The Saint's Vacation (1941) User Reviews (20)

Far better than I had hoped

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 1 June 2008]

I have seen most of the Saint films and was expecting not to like this one which starred Hugh Sinclair. Why? Well, because the other one he made (THE SAINT MEETS THE TIGER) was a very dull little B-movie--one of the worst, if not the worst, in the series. Also, when I think of the Saint, I still think I prefer the extremely suave George Sanders--who made the role particularly enjoyable. However, here Sinclair seems more in his element and more importantly, he's got a very good script by the series creator, Leslie Charteris. Plus, and I hate to admit it, but Sinclair is actually better than Sanders in a way because he is a much more physical character--more likely to get in a fist fight or other manly pursuits.

The story itself is about a stolen puzzle box and naturally the Saint gets caught up in the affair. While the individual elements aren't always successful, the overall plot is very good and makes for a film that is actually better than some of the American-made versions--even the ones with Sanders.

Get back to work, for God's sake!

[Spondonman · 7/10 · 30 October 2005]

I hadn't seen this one for nearly 20 years until tonight on cable, and an excellent watch it was at 58 minutes long. Necessarily then a fast paced thriller, the story lifted straight off The Lady Vanishes with Cecil Parker in both but having more immoral fibre in this as the Nazi. At least, I think he was on the Nazis side - nothing is made clear until the very end when this McGuffin is breezily explained by Felix Aylmer. Dressed to Kill provided another variant of this plot 5 years later for Holmes and Watson.

Basically everyone's after a mysterious box and prepared to kill for it. In one scene Parker coldly shoots dead two unarmed train guards for hindering him in his quest, even though we the audience know the whole episode was a deliberate false trail laid by (the apparently uncaring) Templar to throw the baddies off his track.

All it really needed was Charters and Caldicott in one of the foreign hotels arguing about cricket to complete the similarity to TLV. However, the former packed in some rather poor model shots for buildings etc whereas in TSV we're treated to some splendid Gothic Bavarian sets, of hotels, castles and woodland. I wonder what period film they were used for first? With all faults, still a nice little film.

Hugh Sinclair a very passable Simon Templar

[csteidler · 7/10 · 3 September 2012]

All the Saint wants to do is take a little trip abroad…but the gang of reporters tracking him down to the pier just won't believe he's not on a case. Among those reporters is Mary Langdon (Sally Gray), the only girl reporter in the bunch, determined to catch a big scoop to launch her career.

Along with his friend Monty, Simon tries to convince Mary he's on vacation, but suddenly things start to happen all at once: a mysterious parking lot meeting, a pursuit by automobile, a foot chase through the woods, a fight in a darkened clearing in which even our heroine assists, stomping a prone tough guy's wrist and taking away his knife just in time….

Simon Templar may be on vacation, but a case certainly finds him. Gradually he learns that all the to-do concerns a small, mysterious package that multiple parties seek (and Templar soon has).

Gray and Sinclair work well together, and exchange some enjoyably clever repartee. (Mary: "I suppose you realize we stand an excellent chance of being sent to jail for a couple of years." Simon: "Well, you can't expect to have your fun for nothing, can you.")

The picture really gets interesting when veteran English actor Cecil Parker comes on the scene as villain Rudolph Hauser, a spy who—like everyone else—badly wants that little box. Parker and Sinclair are excellent together—two experienced operators who maintain an exceedingly polite surface while playing a deadly game.

Hugh Sinclair is actually a quite pleasing Simon Templar—he captures the character's polished and polite exterior as well as the cool alertness and ready athleticism lurking just beneath. The picture's strong cast and a plot that presents a few surprises help to make this a very entertaining series entry. Only the resolution seems a bit weak…but that may be because the buildup was so good.

Best dialog exchange: In a highly tense moment, Templar bursts into Hauser's living room to find the owner ready to confront and presumably trap him. Templar plays it suave: "You don't mind me….butting in like this?" To which the reply is equally civil: "Oh, on the contrary, I…I'm always pleased to see you."

