues of a time, place and kind of masculine strength that we no longer have or even aspire to have. The Saint is a paladin with only the best motives, to say nothing of a polished vocabulary and diction. No need to turn up the volume or read the dialog. George Sanders is so charming and, yes, low-key that all that talent, smarts, physical presence and above all, masculinity, seem, well, almost normal. Some normal! George Clooney can not begin to master the scene as Mr. Sanders does (and does without Mr. Clooney's mugging).He could play a sniveler (witness The Ghost and Mrs. Muir and Rebecca) but when he was good, he was very, very good. Truly, a man for all reasons and seasons.

Simon Templar (aka The Saint) decides to go and help when he reads that acquaintance Inspector Henry Fernack has been dropped from the police force for not being able to explain the thousands and thousands of dollars that had been found in his safe. He starts to investigate the suspicion that Fernack was actually set-up by a group of mobsters, eager to get him off their backs in regards a race fixing ring they have going. The more Templar pushes to help his friend though, the more the bodies start to pile up – ironically mostly pointing to Fernack as the murderer.

After getting a couple of episodes out under Sanders' control, the Saint series started to make me forget that I had enjoyed the original portrayal by Hayward a lot more than the later films. As a result I enjoyed this Saint film more than I had the last couple I'd watched. It may have also helped that the plot was an original tale (as opposed to an adaptation from Charteris' novels) and that it involved a lot more murders and mystery than other films. This isn't to say that it is brilliant because it is still very much fitting with the b-movie serial feel that the series generally had although it had enough movement to it to keep me watching.

Sanders is quite enjoyable and the tone of the series seems to have mellowed to better suit his cool, smooth delivery and style – which is a shame in my opinion but I'll try not to bang on about it. He leads the film nicely although he does tend to suck the urgency and tension out of the story by being so laid back all the time. Support from regulars Hale and Barrie is good along with some nice touches from Guilfoyle and a few others.

Overall this is an enjoyable and quite lively entry in the series that will please fans of The Saint and The Falcon. Nothing special and it never aspires to be more than the next episode in a b-movie serial but it is still OK if you meet it at that level.

George Sanders and Wendy Barrie sit at the bar discussing a man in trouble. "Maybe he needs a guardian angel," suggests Sanders. "Or a patron saint," she replies. He pauses and squints at her: "Aren't they just about the same?"

Sanders is back as Simon Templar in this darker-than-usual Saint entry. Wendy Barrie is a fellow traveler whom Templar rescues from card sharps on board ship—and who turns out to be involved in the very case that has brought the Saint to New York once again.

The Saint's old friend and sometime nemesis Inspector Fernack is at the center of this plot—framed by mobsters who have planted $50,000 in his safe, Fernack is on suspension from the force. Jonathan Hale is strong as usual as Fernack, this time appreciative (mostly) of Templar's arrival on the scene to assist him.

Barrie's excellent performance—as a strong but sad, even tragic, figure—helps distinguish this film as one of the best in the Saint series. The interplay between Barrie and Sanders is especially good; while the plot may look like a formula B mystery, these are two highly skilled actors offering full performances.

Neatly constructed, it's an efficient but polished production. This is a good one.

P.S. Lest I give the idea that this movie is overly grim, I should mention that Paul Guilfoyle is quite good as a not very bright safecracker….and that any B movie fan will smile to see the great Cy Kendall listed in the opening credits as "Cyrus W. Kendall."