The Saint Strikes Back (1939) User Reviews (27)

Jet Lagged

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 10 November 2012]

George Sanders made his debut as Leslie Charteris's international man of mystery Simon Templar, AKA The Saint in this film, The Saint Strikes Back. For all the rumors about his crooked ways Sanders is more often helping the local authorities than not, especially if it's doggedly honest Inspector Fernack of the NYPD homicide squad resolutely played as always by Jonanthan Hale.

One gets jet lagged now with the time zone changes and the jet air speeds with coast to coast flights. But Sanders had to have the worst case of it film history as he flies from San Francisco to New York after saving Wendy Barrie from being the object of a hit man. She's the daughter of a disgraced former NYPD detective who was accused of crookedness and took his own life. Now she's a West Coast wild child and thought to be in the rackets as well. Sanders then flies back bringing Hale in tow.

She's close to them however in her associates and it's up to the Saint to discover who's a San Francisco rackets boss and bring them to justice.

Sanders who in most films was the movie's biggest cad is a fine hero, a regular modern Robin Hood. Still people don't believe he's quite honest and he likes it that way.

If you like the books and the films, you'll enjoy this one.

The Saint comes to San Francisco

[chris_gaskin123 · 7/10 · 4 April 2006]

I've just seen The Saint Strikes Back for the first time and found it quite good. This was George Sanders's first appearance as the Saint, where he replaces Louis Hayward.

In this one, the Saint is sent to San Francisco to investigate a shooting at a night club. With the help of his acquaintance Inspector Fernack who has come down from New York, they help a daughter of a crime boss.

Joining Sanders in the cast are Wendy Barrie and Jonathan Hale.

Not a bad Saint movie. Worth seeing.

Rating: 3 stars out of 5.

Striking.

[JohnWelles · 7/10 · 25 February 2011]

"The Saint Strikes Back" (1939) is directed by a young John Farrow, who would not only go onto to make film noir classics like "The Big Clock" (1948), "Alias Nick Beal" (1949) and "Where Danger Lives" (1950), but he would win an Oscar for writing the screenplay for Michael Todd's multi-award winning "Around the World in Eighty Days" (1956). So, not only do you have a notable director at the beginning of his career here, but George Sanders in his first role as The Saint, eleven years away from getting the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for "All About Eve" (1950). Also, there are quite a few familiar faces in the picture: Jerome Cowan, Barry Fitzgerald and Jonathan Hale, all of whom would be active in the motion picture business in the forthcoming decade. So, historically, quite an important film. But there's a lot more to it than just recognisable names. The photography, by Frank Redman, is striking, an impressively long shot at the very beginning of the movie in particular, is a cut above the rest. The acting too, is polished and professional.

On the other hand, the screenplay, written by John Twist, from Leslie Charteris's "She Was a Lady" (1931), credited in the film as "Angels of Doom", while it moves briskly along, is a tad confusing. For the life of me, I couldn't tell you who did what and why in this film. But this doesn't detract form the enjoyment, and in a perverse way, it enhances it. It's not the best of its kind, but this proto-noir is certainly worth a watch.

George Sanders takes over as "The Saint"...

[Doylenf · 6/10 · 21 March 2007]

You have to stay wide awake to follow the plot convolutions of THE SAINT STRIKES BACK and by the time it reaches its final scene you may lose your way keeping track of a number of undeveloped characters whose names are bandied about with such nonchalance that in the end it hardly matters when you discover who the main culprit is.

The plot revolves around hard-boiled dame WENDY BARRIE who's surrounded herself with gangsters in order to avenge the death of her father. Barrie gives the kind of performance that should have made her a femme fatale in a number of B-films, but nothing more than that. She's a one note actress if ever there was one.

Fortunately, the script is graced by the presence of GEORGE SANDERS, who can deliver a crisp line with so much bite and sarcasm that it's fun to see him using his verbal wit on some unsavory characters. NEIL HAMILTON makes no impression whatsoever in a colorless role as a man supposedly in love with Barrie, but BARRY FITZGERALD turns up to put some spice into the story, at least in the last half of the film.

It's strictly formula stuff intended to entertain as a programmer in the late '30s and offers nothing very original or new to make it anything more than something of passing interest.

