The Saint's Blog devoted to news and rumors about The Saint and Leslie Charteris. Simon Templar, alias The Saint, was played by Roger Moore in the 1960's TV show featuring the Volvo 1800.
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Friday, May 25, 2012
The Saint RKO Films on DVD
We're playing a little bit of catch up here, as all of the RKO films of The Saint from the 1930s 1940s have been out on DVD for a few months now. This is great news for fans of The Saint, as they can now watch Leslie Charteris' creation of Simon Templar be played by George Sanders, Hugh Sinclair, and Louis Hayward in DVD digital quality. And, these have been released in both Region 1 and Region 2 formats. It's time to catch up on these great old films from RKO, and watch the first movies of The Saint all over again for the first time!
Additionally, and just for added interest. You could also pick up a copy of The Falcon collection. When George Sanders left The Saint, RKO made a series of him as The Falcon. These are done in such a similar style, with the same crew, same writers, same casting, same studio, and same promotion, that Leslie Charteris sued them over it. In fact, if you re-read The Saint Steps In, you'll find Charteris having some fun at The Falcon's expense. To us, it's just more Saint films for us to enjoy, albeit under a slightly different name.
British DVD Editions of The Falcon -- Odeon has released a large collection of the Falcon in Region 2:
MIA - Missing in Action
The Saint in New York -- There are two films which are MIA... both starring Louis Hayward. In America, you can't find the first Saint film, The Saint in New York, on DVD yet. It is only available in the British series.
The Saint's Girl Friday -- The other missing film is the very last one, from the 1950s. It was released in England in 1953 under the name, The Saint's Return, and distributed by RKO in the USA during
1954 as The Saint's Girl Friday. Neither version is available on DVD at this time.
Moonstone Graphic Novel of The Saint Coming July 2012
As first reported in our 2010 Moonstone Saint announcement, we have been waiting a long time for the latest version of The Saint in comic book form. The wait is almost over! The first issue of the upcoming graphic novel, The Saint, will be published by Moonstone books in July 2012. The story is written by Leslie Charteris and Mel Odom, with original illustrated artwork by Eduardo Barreto.
The comic format will be 16 color pages, and will be priced at $1.99 There will be two different covers, with 80% being the standard, and the other 20% a unique purple cover with a smoke trail of the Saint's stickman logo.
The first new SAINT comic book in America in over 60 years! Soon to be a major television show!
The Robin Hood of modern crime returns!
He robs from the evil and heartless rich, and gives to the wronged and deserving poor–in the process, keeping a percentage for his own expenses. He doesn’t work for the law, the government, or anyone else. He is a lone wolf…an adventurer, a detective, a rogue, but always…a gentleman!
In “The Sizzling Saboteur” – The Saint travels to Texas in pursuit of a man who has been sabotaging weapons factories, but when his quarry turns up burned to crisp, he has to contend with both the local police, a trio of mysterious men behind the sabotage, and a beautiful Russian.
Variety has a report on RKO enlisting a new writer for new 'Saint' which is exciting news. As Ian Dickerson pointed out a while back, "RKO have the rights to remake their films as long as they don't change the dialogue or the length of the pictures. They must be remade as films for the cinema, they do not have any TV rights. So if they remake The Saint Meets the Tiger it'll be 79 min long, Saint in New York 69 mins. Hardly feature film length nowadays."
The long-awaited TV Series is still in the works, and has had multiple false-starts and fresh-starts! The latest fresh-start should be more newsworthy in the very near future. In the meantime, let's read about the RKO remakes!
RKO enlists scribe for new 'Saint' Travis Wright to pen update of durable franchise By Dave McNary
RKO Pictures is reviving Simon Templar and "The Saint," signing Travis Wright ("Eagle Eye") to pen a script based on the debonair hero.
The Saint, a sort of modern-day Robin Hood, was created by Leslie Charteris and first appeared in the 1928 book "Enter the Tiger." Known as the Saint because of his initials, Templar's targets included lowlifes and corrupt politicians; he often left a calling card at his "crimes," a stick figure of a man with a halo -- which served as the logo of the Charteris books, movies, and the 1960s TV series starring Roger Moore.