A happy highwayman's holiday

[ADAM-53 · 19 August 2000]

One of the better entries in a series that was starting to tail off. Sanders had left the part of the Saint to become "The Gay Falcon" for the same studio, RKO, and production was transferred to war-torn Britain. Unbelievably this film shows little signs of the conflict as it's a tale of a race across Europe (with train footage apparently dragged out of Hitchcock's "The Lady Vanishes") to solve the mystery of a strange music box. Hugh Sinclair is slightly wooden as Simon Templar, although he gets into his stride during the action sequences and promises to shape up well (actually his one sequel is slightly disappointing as he doesn't get the chance to display his athleticism in the same way again). Sally Gray, who popped up as the romantic interest in "The Saint in London" is reporter Mary Langdon, out to get a story whether the Saint wants her to or not -- she was easily the prettiest co-star of the series and could easily have outshone a dozen similar Hollywood actresses. Arthur Macrae is a fine comic Monty Hayward and Ealing Comedies regular Cecil Parker an excellent, hissable villain as Crown Prince Rudolph. Gordon McLeod makes the second of three appearances as Chief Inspector Teal, though sadly his is only a guest appearance right at the end of the film. Again, he is easily the best of the screen/TV Teals. The story is faithfully adapted (if shortened) from "Getaway", one of Saint creator Leslie Charteris's best books. Forget the Val Kilmer "Saint" film effort (which has nothing in common with Charteris's character, and doesn't even credit the author) and curl up and enjoy.

The Saint goes over some old territory

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 1 June 2008]

Hugh Sinclair is The Saint, Simon Templar, in "The Saint's Vacation," a 1941 film also starring Sally Gray, Cecil Parker and Arthur Macrae. Besides Roger Moore and Ian Ogilvy on television, the Saint has been played by Sinclair, Louis Hayward and George Sanders (that I've seen). I liked Hayward's smoothness, Sanders' turn of a phrase, and I like Sinclair's cool, casual, take it as it comes attitude. He doesn't have the dry wit of Sanders' Simon, but like Saints before him, nothing fazes him either. He also doesn't whistle the familiar "Saint" tune, which I kind of missed.

Now the Saint is veddy veddy British as the productions were moved over to the UK, and Simon is working with a friend (Arthur Macrae) who's afraid of his shadow. This time the plot concerns a highly sought after music box - where have we heard that before? And, as usual, people will kill to get their hands on it.

Sally Gray is pretty and energetic as a reporter who accompanies Simon as she tries to get a good story. Evidently she doesn't realize that if you like Sherlock Holmes and The Lady Vanishes, this variation on a theme is old stuff. Very pleasant film.

Rather enjoyable mystery

[chris_gaskin123 · 7/10 · 14 February 2005]

As well as showing several Falcon movies recently, BBC2 also shown The Saint's Vacation, so I set the video and was pleased I did.

The Saint goes on a vacation to Switzerland and gets involved to solve the mystery of a music box. After getting into several fights, the mystery is solved at the end.

The movie is rather fast paced throughout.

The Saint is played well by Hugh Sinclair and is joined by Cecil Parker, Sally Gray and Arthur Macrae.

A nice way to spend an hour one evening.

Rating: 3 stars out of 5.

"The Saint's Vacation" Is No Picnic.