Revenge is the name of the game

[Spondonman · 7/10 · 23 October 2005]

It's not too bad a b movie, with Sanders, Barrie, Hale, Cowen, Hamilton, Gargan, Fitzgerald and even Willie Best we could be either with Charlie Chan, Moto, the Falcon, Blackie, Holmes or the Saint etc. In other words you get the chance to spend another hour in the company of some old friends, from plain to urbane, murdering and being murdered - always a pleasure in my book.

Barrie's a hard-boiled dame out to avenge and clear her framed and dead father, a police detective by planning and carrying out with her coterie a string of underworld assassinations. Which would surely have had the opposite effect! Sanders joins in the fun simply by dancing in the right club in the right place in the right city at the right time with the right lighting falling on both him and the first killer (at the right time!) and killing him.

The story and acting's OK, the only gripe I've got is near the end with the hurried and almost laughable discovery of who the evil genius (Waldeman) was - did they almost forget about his relevance in the plot? That said, a solid entry in the series.

A nice entry in the series but already the tough edge of the original is softened

[bob the moo · 13 February 2006]

When Simon Templar (aka The Saint) helps self-styled crime boss and daughter of a disgraced cop Val Travers to get away from a nightclub after they were both involved in a shooting. The police connect Templar to the shooting and call in Inspector Fernack from New York to bring him in. Meanwhile Templar gets on the wrong side of Travers and earns her vengeance while also trying to get to the bottom of the mystery surrounding her father's fall from grace at the hands of an internal investigation.

Following on from the hard edge and anti-hero approach of The Saint when he was in New York, this film cannot help but feel like much more of a sedentary affair with a more liberal approach perhaps befitting the San Francisco setting. That said the film still has a nice feel to it that makes it just a shade better than the b-movie series generally achieved from this point onwards. Much of the credit should probably lie with Farrow's direction because he does give it quite a professional and gritty atmosphere. The story is quite good although not anywhere near as engaging as it should have been and I must admit that at times I drifted away as it lacked a consistent hook to keep me watching.

Coming in to replace Hayward, Sanders was never really going to do it for me as I already knew him to be all about the smoothness and the suaveness and it didn't surprised me when his criminal edge was played down to almost nothing and he turned in the sort of performance that made him vastly inferior to the original Saint (in my mind anyway). Support is pretty good from Val Travers – not quite a femme fatale perhaps but certainly a tough woman when required. Hale is OK while people like Elliot, Fitzgerald etc all fill in around the edges.

Overall a well-directed film that is a reasonable stab at continuing the series but, for reasons that are perhaps obvious, scaling down the mean edge the original had. Problem is that I liked this about the original film and found this film lacking teeth for being smooth without the savage. Sanders is a nice lead but he cannot lift the material and the end result is a standard b-movie that will please fans of The Saint and The Falcon.

Average B movie

[Alberto-7 · 6/10 · 5 January 2004]

This is not George Sanders' best "Saint" movie by any stretch("The Saint in London" gets that honor). Instead we get an average low-budget mystery movie that has very few surprises. George Sanders is introduced to us as Simon Templar in this movie. Sanders plays him as a suave, urbane and sophisticated hero, rarely caught off guard("not the man who knows everything, just the man who knows the important things"). Unfortunately the script in this production lets him down. Not only is it less than engaging, it also tends to be needlessly confusing. Wendy Barrie plays the female lead(as she did in two other Sanders-Saint films)but she is much too stiff. I don't have a problem with her playing the character as a tough-as-nails femme-fatale but I think Barrie overdoes it and the result is that her character loses credibility. Neil Hamilton (commissioner Gordon on TV's Batman) plays one of Barrie's associates in crime like some kind of effeminate twit. This undermines what should be a strong bond between him and Barrie. The "surprise" ending is weak and anyone who has not guessed it well in advance has obviously not been paying attention throughout.

There is one great sequence that almost makes the film worth seeing. It occurs when Inspector Fernack(Jonathan Hale) has a bout of indigestion and hallucinates about Lobsters riding trucks(!!). Salvator Dali eat your heart out.

Above mentioned sequence and Sanders are the only reasons to bother with this one (unless you want to see Wendy Barrie chewing on the scenery). I give it 6 lobsters out of 10.