Movies featuring the Saint began in 1938 with "The Saint in New York," then "The Saint Strikes Back" and several others. Ian Ogilvy starred in the 1978-79 series "Return of the Saint" and Val Kilmer starred in Paramount's 1997 version.
RKO, with a legacy dating back to "Citizen Kane" and "King Kong," is expected to distribute drama "A Late Quartet," starrring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, and Christopher Walken. Wright and former partner John Glenn wrote drafts for remakes of "Clash of the Titans" at Warner Bros., "Journey to the Center of the Earth" at Fox and "The Warriors" at Paramount. Wright is repped by Benderspink.
The Tainted Archive has a follow-up on the upcoming tale of two Saints, which they call, Will it be the battle of the Saints? Not Spy vs. Spy, but Saint vs. Saint!
As first reported here in December of 2007, James Purefoy is finally at last all set to play the new Simon Templar in the forthcoming TV series of The Saint. We may have jumped the gun a bit back in 2007, but we weren't wrong -- just early!
James Purefoy has written an introduction to Ian Dickerson's The Saint on TV, in which he talks about his forthcoming role as Simon Templar. Shooting is reported to be slated to start in July 2011 in New Orleans.
The newest version of The Saint is being produced by Cajun Pictures who've acquired a pilot script written by William J. MacDonald and Burl Barer.
James Purefoy, who will play the new Saint, was screen tested for the role of James Bond in 1995 for Goldeneye, and throughout 2004 and 2005 Purefoy's name was rumoured as a possible candidate to replace Brosnan as agent 007 in future James Bond films. These rumors surfaced again before the 2006 film, Casino Royale.
In December 2007, James Purefoy was first rumored to have been cast in the role of Simon Templar alias The Saint, and that was put on-hold due to production issues and his role in The Philanthropist. In 2011, it appears that Purefoy is coming back to the role of The Saint!
I am told The Saint will film in July in New Orleans. I’m booked there from mid-July. More news as I get it.
That's about as much as we've heard in quite a while -- the new producers of the forthcoming TV show of The Saint have been extremely quiet, and while we've heard some un-verified rumors about the stars, locations, and scripts; this quote from Sir Roger himself is about as official as it gets for now! More news as we get it.
Both Leslie and Roy were born in Singapore, with elder brother Leslie appearing in 1907 with Roy following in 1910. Roy went to King's College as an Maths undergraduate in 1929, then switched to History and graduated in 1932. Roy developed a passion for the music of the church, and formed lifelong friendships with the Dean of Chapel, Eric Milner-White and the distinguished choirmaster, Director of Music Boris Ord.
in 1934, at the early age of 23, Rev. Yin became the Chaplain (Deacon) at King's College where he served until 1937, and then went on to Hurstpierpoint College in Sussex, where he was Chaplain from 1937 to 1945. In 1946 he became Chaplain and Master of the Choir at St Thomas' College in Mount Lavinia, Sri Lanka, where he stayed until 1962.
He was a vicar at St Hilda's Church in Katong, and finally capped-off his illustrious career as a resident priest at St Andrew's Cathedral -- where his services were always popular with parishioners.
Roy Henry Bowyer-Yin was well-loved, and active in the church until his 90s. He died of old age on Tuesday at his home on the East Coast of Singapore at the age of 100.
It's been non-stop SAINT the past few weeks as we work on the screenplay for the new two hour TV-Movie THE SAINT IN NEW ORLEANS. We keep revising, re-writing, answering network notes, etc. It keeps getting better, and there ARE some very funny lines and some hot-hot action! I thought we had nailed it good with the most recent version, and now we only have a couple very minor notes to address, which we will do tomorrow. So, if all goes well, the world will once again experience the joy, humor, and melodrama of Leslie Charteris' famous hero, THE SAINT.
What was I working on when I paused to write THE SAINT IN NEW ORLEANS? I was working on THE RETURN OF THE SAINT -- a new full length novel set in UK, Malibu, Central America, and (briefly) Finland! Mostly it is in the UK where Inspector Teal has been dragged out of retirement, and finds himself once again dealing with our endearingly dangerous desperado, Simon Templar. Hopefully you will see the new TV show, and the new novel in 2011.