[zardoz-13 · 5/10 · 14 October 2008]

The extraordinary thing about director Leslie Fenton's "The Saint's Vacation" is that RKO Studio produced this black & white thriller in England during World War II. For whatever reason, however, the filmmakers made no mention of the war. Apart from the use of exterior stock footage, such as the train hurtling along the countryside, RKO filmed "The Saint's Vacation" entirely on interior sound stages, even the outdoor scenes. Later, the characters gather at Dover on the pier and much later on they discuss a Paris stopover during a cross-continental trip. Obviously, neither an excursion to Paris nor catching a ship at Dover would have been possible under wartime conditions. Mind you, by this time, Nazi troops had occupied Paris, and British subjects would never have been permitted to sail in hostile waters without a Royal Navy escort. Nevertheless, despite the fact that the British had been battling Hitler since 1939, RKO Studio lets the action play out with no references to the war. In the final scene, one character does mention the War Office, but he doesn't make reference to the war. Most likely, postwar audiences that have watched "The Saint's Vacation" probably thought it was filmed either before the war or after it, not during the darkest hours before the war turned in the favor of the Allies in 1942. Another interesting thing about this modest "Saint" film is that author Leslie Charteris penned the screenplay from his original novel "Getaway" with "Sanders of the River" scenarist Jeffrey Dell.

Monte Hayward (Arthur Macrae of "Silver Blaze") panics at the last minute as his butler and he pack his luggage for a trip abroad. Not only is Monte in a lather because his close friend Simon Templar, (Hugh Sinclair of "The Saint Meets the Tiger"), a.k.a., 'The Saint,' hasn't arrived for their 11:30 AM departure, but also because nosy journalists are bugging Monte about the whereabouts of the Saint. .Indeed, the Saint surprises Monte by sneaking in through the fire escape to avoid the journalists staking out Monte's front door. Interestingly, RKO conceived the series as a man who operates on the fringes of the law. The Saint has a shady reputation, but British authorities appear to have granted our hero some kind of dispensation, perhaps because of the war. Detectives in the George Sanders' "Saint" movies were always trying to lock him up. Anyway, Monte is adamant that Simon and he enjoy a quiet, uneventful vacation. "Remember, we're going away on holiday. We're not going to get mixed up in anything." Simon agrees, but they decide to go their separate ways until they meet on the ship so that they have thrown the news hounds off their trail.

Eventually, to the chagrin of the press, the Saint avoids the journalists and sneaks aboard the ship wearing a fake mustache and beard. He removes both mustache and beard as they watch from the pier. One reporter refuses to concede defeat so readily. "Gazette" writer Mary Langdon (Sally Gray of "Dangerous Moonlight") takes a plane to catch the Saint. Again, during wartime, she couldn't hire a plane on such short notice and brave the Luftwaffe infested skies over Europe. She catches up with the Saint in Switzerland at a hotel. "She thinks you're up to something," vigilant Monte warns the Saint about Mary. She brightens visibly when she meets Simon in the hotel. Mary explains, "So much depends on this. If I don't get a story, I'm through." Once again, the comings and goings of the Saint supersede anything about the war. "Don't you think you could rake up a little trouble somehow," Mary pleads. "I don't mean anything drastic, of course." No sooner has Mary uttered these words than the Saint stumbles upon a mysterious woman in black, Valerie (Leueen MacGrath of "Pygmalion"), who is mixed up with a man named Gregory. After she rebuffs the Saint, Valerie meets with Gregory (John Warwick of "The Desperate Man") and bundles off into the night in a hired car. Not long after, Gregory is pursued by the villain, Rudolf Hauser (Cecil Parker of "The Ladykillers"), who wants something that Gregory has. Later, we learn Gregory possesses a small music box concealed in a larger wooden cigar box. The Saint and Rudolf play a game of cat and mouse over this mysterious little box. At one point, the Saint sneaks into Rudolf's mountainside castle in Switzerland by riding on the rear bumper of Rudolf's car. Rudolf's last name implies Teutonic origins, but no mention is ever made about his ancestry or nationality and neither play a role in the story. At one point, Rudolf convinces the Swiss authorities to arrest the Saint and imprison him, but the Saint makes a deal for his freedom with Rudolf.

