The Saint's Double Trouble

George Sanders, in fact two George Sanders, arrive in the City of Brotherly Love to investigate a nice little diamond smuggling racket. But what a place to smuggle diamonds, in the sarcophagus of a long dead Egyptian mummy. What interests Simon Templar however is the fact that the head of the racket is a dead ringer for him and also played by George Sanders. He might well be responsible for the unsavory reputation the Saint has in some quarters.

Jonathan Hale as Inspector Fernack is in from New York and as the most authoritative expert on the activities of Simon Templar is drafted by the Philadelphia police in the person of Donald MacBride. In fact Fernack knows of a telltale scar on the wrist of the real Templar and can tell them apart. That fact proves most handy.

Bela Lugosi has an inexplicably small role as 'the partner' in the smuggling activities. I'm betting the editors at RKO probably left a lot of Lugosi on the cutting room floor. The film would have been better had Lugosi been left in.

As it is it's an OK B programmer and a plus for fans of Leslie Charteris's modern Robin Hood.

While some are better than others, pretty much all of the Saint films starring George Sanders are watchable at least once, even the lesser efforts. 'The Saint's Double Trouble' is a contender for the weakest of the series, and somewhat of a let-down after one of the best of the series with 'The Saint Takes Over'.

There are good things here. The sets are suitably atmospheric, it is one of the better looking films of the series and jauntily scored. The best thing about the film is Sanders, not just playing the title role but also his criminal double. He is super-suave, sophisticated and wonderfully caddish, while also giving a charming and humorous edge and delivering some cutting lines with aplomb.

Jonathan Hale is also very good, while the ending is effective.

On the other hand, the script is a complete mess and is enough to bring the film down more than one notch. It is just too underdeveloped and has too many loose ends, with a lot of corn and very little mystery. The story is also one of the series' least involving, it fails to maintain momentum and gets needlessly over-complicated with very few twists and turns.

It is interesting for featuring Bela Lugosi, who tries to depart from his horror roles to prove that he could do more than that. However he makes very little impact in a role with nothing to it whatsoever, a real waste. The characters are just not interesting at all and sometimes confusingly written.

In summary, a contender for weakest of the Saint films with Sanders. Sanders and Hale are fine but the script and story certainly aren't and bring the film down significantly. 5/10 Bethany Cox

Simon Templar (George Sanders), known as "The Saint", whom everyone believed to be in Egypt, suddenly turns up back in Philadelphia, at the home of his friend, Professor Bitts (Thomas W. Ross). Although the reasons aren't given in the film, apparently there is some disagreement over Simon's moral character. When bodies start turning up with incriminating evidence pointing to The Saint, the police try to track him down. However, it turns out that there is more to the story than meets the eye.

I probably shouldn't be reviewing this film until I watch it again (if I do), but I'll just revise my review then if appropriate. As it stands, I have to give this film a generous 4 out of 10.

While The Saint's Double Trouble has promise--nice black and white photography, some good performances (especially by Sanders and Jonathan Hale as inspector Fernack), one of my favorite actors/character actors, Bela Lugosi, has an odd part in it, and the story seems like it should be interesting--the script was a disaster. Part of the problem may have been that this is apparently an entry in a long-running series, and there's no way it's going to make sense out of the context of the series. I haven't seen any of the other films yet, so I have to review this one in isolation.

The script ends up being largely loose threads. Important parts of the backstory are neither shown nor explained. There is a mummy (the presence of which got me very interested in the beginning) that ends up being meaningless to the plot (the little use it had could have been much more easily accomplished by another means). At one point, half of a knife makes an appearance as a token of a mystery, but it is never mentioned again. Characters completely drop out of the film.

Worst of all, the plot hinges on the appearance of Boss Duke Bates, a look-alike for Simon Templar, also played by George Sanders. As can be expected, there are a number of points that rest on confused identities (that's the bulk of the film, actually). The problem is that by the end, I was also so confused that I had no idea which appearance of George Sanders was supposed to be which character, and confusion on this didn't seem to be the point of the conclusion.

Again, maybe this is a fine chapter in a longer story when viewed with the other Saint films, in order. But to start here, I can't recommend The Saint's Double Trouble. It doesn't work as a stand-alone film.

Saint's Double Trouble, The (1940)

** (out of 4)

Fourth film in the popular RKO series is perhaps the weakest. This time out The Saint, aka Simon Templar (George Sanders), is wanted by the police for a string of robberies. He didn't actually commit the crimes and must prove his innocence by tracking down the thief who is his double. I made a major mistake by watching this film first from the series and I say mistake because after watching this many might not want to try the others out, which would be a shame as the series actually delivered some pretty good movies. This one here is without question one of the weakest as even Sanders appears to be bored out of his mind. The biggest problem is that the actual story is just too far fetched to be believed. Yes, I know all of these detective films require some wild things to happen but what goes on here, in terms of the double, is just silly and will have your rolling your eyes. Helene Whitney is also quite boring in her part but Jonathan Hale delivers some nice work. He also gets the best scene in the movie when The Saint is daring him to shoot him. The payoff here is quite nice. Bela Lugosi is wasted in his fourth-billed role. It's a shame they couldn't have spiced his part up just a bit. If you're new to the series you certainly won't want to start here. If you're a Lugosi nut just wanting to see him, forget about it because he isn't here long enough to do much. An all around disappointing entry.

There's a dead ringer for Simon Templar operating as a crime kingpin in Philadelphia…and he's started leaving the Saint's calling card at crime scenes. Will the real Simon Templar please come investigate?

Meanwhile, the Saint's old friend Inspector Fernack (Jonathan Hale) is on vacation in—you guessed it—Philadelphia. He stops at the department to visit old friend Deputy Chief Bohlen (Donald MacBride)—and tags along with him on a murder case that turns up the Saint's calling card. Fernack is on the job.

George Sanders pulls double duty as both Simon Templar and his counterpart, "The Boss" of Philadelphia crime, in this far-fetched but entertaining mystery. The hero's look-alike, and a single actor playing both roles, is not an especially unique idea; and this particular version of that old plot doesn't offer any special twists or turns. Basically, the Saint encounters mistaken identity, sets out to clear his name, runs into danger….

Sanders is, of course, very good. Hale is also fine as Inspector Fernack, and the picture's best scenes are mostly those between Sanders and Hale, as once again outward gruffness partly veils their mutual respect and admiration.

Bela Lugosi is a henchman with a thick accent; somewhat disappointingly, his role here is rather bland and Lugosi becomes just another actor. Helene Whitney is fine as an old flame of Simon's whose professor father is unwittingly drawn into the bad guys' plot; again, her performance is good but the role is rather predictable.

A rather slow middle section is redeemed by an exciting final third, culminating in a neat and clever resolution…. Overall: nothing exceptional but smoothly produced and certainly easy to take, especially for fans of the Saint or Sanders or B mysteries in general.