Tomorrow, Tuesday, October 12, TCM will air a marathon of the original black and white Saint movies, titles which remain stubbornly unavailable on DVD in the United States.
The line-up, from TCM's website, is as follows:
10:00 AM The Saint In New York (1938)
11:15 AM The Saint Strikes Back (1939)
12:30 PM The Saint In London (1939)
1:45 PM The Saint's Double Trouble (1940)
3:00 PM The Saint Takes Over (1940)
4:15 PM The Saint In Palm Springs (1941)
5:30 PM The Saint's Vacation (1941)
6:45 PM The Saint Meets the Tiger (1943)
Sad to hear the news today that Roy Ward Baker has passed away a few days ago. Baker is most famous for directing A Night To Remember (1958) for which he won a Golden Globe award, which was then re-done as the Academy Award winning film Titanic.
We're sad to hear that famed actor, Tony Curtis, passed away yesterday. According to reports, Curtis died at his Las Vegas home on September 29, 2010, of an apparent cardiac arrest.
Tony Curtis co-starred with Roger Moore in the TV series The Persuaders! which was based on The Saint episode titled "The Ex-King of Diamonds". The interesting dynamic between the suave Englishman Simon Templar played by Roger Moore and a crass Texas oilman (played by Stuart Damon) was a great combination that Robert S. Baker and Lew Grade extended to a new series starring Tony Curtis in the role of the texan, while keeping Roger Moore as The Saint series came to an end. The Persuaders also featured a number of other parties to The Saint, including many supporting cast members, many of the same writers, and the same director.
Tony was a good friend of Roger Moore's, and was on-hand via conference call when Roger received a blue plaque at Elstree Studios in October 2006.
"He was a fine actor ... I shall miss him," said British actor Roger Moore, who starred alongside Curtis in TV's "The Persuaders."
"He was great fun to work with, a great sense of humour and wonderful ad libs," Moore told Sky News. "We had the best of times."
Roger has also posted the following on his website, "Hearing the news about Tony deeply saddened me today. He was a great friend and a great co-star, and I will forever remember the laughs and fun we shared on The Persuaders and the friendship which endured ever after. His legacy is huge as was his star. I will miss my friend. My thoughts are with Jill and his children at this sad, sad time and I send them much love."
Moonstone Comics is hard at work on comic books or graphic novels of The Saint's adventures. The early sketches of the Saint are very reminiscent of Gregory Peck, who Leslie Charteris mentioned as a perfect actor to play the role of Simon Templar.
Moonstone is known for publishing fine and distinct comic books, graphic novels, and prose... books that are meant to be read -- featuring both new and classic heroes in thrilling tales of adventure, mystery, and horror from the dark Side to the light...
The Saint is an adventurer, but a gentleman above all else. He reads the paper, eager to find a cause exciting to involve himself in. His moral code is strong, and is motives are also good: he would never hurt, steal from, or kill anyone who doesn't completely deserve it. The Saint is the Robin Hood of modern crime: he robs from the evil and heartless rich, and gives to the wronged and deserving poor--in the process, keeping a percentage for his own expenses. He doesn't work for the law, the government, or anyone else. He is a lone wolf, but he doesn't hesitate to team up or collaborate with anyone, including official agencies, when the need arises. He is also a romantic who believes in the excitement of living.
Very little is known about Simon Templar's background, or how he became the Saint. If his origin and circumstances of his youth seem to be shrouded in mystery, it is because he chooses not to reveal it. He has a great sense of humor as well as a great zest for life. He is well-to-do, well dressed, drives fast cars, goes to the best places with the most attractive girls, all without any visible means of support.
The police, particularly Chief Inspector Claud Eustace Teal, have their own ideas about the sources of his apparent wealth and for years have been unsuccessfully trying to prove it.
But behind the Saint's sophisticated facade there is a very different man.
Had he lived in the Middle Ages you would see him as a knight in shining amour--a Sir Lancelot, a Robin Hood, a Don Juan, or in the great western tradition, a one man vigilante.
His enemy is not so much crime, but injustice. His impetus, the plight of the innocent soul in need of a patron Saint.