"The Saint's Vacation" boasts several fistfights and shoot-outs, with one of them in a British train as Rudolf steals Gregory's music box from Royal Mail bags. Unfortunately, the Saint's life is never in jeopardy, and neither the Swiss authorities nor the villains pose much of a threat to Templar. The mystery about the contents of the music box is solved in the last scene. The revelation that the metal cylinder in the music box contains a blueprint of the electric circuit for 'the best sound detector in the world' is at best bland. Tall, lanky, urbane Hugh Sinclair with his clipped mustache qualifies as a passable Saint. He is rather handy with a revolver and he knows out to get himself out of close scrapes. He isn't as suave as either George Sanders or Tom Conway in the pre-war "Saint" sagas or the postwar "Saint" escapades. Arthur Macrae is good at acting flustered throughout the twists and turns of the plot. Sally Gray and Leueen MacGrath are pretty distractions, and Cecil Parker is ideally suited as the gruff villain Rudolf. Mary replies that the Saint may have to marry Valerie. Altogether, the derogatory term potboiler pretty much sums up this lukewarm RKO production.

Brisk Little B-Thriller

[l_rawjalaurence · 7/10 · 1 August 2014]

One of the two Saint films that RKO made in Britain, THE SAINT'S VACATION is a brisk little tale in which the eponymous hero (Hugh Sinclair) successfully smuggles a box out of an unnamed Central European country, containing a vital device essential to Britain's future position in the World, aided and abetted by journalist Mary Langdon (Sally Gray) and amiable duffer Monty Hayward (Arthur Macrae). Looked at today, one cannot help but admire the way in which director Leslie Fenton makes use of very limited resources, in which stock footage is spliced together with studıo-bound sequences shot against very obvious backdrops. His main technique for sustaining our attention is through fast cuts between close-ups and two-shots, while encouraging his actors to play their roles to the hilt. Sinclair turns in a characteristically suave performance that contrasts with Macrae's cowardly Monty who perpetually desires a quiet life away from everything. Needless to say no one ever listens to him; and he is unwittingly drawn into the action when the Saint hides the box in Monty's traveling-bag. The husky-voiced Gray turns in a competent performance, even though she doesn't have much to do in the fight-sequences other than to put her hands up to her face in terror. Cast against type, Cecil Parker makes a good hissable villain with a penchant for turning his top lip up in distaste. He tries his best to remain detached from the action, leaving most of the dirty work to his sidekick Gregory (John Warwick). While the story might be unmemorable, THE SAINT'S VACATION offers several incidental pleasures for anyone looking to while away an entertaining hour.

"You know, Templar, you're becoming rather a nuisance."

[utgard14 · 5/10 · 26 June 2017]

The seventh in RKO's The Saint series and the first not starring the inimitable George Sanders. Hugh Sinclair takes over the reins here. This one has the Saint trying to find music boxes that have codes Axis spies want, which is similar to a plot from a much better Sherlock Holmes movie. Right away we notice this has a different look and feel to it than the Sanders Saint films. That's because it was filmed in England with a British cast. Hugh Sinclair is also a big change from Sanders. Lacking in charisma and screen presence, he's a pretty dull replacement. The Saint's put-upon sidekick is very annoying in a stereotypically English "chip chip cheerio and all that" way. The requisite "pretty girl with spunk" is also annoying.

At times, this was a tough slog to get through. If the only British films you're familiar with from this period were directed by Alfred Hitchcock or Michael Powell, you're likely in for a disappointment. This suffers from the same problems as many of the older Brit films I've seen, namely that it's mannered, stiff, and dull. It also, frankly, looks cheap. The only time I was impressed was when we see the bad guys' secret lair. The sets and matte paintings were nice there. The screenplay was co-written by Saint creator Leslie Charteris, which probably explains why the story is stronger than most of the previous Saint films. However the dialogue is nothing special. It does get better as it goes along. The action scenes help, despite some jarring editing in the first one.

Fast, watchable

[Panamint · 7/10 · 26 October 2013]

"The Saint's Vacation" moves along briskly. The fast pace enhances what would otherwise be a pretty typical B-mystery of the era.