Compared to other Saint series films, this one is mighty dull and uninspiring

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 21 March 2007]

I love B-detective series films like Charlie Chan, Sherlock Holmes and The Falcon. Sure, they are mighty predictable, but there is also a certain charm and sense of fun about them that is hard to beat. While the Saint series is not my favorite, I have always enjoyed them because I love seeing George Sanders so gracefully navigate himself through the mystery--he was the epitome of cool and sophisticated. Because of this, I often find myself watching the film for his performance but caring little for the actual mystery (so many of them seem similar). However, in this dull effort, I just couldn't get past the lifeless plot and lack of decent supporting characters. Compared to most of the other films in this series, this might just be the worst, though I did appreciate how the film made reference to the prior film (starring Louis Hayward)--giving the film a sense of continuity and context. Now this isn't to say it's bad--but unfortunately, it is only a time-passer and not a whole lot more.

Awkward, Confused Jumble

[profh-1 · 2/10 · 14 May 2011]

After Roger Moore, this was my very first SAINT film with George Sanders. Over the years, he's become one of my favorite actors, and there's quite a few other decent actors in this film. However, this gets my vote for the WORST Saint film ever made-- and let me tell you why.

I sat thru this thing at least 3 times and could not make heads or tails of the plot at all. And then, not long after seeing Louis Hayward in THE SAINT IN NEW YORK, I started reading Leslie Chartis' books. Imagine my surprise and shock when I got to "ANGELS OF DOOM", on which this is VERY loosely based, and not only was it was straight-forward, easy to understand, exciting, entertaining and in places downright hilarious, it also became my favorite novel of all time. It also "explained" to me exactly what was WRONG with this movie!!!

They took a story that by rights should have been done as a 3-hour film (2 at the absolute minimum) and crammed it into just about 60 minutes. Is it any wonder it makes almost no sense at all? Never mind that they also decided to set it in the WRONG country (San Francisco instead of London), they gutted the plot so much that in order to get even the basics across, about 95% of the film is just people standing around talk talk talking.

So the plot structure is awful, the directing is appallingly bad, and half the acting in the film is stiff and lifeless, even from normally very talented actors.

And then of course there's George Sanders, who's COMPLETELY miscast as Simon Templar. I never even really understood the whole aura of "The Saint" until I saw Louis Hayward in action; to date, NOBODY else has ever brought the character to accurate life before (NOT EVEN Roger Moore!! --who usually plays it too SERIOUS, which is mind-boggling when you consider he never took James Bond seriously). The dialog Templar spouts in much of this film would be impossible for ANY actor to deliver credibly, EXCEPT for Louis Hayward, and I doubt even he could have made the story in this one fly. Maybe it wasn't just RKO's low low budget that caused him to depart after only one picture-- maybe he read the script, too.

In all fairness, and despite himself, the next 4 SAINT films all had the dialog tailored specifically to fit Sanders' personality. How else could he have done such an INCREDIBLE job in THE SAINT IN London, or THE SAINT TAKES OVER (the latter of which, an "original" story, is actually a thinly-disguised-- and BETTER-told-- remake of THIS mess! --and with the same 3 actors in the leads!).

Half the actors in this I've seen in other "B" movies from this period, and most of them do far better jobs elsewhere. Truthfully, the only one who comes off unscathed is Jonathan Hale, and you can't help but feel sorry for his Inspector Fernack, for the dizzying way Templar leads him on a confused merry chase, on his way to becoming a "hero" at the end.

As if everything else wasn't so bad, at the end of the film, the "big reveal" as to the true identity of the main villain ALSO is told entirely thru confused dialog, and we find that the baddie got KILLED-- off-screen! I just watched this again today, and the whole time, I wanted to throttle the person who wrote the screenplay!

It's no wonder after 6 RKO films, series creator Leslie Charteris PULLED the plug and took back the rights. Ironically, RKO distributed the 2 British-made films that followed, and simultaneously did THE FALCON series, initially also with Sanders, which was based on a novel that was the subject of a plagiarism lawsuit brought against it by Leslie Charteris! I guess that didn't bother RKO any...

Finally, allow me to recommend much better Simon Templar films...

