Meet the Tiger

Simon Templar, a man who has been dubbed the saint on account of his initials (ST), arrived in the ocean-side city of Baycombe in England.  He was on the trail of a mysterious bank robber known as the Tiger.  The Saint was a gentleman adventurer, a man willing to skirt the law in order to bring the 'godless' to justice and perhaps get rich in the process.  Though Baycombe was a sleepy town with only a couple of automobiles (the story takes place in the 1920s), the Tiger and his cohorts - playfully called 'tiger cubs' by the Saint - have laid up here until the time is right to split the spoils.  The question becomes, who is in league with the Tiger and who is just an ordinary citizen.

Much of the tale involves the Saint having snarky conversations with the various suspects to see if something slips out.  Surprisingly, a good chunk of this is outsourced to the lovely and gracious Patricia Holm.  Patricia was orphaned and has lived either at schools or at her Aunt Agatha's house in Baycombe.  Every description of her aunt paints her as a man in drag, which later proves to be the case.  Yeah, that was a pretty weak part of the book.  Back to Patricia, she has such a large part in the book that she is the co-main character with Simon.

The Saint doesn't care for guns.  He is armed with a knife named Anna that is perfectly balanced for throwing.  The Saint has buckets of confidence, an unshakeable certainty in his inevitable success, and a generous portion of charm.  He also has a sidekick named Orace, a military man with a heavy accent, an imposing physique, and a limp.

Though it might have been unprecedented when published in the 1920s, the story feels very cliche.  The mystery of who was the tiger proved less difficult than hoped.  I had my suspect early and it proved to be the correct guess.  When revealed by the Saint in the climax, the Tiger was a disappointment.  What looked like it might have been clever maneuvering on his part was instead nothing but happenstance and, as it turned out, incompetence.

This Simon Templar is very different from the one played by Roger Moore on the long-running TV series.  Here, the Saint is out for a reward - the finder's fee for recovering the gold that the Tiger stole - rather than random do-gooderism.  Where Roger Moore disdained weapons in general and weekly resorted to fisticuffs, the literary Simon likes his knives.  I have no idea how Val Kilmer's Saint became a master of disguise.

The Saint is dangerously reckless throughout the book and only survives because the villains don't shoot him when they have the chance.  He pins his life on the timely arrival of allies or the intervention of fate on his behalf.  Oh, so reckless.  Sure, it dials the suspense and tension way up, but it also paints the Saint as foolhardy rather than courageous.  Just okay.  It has not aged as well as Ian Flemings Bond novels; read those instead.

The Saint (Series 6)

Simon Templar (Roger Moore) returns for a final season, in color!  As usual, Simon encounters someone in trouble in the opening and must teach the villain the error of his, or occasionally her, ways.  One of the most notable things is that it is very dangerous to be a friend of the Saint.  All too often, his friends are murdered and he must set out on a path of vengeance.  Oddly, there are a couple of sci-fi episodes, one with a giant ant and another that involves cryogenics.  This series also had a pair of 2 parters that were converted into movies.

The Fiction-Makers: Simon attends a movie premiere with the leading lady on his arm.  It is an adaptation of an Amos Klein novel.  Klein's agent hopes more novels are adapted but fears for the author.  Would Simon act as bodyguard?  Simon goes to the address and is surprised to discover that Amos is a woman (Sylvia Syms).  It is her nom-de-plume.  Oddly, her real name is never mentioned.  No sooner has Simon arrived than the two of them are abducted.  Waking in an English manor, the kidnappers prove to be a band of men who claim to be characters from Klein's novels, notably members of SWORD, a SPECTRE clone.  They have mistaken Simon for Klein.  They demand that he write the perfect plan for robbing a high-security facility called Hermetica.  Mostly ludicrous but very entertaining.

Vendetta for the Saint: Simon is in Naples, Italy when he witnesses an unusual encounter.  An English tourist greets a man, calling him Dino.  The man, Alessandro Destamio (Ian Hendry) denies being Dino and his gaggle of goons punch the tourist.  Simon intervenes to prevent any further violence.  The man explains to Simon that he and Dino were good friends after the war and knows it was him.  The following morning, Simon discovers that the tourist was murdered.  On his path to avenge the man he barely knew, he learns that Destamio is a mafia boss who has no qualms about bumping off those who meddle in his affairs.  Where The Fiction-Makers was sort of goofy fun, this is a straight thriller.  Better yet, this one was filmed in Malta, giving it a more convincing look than the typical episode.

Among the standard episodes, there was one that was a knock-off of Casino Royale (The Ex-King of Diamonds) that sees Simon join forces with a Texas millionaire named Rod Huston (Stuart Damon).  Damon's Texan accent was laughable, but the character was quite a lot of fun.  It was like a buddy action flick, something that presages Moore's next series, The Persuaders.

The Saint ends its television run on a high note.  Yes, many episodes are rehashes of common storylines.  Perhaps the greatest failure of the series is how badly the Saint fights.  With how many times he has been punched in the face and clubbed over the head, it is amazing that he didn't look more like Quasimodo after 6 years of such punishment.  He never even gets a fat lip or black eye.

Highly recommended.

The Saint (Series 5)

Simon Templar (Roger Moore) returns in color!  Yes, after 4 series in black and white, the show upgraded to color.  Another change was the opening.  Where Templar had always broken the fourth wall to offer background to his surroundings or the people on the scene, now it is offered as narration while he wanders the set.  Beyond that, the show remains the same.  Templar has an uncanny knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time or perhaps the right place at the right time.  He exposes blackmailers, foils thieves, and captures murderers.  One noteworthy thing in the series is that being Simon's friend ususually proves fatal.  He often has to solve the murder of friends.  Among some of the more interesting guest stars are Lois Maxwell (Miss Moneypenny from the early 60s to the mid 80s), Patrick Troughton (the 2nd Doctor Who), Jean Marsh, Edward Woodward (the original Equalizer), and Burt Kwouk (Kato from Pink Panther movies).

Good popcorn fun.

The Saint (season 1)

Having time to spare, I have watched the entirety of the first season of The Saint.  The funniest thing about the show is the James Bond connections.  In the first episode, Shirley Eaton appears.  She is most famous for playing Jill Masterson in Goldfinger, a role in which she was painted gold.  In the 7th episode, Honor Blackman appears as a secretary and mistress to a wealthy Bahamian.  Like Eaton, she is more famous for a role in Goldfinger: she played Pussy Galore.

Simon is a Robin Hood-like character who takes from the criminal and gives to the victim.  Simon knows everyone and every policeman knows Simon.  He is famous wherever he goes.  The plots vary.  He may solve a murder mystery in Nassau, tame a shrew in Spain, save a woman from her bluebeard husband in England, avenge a murdered reporter in New York City, or wheedle a donation to an orphanage from a greedy countess in Rome.  Simon is wealthy but it is not clear why he is wealthy.  He travels constantly.  He is most likely to be found in New York City, London, or Rome but also finds himself in Mexico, Florida, the Bahamas, Spain, Switzerland, and Paris. It is clear that Roger Moore's James Bond was almost a cut and paste job of his role as Simon Templar.

The Saint premiered on October 4, 1962. Less than a week later, on October 10th, 1962, Sean Connery hit the big screen as James Bond in Dr. No. Strange coincidence.

A fun light-hearted show that serves as a travelogue and adventure series. Thumbs up.