The incandescent Sally Gray is at her peak here and she is the main reason you don't want to miss this movie. Wow- blonde hair, vivaciousness, overall screen presence, but mostly her magnificent voice. One of the best screen voices (female or male) ever to grace the screen in 1940 or any era. You can't take your eyes (or ears) off her. She was truly one of the all time screen babes.

The film also features the "inevitable" Cecil Parker (I call him inevitable because of his participation in so many good British films such as "The Lady Vanishes").

Sinclair was no way comparable to the rakish George Sanders but is adequate as the Saint here, livened as he is by being forced to go at the fast pace required in this story. A competent actor.

You should catch this non-classic because of the vibrant screen presence of Sally Gray. For sheer screen "Presence"- that often alluded to but seldom describable factor- whatever it is Ms. Gray had it.

Redone Saint

[WesternOne1 · 3/10 · 13 January 2024]

The Saint went through many iterations over the years, and those familiar with them will have their favorite actor or series, for instance, author Leslie Charteris said the 1960s TV version with Roger Moore was his. But Nobody's will be Hugh Sinclair.

George Sanders was a cool-tempered, urbane, public school Englishman, always a charming rogue, with just a hint of menace. Sinclair looks like a stand-in for Anthony Eden, and maybe more dried out than dry wit.

The story would be easily applied to the Saint character, but this one, made in Britain, seems to have ideas that the Saint as we knew him from the RKO Sanders series wasn't good enough, and had to be recast as Bulldog Drummond. Drummond, as we would be familiar with him in 1941, had standard elements of all detective series, but Drummond notably had a girl, usually his Fiancée, and a stupid/scared Bertie Wooster-type comedy relief hanging on to him through all the action.

Why the Saint should take up this formula is up to question. Did the British think the Drummond treatment was an improvement over the Saint's usual, more self-reliant performances? Obviously, something must have been imperfect about the Sanders entries; why else would RKO kick a series over to their UK studio if it was a big success in Hollywood?

This strategy apparently did nothing for the Saint, and the Brits made one further entry with Sinclair, ditching the goofy sidekick, and making more of a regular set-up in "The Saint Meets the Tiger", but it's handled in a dull way, and RKO didn't even want to take a chance with releasing it in America, so two years later, it was sold to Republic, who did, and, nobody much cared. An inglorious, but only temporary, end of the Saint.

The vacation you have when you're not having a vacation!

[JohnHowardReid · 8/10 · 28 January 2014]

If it were not for Cecil Parker, who makes the most of an unusual role as the villain in this entry scripted by Leslie Charteris himself in collaboration with the talented Jeffrey Dell (who later wrote and directed that outstanding 1952 thriller, "The Dark Man"), and some good work by Arthur Macrae as our hero's right-hand man (he certainly fooled me with his gendarme impersonation), this entry could be classed as pretty routine. Certainly, former actor Leslie Fenton's direction is nothing to write home about, although he does stage the action with reasonable aplomb. He was later to direct the cult western, "Whispering Smith", and then the almost equally admired "Streets of Laredo", before blotting his copybook with "The Redhead and the Cowboy" in 1951. He then retired. Unlike his contemporaries, he ignored all overtures from TV even though he lived not that far away from Hollywood in Montecito, California. This Saint entry is available on an excellent Warner Archive DVD, coupled with "The Saint Meets the Tiger".

"The Saint" has no vacation from crime...

[Doylenf · 6/10 · 31 May 2008]

Entertaining little low-budget entry from Great Britain, it has HUGH SINCLAIR as "The Saint" involved immediately in getting hold of a music box that holds some sort of war secret--although the war itself is never actually named and kept strictly out of sight. SALLY GRAY makes a pleasant female lead, a newspaper reporter who is a lot braver than The Saint's sidekick, played by ARTHUR MACRAE in a most annoying manner. He makes Dr. Watson's Nigel Bruce look like a brain surgeon.

With some obvious studio backgrounds subbing for Switzerland locales, this caper moves along at a fast pace, filling every one of its one hour running time with story development that never lets up.