THE SAINT IN NEW YORK

THE SAINT IN London

THE SAINT TAKES OVER

THE SAINT'S VACATION

George Sanders debuts as the Saint

[TheLittleSongbird · 6/10 · 31 October 2016]

'The Saint Strikes Back' is a decent start for the Saint films starring George Sanders, but there are better films in the series since, this had a bit of a finding-its-feet feel and the previous Louis Hayward outing had a tougher edge that is lacking a little here.

Sanders himself is super-suave, sophisticated and wonderfully caddish, while also giving a charming and humorous edge and delivering some cutting lines with aplomb. Joining him in solid support are Barry Fitzgerald, bringing appropriate and welcome spice to the proceedings, and authoritative Jonathan Hale. The sets are very atmospheric, captured very well by some classy photography, and John Farrow directs with a briskness and a clear purpose.

Regarding the script, some of it does get confusing especially towards the end, but Sanders has some nice cutting ones and the dialogue did amuse and provoke thought enough. The story is efficiently paced and mostly diverting.

Not everything works however. Wendy Barrie is stiff and one-note, while also overdoing it a little, while Neil Hamilton is blandly colourless in a particularly sketchy role. The ending feels anti-climactic and the reveal had a very rushed and pretty ridiculous vibe, also not easy to swallow when the character's relevance to the story is almost completely neglected. Some of the film also got a tad over-complicated, though most of it was not too hard to follow, particularly towards the end.

Overall, decent first Sanders-Saint film and Sanders acquits himself very well in the role, but not one of the better films in the series. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Boring, talky little thriller

[Leofwine_draca · 3/10 · 18 January 2011]

THE SAINT STRIKES BACK, an early adaptation of a Leslie Charteris novel starring George Sanders, is a real chore to sit through. The problem with it is the script, which opts for talky and dull mystery shenanigans when instead it could have included some serial-style thrills and pulp adventures. Most of the film is set in a few rooms with a number of criminal characters double-crossing each other which is neither here nor there. As for the "striking" done by the Saint, we see him gun down a would-be assassin in an early scene and trap another with a thrown knife at the climax, but that's the extent of his heroism. Much of the film just sees him playing different criminal elements off each other.

This RKO picture is stagy and static, and the print I saw had muffled sound. The film has about as much artistic inspiration as a typical Monogram programmer. Sanders is stiff as the titular secret agent, with only an occasional twinkle in his eye reminding us that he was once a popular actor. The rest of the performances aren't worth boring with. The most interesting part of the film is the comedy; the highlight a surreal dream sequence in which a man is haunted by lobsters. If only the rest of the film's imagination had been on par with this.

George Sanders a stylish Saint

[csteidler · 8/10 · 23 June 2012]

Who is the Saint? "Well, not the man who knows everything, just the man who knows the important things."

George Sanders is the mysterious, charming and dangerous Simon Templar: "You're important to me—that's why I know you," he explains to an annoyed Wendy Barrie, whom he has just forcibly escorted from a nightclub—moments before the cops arrive to investigate a murder.

Sanders is perfect as the Saint: a droll wit, a cad, an underdog, a shrewd tactician who is not afraid to take a risk. And that Sanders voice!

Wendy Barrie is also fine as the hard-edged daughter of a policeman. Her father was framed by a fellow cop and died in disgrace; Barrie is out to exact some revenge for her father by stirring up trouble for the department. Sanders explains her plot nicely to the investigating officers: "She thinks he got a dirty deal from the police so she's enlisted a bunch of second rate crooks to annoy you."

The Saint is on the scene as one who always takes an interest in rooting out corruption; in this case, his sense of adventure and interest in justice have brought him all the way to San Francisco.

The supporting cast includes great character actors who all do their jobs: Jerome Cowan is a cop who's obviously mixed up in the dirty business somehow; Neil Hamilton is another detective; Barry Fitzgerald is "Zipper," a small time crook impressed with Sanders' style ("I never seen such a cop").

Jonathan Hale is again on hand as Inspector Fernack, the old pro who has had dealings with Templar in the past. His relationship with the Saint is of course complicated—one minute he is sticking up for Templar's motives and methods, not much later he is (momentarily) convinced that Templar is the mastermind behind the whole San Francisco setup.

Besides the great cast, this film features a strong script and is beautifully photographed—a very classy B mystery.