In achieving his objectives he can be cold, hard and always independent. Behind the casual banter there is always the aura of a coiled spring. Hating violence, he will not only turn the other cheek he will turn it so fast that all you are going to hit is the wall you thought he was up against.
Simon Templar faces doom with a cavalier disdain. Yet this is not to say he isn't in constant jeopardy. For if he moves in dangerous places and is himself, the most dangerous of men, he is nonetheless only a man. Mortal.
On May 6, 2010, BBC Audiobooks released a CD containing two episodes of The Saint in the UK, and in August they made them available in the USA as well. These are two of the three radio shows that were made in the 1990s and star Paul Rhys as Simon Templar. The episodes included are Saint Overboard and The Saint Plays With Fire. No word yet as to why The Saint Closes the Case has not been included.
This is a two-CD set, with a running time of 2 hours for the two BBC Radio 4 dramatizations of The Saint from 1995.
Neville Teller writes:
Back in 1995 I put up to the BBC the idea of dramatising some of the Saint novels. We agreed on three titles, but the commissioning editor suggested that I dramatise two of them (“Saint Overboard” and “The Saint Plays With Fire”) while the third be given to Roger Danes to dramatise (“The Saint Closes the Case”). The director of all three was to be Matthew Walters, and he cast Paul Rhys as Simon Templar. The three 60-minute plays went on air at the end of August and the beginning of September 1995, and got pretty extensive, and complimentary, coverage on Radio Times and by the national radio critics. Even so, and despite intensive efforts, I have found it impossible to persuade the powers-that-be at the Beeb to accept any further Saint material. The good news is that BBC Radio 7 accepted the three plays onto their schedules quite early on, and listeners have had several chances over the years to hear them again. Now, with my two dramatisations issued by BBC Worldwide as part of their Radio Collection, those two at least are now freely available for people to enjoy.
Paul Rhys stars as The Saint in these two full-cast dramatizations, co-starring Patsy Kensit as Loretta, and Fiona Fullerton as Valerie. The series was dramatized by Neville Teller and Roger Danes. These two thrilling radio dramas of The Saint are full of the charm and verve of the original stories.
Capture The Saint by Burl Barer is quickly climbing the UK Kindle charts. Burl reports on Twitter that it is currently #26 on the Amazon UK charts for British Detective mystery books on the Kindle! Move him up!
Simon Templar, alias the Saint, was only momentarily taken aback by the one unreherarsed question posed by perky television talk-show host Connie Cain during the live afternoon broadcast of Seattle, Washington's most popular local program.
"Mythological characters such as myself seldom age at the going rate," responded the Saint cheerfully. "And if survival is the topic," offered Simon, "I have been shot at, shackled, handcuffed, gassed, and interviewed by trained broadcast journalists -- the relative degree of danger inherent in each being open to debate."
The small studio audience laughed warmly and applauded with approval as the mildly bemused and professionally coiffed hostess signaled for a commercial break.
"You are very good at this, Mr. Templar. Do you do a lot of television?" Her question seemed curiously genuine in contrast to the alternately sanguin and sacharine couching of her on-air delivery.
"I find precious little on television worth watching," stated Simon with disarming honesty. "But this is more fun than being either shackled or gassed, although I was once grilled for information under lights almost as intense as these."
"The Saint--sprung from the pen of Leslie Charteris, his adventures fill thirty books, a dozen motion pictures--and now, by radio, he is yours for the next half hour."
Simon Templar, played by Vincent Price, was wealthy and refined. He was well dressed, well traveled, and well educated. He was also The Saint, the "Robin Hood of modern crime," who was not afraid to break the law if that's what had to be done to ensure that justice was served.
Larry Dobkin, who also stepped in to play The Saint in a single radio epsiode, co-stars in his usual role as Louie the Cabbie in these digitally restored and remastered tales that find Templar sailing, skiing, and delving in to the disparate worlds of mining, baseball, prizefighting, mystery writing, and more. The Saint sets all manner of matters straight, all the while maintaining excellent form.
Includes a Program Guide written by Ian Dickerson, featuring photographs and a series history.