CECIL PARKER is a smooth villain, but the story has all the familiar ingredients we've come to expect in any Saint outing. The McGuffin is clearly the music box and the plot is kept simple with everyone's concentration on getting hold of it.

Summing up: Passes the time quickly and pleasantly, but Hugh Sinclair is no replacement for George Sanders, no matter how British he is.

What did they want that musical box for?

[bkoganbing · 3/10 · 15 December 2012]

Granted this is a B picture from RKO so there will be less care taken, but I could hardly wrap my mind around the concept that British people in 1941 were going on holiday to Switzerland. The continent was a bit hostile at the time.

Hugh Sinclair becomes Simon Templar the Saint in this entry in the series which was made in Great Britain by an RKO subsidized division. This film was a slapdash affair, it looks like the writers took their inspiration from Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes and The 39 Steps with a bit of Sherlock Holmes thrown in.

Two women are involved in the plot, eager beaver reporter Sally Gray a British Lois Lane and government agent Leueen McGrath. The villain is mysterious count Cecil Parker and everybody wants a musical box that is some kind of code.

I watched all 61 minutes of this and I swear I still don't know what it was all about.

A typical b-movie serial that can be enjoyed on that level

[bob the moo · 13 February 2005]

The Saint courts media interest wherever he goes and today is no interest – even though Monty just wants a nice quiet holiday with him, with no mystery or adventure. Slipping onto the ship in disguise throws most of the journalists off Templar's trail but not the plucky and determined Mary Langdon, who follows him on his trip. But as Summer follows Spring, so adventure follows the Saint and it is not long before he finds himself involved in shady goings-on over the possession of what appears to be a perfectly ordinary music box.

As a fan of the Falcon series I decided to give other franchises a try and where better to start than the series that the original Falcon jumped out of – The Saint. In this entry the Saint gets into his usual scraps in the pursuit of a mystery box and the end result is a quite enjoyable little b-movie. The plot is straightforward but just about has enough action to make it worth seeing if you are into this sort of light entertainment (which I am). However those seeking a bit more substance will find this film lacking it but as long as you know what you are getting then it'll do the job.

With Saunders jumping ship to join another RKO franchise (The Falcon) the role falls to Sinclair and he takes to it with no great distinction. True his performance is fitting for a b-movie serial but I didn't find him very memorable at all. Macrae is better and made some of his scenes better – never a good thing for a sidekick from a lead's point of view. Parker makes a good villain and he is by far the most interesting person in the film – his chemistry with Sinclair is effective and the former helps the latter be better than in solo scenes. Gray is just too obvious a blonde starlet to really stand out from the crowd but she does well enough. The film makes reasonable use of the location despite some heavy foreign accents that are distracting – the train scenes are quite enjoyable and the film manages to avoid feeling like it is stuck on a soundstage (even if it mostly is).

Overall this is an OK film that will be enjoyed by viewers who like this sort of b-movie serial a la the Falcon etc. The plot is interesting enough even if it never really grabbed me; the acting helps and, although I didn't think Sinclair really managed to make the role his own, he is helped out by a great Parker and nice support from Macrae. Not anything special but a typical b-movie serial that can be enjoyed on that level.

Hugh Sinclair miscast as the Saint

[robert-temple-1 · 6/10 · 2 May 2023]

This is the seventh Saint film and this time Hugh Sinclair plays the Saint. It is based on a story by Leslie Charteris, who also jointly wrote the screenplay. As the Saint, the tall and thin Hugh Sinclair with his very reserved English manner and lack of wise-cracking is a complete contrast with the witty George Sanders. Frankly, Hugh Sinclair was too remote or aloof in his manner for the part. He does not ooze any charm at all. That does not mean that he does a bad job of acting, for he is very good. But he is miscast. There is compensation for this, however, for the delightful Sally Gray is the lead gal in the film, and she has enough charm for both of them. Frankly, it is worth seeing the film just for her. She plays a girl reporter who successfully outwits her male reporter competitors through sheer determination. Although she left films in 1952, she lived to be 91 and only died in London in 2006. I wish I had run into her, as she must have been 'super jolly'. The sidekick of the Saint in this film is played by Arthur Macrae. The story of this film concerns a stolen box which cannot be opened, so not only is the box missing, but even when it is found its contents cannot be determined. Cecil Parker plays the villain Rudolph Hauser who is a spy (his name suggests for whom), who is desperate to get the box. The film is very enjoyable.