He Strikes A Pose

[boblipton · 7/10 · 13 January 2024]

George Sanders play Leslie Charteris' Simon Templar, as he is accused of skullduggery in San Francisco. Jonathan Hale, as the expert on the fellow, is deputed thither, and runs into Sanders on the flight there. Eventually, they wind up in the city by the bay, where Wendy Barrie plays the daughter of a disgraced cop, reputed to be the head of her own criminal gang.

The mystery of who is behind all the bad stuff is soluble by the structure of the movie, but that's not important. This is now a B series movie, albeit one with a carefully chosen cast and crew, including John Farrow as the director and Frank Redman as the DP. Now there's a definitely humorous undertone, which is why all the shootings take place off screen, and Sanders saunters through the role with a light touch. In many ways, it's his trademark performance, one that he played with for several years. His Saint is not a man of action, so much as someone who is in the right place at the right time. The closest he comes to action is to step onto a trellis and then a balcony, unlike the previous year's effort, in which Louis Hayward' Saint cuts acrobatics and shoots several people.... although only when they deserve it.

Lots of interesting performers fill out the ranks. Wendie Barrie makes her first of three appearances in the series, although she would play different characters in each of them. There's also Jerome Cowan, Barry Fitzgerald, and Neil Hamilton on view.

Sanders Makes His Debut as the Man with the Halo

[zardoz-13 · 5/10 · 1 January 2016]

"Hondo" director John Farrow directed George Sanders' initial incarnation of British-Chinese author Leslie Charteris' suave sleuth in "The Saint Strikes Back," and "Band of Angels" scenarist John Twist adapted Charteris novel "The Saint Meets His Match" with many changes of locale. Incidentally, Sanders didn't originate the intrepid character; that distinction belonged to actor Louis Hayward. Hayward starred in the first movie, director Ben Holmes" "The Saint in New York." Interestingly enough, Hayward encored as the halo clad hero in the 1953 film "The Saint's Girl Friday," long after not only Sanders, but also Hugh Sinclair had impersonated the fictional Robin Hood character. Sanders starred in five "Saint" sagas between 1939 and 1941 for RKO Pictures. Charteris himself felt that Sanders was miscast as his debonair gentleman protagonist, but he applauded Roger Moore in the role as a better fit. Meantime, during his prestigious career, Sanders went on to play another legendary shamus "The Falcon," before he relinquished that role to his brother Tom Conway. "The Saint Strikes Back" is a rather straight-forward crime thriller with the Saint living up to his own self-proclaimed description of himself as "the man who knows everything-just the man who knows the important things." Indeed, our hero knows ahead of time that the heroine he must save is not guilty of murder.

In "The Saint Strikes Back," our adventure-prone protagonist dispatches a New York cop killer, Tommy Voss, in the Colony Club nightclub in San Francisco on New Year's Eve and sets out to save Val Travers (Wendy Barrie of "Dead End") who has suffered a lot of bad publicity since her father was framed for police corruption. After the dead man is found, some of the patrons scramble to leave, and Val is one of several. She encounters Simon Templar (Oscar winner George Sanders of "All About Eve") who is awaiting her just outside on the sidewalk. "Cabs are scarce tonight, aren't they?" is Templar's first line when he meets her. Templar prevents Val from being taken in by the police. After he pulls this stunt, Templar flies back to New York City to meet his own friend, Inspector Henry Fernack (Jonathan Hale of "Son of Pale Face"), who has been assigned to find Templar, while Simon outsmarts Fernack during a stopover in Fort Worth, Texas, on their transcontinental flight to San Francisco. The unfortunate policeman goes on a wild goose chase when cannot find Templar aboard the aircraft,and winds up missing his plane. He is left standing in the airport terminal with nothing but his pajamas and a dressing gown. Incidentally, Hale co-starred in the first "Saint" escapade and he reprised his role here.

This Saint outing is adequate, and Twist gave Sanders some good lines that he utters with aplomb. Since I've never read a Charteris novel, I cannot understand what the author objected to about Sanders' performance, but the British actor seems born to play the role, and he appears to have a grand time doing it, savoring each of his loquacious lines.

The Snide Saint

[scorpio-x · 23 July 2001]

George Sanders makes his first appearance as the Saint in this film and all I can think is: "Hey, It's Addison DeWitt, private eye!" Because this Saint is nothing but snide, more prone to shoot off a cutting remark than a gun. Did Sanders ever make a movie where you didn't get the feeling he was slumming? Where you didn't get the feeling it pained him to be surrounded by such fools? (Making one wonder, then, why the hell he married Zsa Zsa Gabor.) Playing opposite as the romantic interest is Wendy Barrie, who comes off as more hard-boiled than a two-hour egg. Then, of course, Barrie was a pretty tough broad, having been Bugsy Siegel's girl before Virginia "I'll put my mouth where the money is!" Hill came along. This was also the first of Barrie's three appearances in the Saint series, although she played a different character each time.

But what of the film itself? Well, there's not much to say--the plot is confusing the minor characters difficult to tell apart and the visuals not particularly interesting. The real enjoyment in this picture comes from Sander's deadly wit and Barrie's remarkable aura of toughness.

Sanders' debut as The Saint

[blanche-2 · 6/10 · 22 November 2012]

George Sanders, Wendy Barrie, John Hale, Jerome Cowan and Barry Fitzgerald star in "The Saint Strikes Back," which serves as the debut of George Sanders as Simon Templar. He follows Louis Hayward who starred as The Saint in "The Saint in New York." Simon travels from coast to coast more than once in this story, which concerns a San Franciso crime ring. A police inspector, accused of being part of the crime ring and subsequently discharged, committed suicide. As a result, his daughter, Val (Barrie) has formed a crime organization of her own, hoping to draw out the head of the ring, a man named Waldeman, who is responsible for framing her father.

Templar and Inspector Fernak (Hale) work together to find Waldeman -- of course, Fernack thinks Waldeman might actually be Templar.

Directed by John Farrow, the script is a little confusing. Not only that, I lost interest in it after the first half hour and had to go back and try to watch it something like three times. I'm not sure why - it could have just been ADHD.

Anyway, Sanders made a good Saint - charming, flirtatious, amusing, not completely on the up and up. But I have to admit, much as I loved him, there was something about Louis Hayward as The Saint that was very smooth and charismatic. He made a big impression on me when I saw The Saint in New York a long time ago.

Wendy Barrie plays the late police inspector's tough daughter, and she's pretty hard-nosed. Hale and Sanders play well off of one another.

I like some other Saint films better, but this one is okay.

Good. I'll compose a nice obituary for myself.

[hitchcockthelegend · 6/10 · 25 April 2014]

George Sanders steps into the shoes of Simon Templar for the first time and beds himself in for a further four movies. The Saint Strikes Back is a complex little tale that takes The Saint to San Francisco and pitches him against a supposed female mob boss. John Twist's screenplay is tailor made for Sanders, ensuring he gets to play up the caddish rogue act with a tongue as sharp as a serpent. It's this aspect that lifts the film above average, the blend of comedy and mystery is deftly handled by Sanders. Support is good from Wendy Barrie, Jonathan Hale, Jerome Cowan and Barry Fitzgerald, while director John Farrow, without adding any stylish flourish, at least keeps the picture nice and brisk. 6/10

Entertaining

[michaeljhuman · 6/10 · 1 June 2014]

I like George Sanders as the saint. I have them on DVD, and watch them from time to time.

Sadly, the plots of some of the movies are their weak spot. I find I can simply ignore the plot for the most part, and enjoy the ride. If you can't do that, you will probably be disappointed in most of these old saint movies.

In this movie, Fernack (sp?) lends some comic moments. How he always perpetually mistrusts the saint, I will never know. Seeing how much the saint has done for him, it comes across as positively ungrateful. But it's a device used in a number of the movies.

The leading lady isn't bad. I like her acting, but there's more inconsistencies here. Is she an avenging angel, a seeker of truth or a homicidal er...B____ (aka female dog) ? I wasn't sure.

In spite of the plot issues, and inconsistent behavior of some of the characters I still enjoy watching George Sanders Saint. He's usually in control, sometimes suave and sometimes, in his own words, a cad.

George Sanders takes over as "The Saint"...

[Doylenf · 6/10 · 21 March 2007]

You have to stay wide awake to follow the plot convolutions of THE SAINT STRIKES BACK and by the time it reaches its final scene you may lose your way keeping track of a number of undeveloped characters whose names are bandied about with such nonchalance that in the end it hardly matters when you discover who the main culprit is.