A Maguffin For The Saint

[boblipton · 6/10 · 16 January 2024]

In a state of exhaustion from sauntering through the previous five episodes of RKO's The Saint as George Sanders, it's Hugh Sinclair's chance to play Simon Templar. He goes on vacation to the Continent in the company of dim-witted Arthur Macrae, and Sally Gray as a newspaperwoman. She figures where the goes, there's a story. At first there doesn't seem to be much, but they wind up with a music box, which evil mastermind Cecil Parker wants, and isn't in the least fussy how.

Sinclair is a bit more active than Sanders was, jumping o the hoods of speeding autos, and firing the odd gun. Mostly, though, he seems content to play his little I-know-more-than-you-know game until the purpose of the maguffin is randomly revealed by Felix Aylmer.

Sinclair is amusing, but not a patch on Sanders' supercilious fellow. This was the second episode of the series shot in England, and the reasons usually given are blocked funds.

The Saint takes a train trip

[Prismark10 · 3/10 · 26 July 2014]

George Sanders is the suave, sophisticated but also slightly dubious The Saint. Sanders jumped ship to become The Falcon and film series moved to be shot on location in Britain. Its fast paced, low budget B picture with cheap production values.

Hugh Sinclair takes over as The Saint but he has none of the charisma or screen presence of Sanders and at some parts of the film he gets lost amongst other similar looking actors in the film. There is a propaganda element in this film with dastardly Nazis types and the plot is very much borrowed from The Lady Vanishes, although its based on an original Charteris story.

Its a race across Europe on a train where everyone is looking for a strange music box. British film stalwart Cecil Parker is the villain as Prince Rudolph. There are some nice action sequences with fist fights and shooting scenes, elements of comedy and nice attractive leading ladies. Sinclair is bland and a little dull. We have no idea what is so important about the box though.

The SAINT vs. Rudolph Hauser!

[profh-1 · 9/10 · 8 January 2023]

Simon Templar promises his old college chum Monty Hayward a relaxing vacation in Europe, but the press are sure he's onto something big. So much so that reporter Mary Langdon follows him over half of France & Switzerland before catching up with him at a hotel. Well, Simon may have meant what he said, but no sooner does Mary arrive than Simon crosses paths with his ARCH-NEMESIS, Rudolph Hauser, and when he sees a man being attacked in the woods, he can't help but stick his nose in. Next thing, he finds himself between 2 different groups trying to get their hands on a mysterious box containing who knows what, which leads to a murder in his hotel, a confrontation at Rudolph's castle home, a chase on board a speeding train, an escape from a small local jail, a kidnapping, a rescue, and finally being arrested by the British police on returning to England. Just another typical adventure for "THE SAINT"!

My GOD, what a serious, MAJOR upgrade this film was to its predecessor! Made by the newly-formed RKO Radio British Productions and filmed entirely in England, it returns Simon Templar to his natural environment, recasts the part with someone who actually looks right for the role, and give us, instead of another dreary crime story, an actual ADVENTURE, which is the sort of thing RKO in Hollywood should have been doing from the start but NEVER did!

Contrary to several comments, this film was not a swipe of THE LADY VANISHES (1938) or its source novel "The Wheel Spins" (1936) but was in fact adapted from Leslie Charteris' novel "Getaway" from 1932! Any complaints about the lack of Nazis or World War Two can be put down to this being adapted from a story written 9 YEARS earlier. (Not every film adaptation is or should be "updated" to the year it was filmed. I really wish more "classic" characters would be presented in their authentic time as "period pieces".)