The plot revolves around hard-boiled dame WENDY BARRIE who's surrounded herself with gangsters in order to avenge the death of her father. Barrie gives the kind of performance that should have made her a femme fatale in a number of B-films, but nothing more than that. She's a one note actress if ever there was one.

Fortunately, the script is graced by the presence of GEORGE SANDERS, who can deliver a crisp line with so much bite and sarcasm that it's fun to see him using his verbal wit on some unsavory characters. NEIL HAMILTON makes no impression whatsoever in a colorless role as a man supposedly in love with Barrie, but BARRY FITZGERALD turns up to put some spice into the story, at least in the last half of the film.

It's strictly formula stuff intended to entertain as a programmer in the late '30s and offers nothing very original or new to make it anything more than something of passing interest.

"Don't thank me -- you'll be retracting it sooner or later."

[utgard14 · 7/10 · 27 December 2015]

The second movie in RKO's The Saint series is the first to star the inimitable George Sanders. Here we have Simon Templar, aka the Saint, helping a woman who turned to crime after her policeman father was disgraced and committed suicide. While Louis Hayward was a tough and gritty Saint in the first film, George Sanders is all style and class. He's charming, witty, urbane, and impossible to dislike. Jonathan Hale plays Templar's police inspector friend who finds himself torn between trusting Simon and doing his duty. He also provides much of the film's humor. Wendy Barrie plays the embittered woman Templar helps. The rest of the cast includes Neil Hamilton, Jerome Cowan, Edward Gargan, and the great Barry Fitzgerald. John 'father of Mia' Farrow's direction is very good, especially his use of attractive close-ups. Nice score from Roy Webb. It's a great B movie with good characters and a brisk pace. Sanders is undeniably fun to watch in one of his best roles. If you like old detective movies I can't imagine you not liking this one.

George gets his "canonization" from Hollywood.

[theowinthrop · 8/10 · 12 November 2007]

Leslie Charteris' series of novels of the adventures of the slightly shady Simon Templar ("The Saint") was brought to the screen in the late 1930s with the up and coming George Sanders as Templar. It was a careful choice - Sanders usually would play villains with occasional "nice roles" (ffoliott in FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE, the title hero in THE STRANGE CASE OF UNCLE HARRY, the framed "best friend" of Robert Montgomery in RAGE IN HEAVEN). Here his willingness to bend the rules and break a law briefly fit his "heavy persona", while his good looks and suave behavior made Templar a fit shady hero like Chester Morris' "Boston Blackie", and (to an extent) Peter Lorre's "Mr. Moto".

The films are not the best series of movie mystery serials - but they are serviceable. Like Rathbone's Holmes series or Oland's Chan's series the show frequently had actors repeating roles or playing new ones (the anti-heroine in the film here was played by Wendy Barrie, who would show up in a second film in the series). This, and slightly familiar movie sets make the series a comfortable experience for the viewers, who hear the buzz of the dialog (always showing Sanders' braininess in keeping one step ahead of the bad guys), without noting the obvious defects of the plot. All these mysteries have defects due to the fact that even the best writers of the genre can't avoid repeating old ideas again and again and again.

Here the moment when that happened was when one of the cast admitted his affection for Barrie, which she was long aware of. Shortly after he tries to protect her from the police. But as the film dealt with the identity of a criminal mastermind, it became obvious that this person was made so slightly noble as to merit being the mysterious mastermind (i.e., the script disguised him as the least likely suspect).

Barrie is after the proof that her father (who died in prison) was framed by the real criminals in a robbery gang. She has several people assisting her - mugs like William Gargan - and she gets advice from the mastermind on planning embarrassing burglaries that can't be pinned on her. The D.A. who got her father convicted (Jerome Cowan) is determined to get Barrie and her gang. The only detective who seems to have a chance to solve the case is Jonathan Hale, who is shadowing Sanders but reluctantly working with him.

The cast has some nice moments in the script - Hale (currently on a special diet) is tempted to eat a rich lobster dinner made for Sanders by Willie Best. He gets a serious upset stomach as a result, enabling Sanders and Barrie to flee Sanders' apartment. Best has to remind him (when he feels better) to head for a location that Sanders told him to go to at a certain time.

There is also an interesting role for Gilbert Emery. Usually playing decent people (like the brow-beaten husband in BETWEEN TWO WORLDS) he plays a socially prominent weakling here - whose demise is reminiscent of that of a character in a Bogart movie.

On the whole a well made film for the second half of a movie house billing in 1939. It will entertain you even if it does not remain in your memory.

Series Shifts Gears

[DKosty123 · 7/10 · 8 February 2017]

The first film was a full feature. This one is more the length of a B Double Feature under card. This one introduces George Sanders to the title role. It is interesting the control that even RKO had over casting.

The creator of The Saint character did not like George Sanders playing the role of the character he created. Still, from this film forward, he would become the Saint for film goers everywhere.

This edition has more action than the first film. It goes at a much quicker pace and plays like an early film noir detective film. It sold a lot of tickets and it even does a great job giving the series new star a lock on his role.

Overall a smashing success for Saint fans everywhere. The plot twists are here for all to see, and the killers are caught with style. More films to come.

A Hash

[dougdoepke · 21 July 2011]

Maybe you can figure out the plot, I couldn't. Looks to me like somebody put the ingredients into a mix-master and then poured the goulash onto the screen. Characters sort of drift in and out minus the connecting threads that bind a narrative into anything coherent. I guess the result here is intended to be a mystery since the lighting bill couldn't total more than 10-bucks. Whatever it is, it's certainly not a whodunit. I think I recognized Sanders since he does escape the dark now and then. Now I'm as big a fan of the old smoothie as anyone; however, the script's one big accomplishment is to make Sanders' Templar the absolute master of every situation and the predictability does get tiresome. Perhaps that's one reason gentleman detectives of the 30's gave way to blue-collar private- eyes of the 40's. At least Marlowe and Spade stumble around and get clobbered now and again like regular mortals. Anyway, skip this entry in an otherwise decent series, unless, that is, you have a taste for goulash.

new Saint

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 13 January 2024]

It's New Year's Eve in San Francisco. Simon Templar aka The Saint (George Sanders) kills a thug as he sets to shoot. He catches up to the killer's boss Val Travers (Wendy Barrie). Her father was a police inspector who was framed by the mysterious Waldeman and she holds a grudge. The Saint has been spotted at the club and becomes the prime target. The city seeks out help from NYPD Inspector Henry Fernack (Jonathan Hale). The Saint joins him. They set off to take down the unknown Waldeman.

They recast The Saint after the success of the original. Sanders does a fine job here. He has some dapper fun with the role. However, one would expect more of an effort in retaining the original. As for this story, it needs more action and less talk. It lacks excitement. This is fine.

A really excellent Saint film

[robert-temple-1 · 8/10 · 2 May 2023]

This is the second Saint film, based upon Leslie Charteris's novel ANGELS OF DOOM. Louis Hayward has been replaced here as the Saint by George Sanders, who was to go on to make several Saint films. Sanders does not have the mad look in his eye that Hayward mastered, or the sense of reckless impetuosity, but his effortless charm and extremely witty quips, aided by excellent dialogue generally, combine to make him the famous Saint of whom it may confidently be said: 'Once seen, never forgotten.' Jonathan Hale as Inspector Henry Fernack remains in his role from the previous Saint film and he would go on to appear in several more. In this film the femme fatale is the fascinating Wendy Barrie, who would also appear in later Saint films. George Sanders seems to mean it when he says to her at one point that he longs 'to see, to touch, to imagine' her. Many would. But she is a dangerous creature, who does not hesitate for a moment to kill someone, but at the same time is waiflike in her desire to avenge her dead policeman father who had been framed, and is tireless in trying to track and kill a gang of gangsters including a senior policeman who were responsible not only for that but for a reign of terror in the city (New York). There's something about her eyes and her expression that is so unnerving. In what passes for real life, Barrie was the mistress of a notorious gangster named Bugsy Siegel, partner of Meyer Lansky, who was murdered in 1947 at the age of 41 by a mob hit team as he sat on the sofa in his home in Beverly Hills. Maybe one reason why Wendy Barrie was so good at playing a ruthless violent woman is that she knew so many ruthless violent men. Sometimes reality and fiction can become too close for comfort. But she does add that extra spice of danger to the film in an uncanny way.