Hugh Sinclair takes over as Simon, and is insanely-relaxed regardless of the situation, but also good in a fight. He's a bit skinny for the part, but the only thing that actually bothers me is his moustache-- The Saint should ALWAYS be clean-shaven! I've seen a photo of him from some other film, where he looked more right than he does here.

Arthur Macrae is Simon's pal "Monty Hayward". Unlike a number of Simon's sidekicks, this guy is NOT an ex-con who's decided to go straight, but clearly someone Simon probably went to college with. He's such a "Nervous Nellie" I'm sure he's bound to get on the nerves of most modern audiences, but you have to take into account when these characters were created. I've also seen Macrae in SILVER BLAZE (1937) opposite Arthur Wontner's Sherlock Holmes.

Sally Gray, my FAVORITE "Saint girl", plays relentless girl reporter Mary Langdon, who proves handy in some tough situations. It's very odd that both SAINT films she appeared in were based on stories that originally featured Simon's sometimes-girlfriend Patricia Holm, and would have been PERFECT in the role, but both times was playing other people!

Gordon McLeod makes his 2nd appearance as Inspector Teal, but only in a brief cameo at the end, seeming rather disappointed that Templar wasn't being charged with anything. As it turns out, this was the 2nd story he was in where Templar wound up doing a favor for the British government-- although this time, he didn't tell them that until the whole case was over with!

Amazingly, the person who completely STEALS the movie is Cecil Parker. As "Rudolph Hauser", he's my FAVORITE Saint villain, a guy so smooth, so suave, so cool, so calculating (yet not shy when it comes to murdering people himself when the situation calls for it), he is this series' equivalent of a BOND villain, decades early! This story is also the ONLY time in the RKO series where we see a baddie with a genuine "villain hideout", in the form of Rudolph's castle. Something I didn't realize for many years was, the character of "Prince Rudolph" was the main villain in 3 different novels-- "The Last Hero", "The Avenging Saint" (alias "Knight Templar"), and "Getaway"-- and I've READ the first 2, but never the 3rd! I really need to make up for that. Realizing this now, and re-watching the film, I feel it's downright CRIMINAL that RKO spent so much time doing tedious crime stories when they should have been adapting Charteris' ADVENTURE novels. My estimation of some of these has altered a bit over the decades, and right now, I'd rank this as the 2nd-best in the series (right after ...IN LONDON).

There's some great dialogue in this, including... "What am I under arrest for?" "Murder!" "Oh, is that all?" ...and... "I'm not as stupid as you think I am!" "That practically impossible."

It's a shame they only did 2 SAINT films in England with Sinclair, and judging by the release date of the 2nd one, I'd guess the abrupt end of the series may have had something to do with WW2 being officially declared at that point. I'd have loved to have seen a DOZEN of them as good as this one was.

Fair

[Michael_Elliott · 9 July 2008]

Saint's Vacation, The (1941)

** (out of 4)

Seventh film in RKO's series has George Sanders being replaced by Hugh Sinclair. This time out The Saint is battling a man over a mysterious box, which contains some sort of secret code. This is a rather strange entry in the series as I found it to have one of the best stories but the production is so poor that this really kills anything positive in the film. What really kept getting under my skin was the incredibly bad editing, which really stands out to be among the worst I've ever seen. There's one scene where The Saint must fight two guys while his sidekick and a female reporter (Sally Gray) are watching. The way this thing is edited is so poorly done and the bad music selections really made me laugh when the scene was of course going for suspense. As for Sinclair, he really doesn't make a very good leading man. I wasn't too impressed with Sanders in the role but he was certainly more fitting than his replacement. I'm not sure if he should get all the blame for being so stiff because the entire film pretty much plays out that way. There's never any real energy built by the director and in the end the movie just comes off pretty bland.