Episodes Include: The Saint Goes Underground 07-31-49, Greed Causes Murder 08-14-49, A Schizophrenic Psychiatrist (a.k.a. The Colorblind Killer) 09-18-49, The Sinister Sneeze 06-11-50, The Problem of the Peculiar Payoff 07-09-50, Follow the Leader 07-16-50, The Frightened Author 07-23-50, The Case of the Previewed Crime 07-30-50, The Corpse Said Ouch 08-06-50, Cupid and the Corpse 08-27-50, Baseball Murder 09-03-50, The Horrible Hamburger 09-10-50, The Ghost That Giggled 09-17-50, Dossier on a Doggone Dog 09-24-50, It's Snow Use 10-29-50, Miss Godby's School for Girls 11-05-50, The Dame on the Doorstep 11-12-50, No Hiding Place 11-19-50, The Terrible Tintype 11-26-50, Martin Hickerson, Private Eye 12-03-50
Never previously released and compiled from the original master tapes, this four-CD set comprises the varied themes and incidental scores for the colour editions of The Saint, containing over 200 pieces of music and songs which were especially composed for the series.
Composer Edwin Astley's distinctive take on Leslie Charteris famous literary character – and his familiar musical motif – leads into danger across the world for gentleman adventurer Simon Templar.
In Geneva, he is approached by a young lady to rescue her defecting father from the soviets. In Wales, he finds death stalking the misty countryside in the form of a giant ant. In Vienna, he aids a young woman found standing over a murdered prince with a gun in her hand. In Amsterdam, he acts as bodyguard for the transportation of a priceless diamond. In Britain, he is hired to join a group of mercenaries masquerading as an army unit.
Two feature-length tales see him tangling with the bizarre SWORD organisation which has sprung from the pages of a thriller novel as well as seeking revenge for the victim of a Mafia killing while on a visit to Naples. Added to this are songs and tunes to fit the flamenco dances and calypsos of bars in South American and the West Indies, as well as the night clubs, hippy parties and pop scene of swinging Sixties London.
Including extensive liner notes from archive television historian Andrew Pixley, this set is an essential purchase for all ITC aficionados.
A Saintly CD Collection -- Network has recently released a beautiful and complete soundtrack collection of The Saint. The four disc CD audio collection features original music and cues from the color episodes of the Roger Moore series as well as the two films. It also included notes by esteemed TV historian Andrew Pixley. You can order it directly from Network if you're in the UK, or if you're in the USA you can order it from Screen Archives Entertainment. This 4-CD set is also at Amazon (UK).
We're very excited about this forthcoming book coming from Hirst Books in October 2010 (preorder today!), as Ian has had unprecedented access to Leslie Charteris, family, and friends over his many years at the Honorable Secretary of the Saint Club. The interview gives a brief glimpse into the behind-the-scenes stories that Ian has managed to unearth during his years of in-depth research and own Saintly detective work. These stories include the Hollywood years of the 1940s and 50s when The Saint first became a topic of discussion with TV producers, the fantastic Roger Moore series of the 1960s, the Return of The Saint with Ian Ogilvy in the 1970s, the 1980s efforts, and the latest attempts to revive The Saint to television audiences around the world, The Saint on TV is coming soon, and hopefully not just in book form!
The Saint on TV by Ian Dickerson
The path to TV Heaven for the Saint and Leslie Charteris started in 1952, but the signposts to it had been planted in the 1940s: Vincent Price, during his spell as the Saint on the radio, had observed that the Saint’s creator Leslie Charteris “wanted to play it in every media” and in late 1948 Charteris had been approached by an Argentine company wishing to produce a series of Spanish-language Saint shorts—that is to say a series of films lasting twenty-five minutes, not an item of Saintly apparel. He refused them point blank. Even in the media intensive 21st Century Argentinean film and television productions are not know for the international sales and recognition that Charteris felt his creation deserved.
It wasn’t until 1952, with the American TV industry still very much wearing its nappies, that Charteris began to seriously study ways to put the Saint on television; the blossoming small screen industry seemed the perfect next step for the adventures of Leslie Charteris, as creator of the Robin Hood of Modern Crime.
Earlier that year he’d renegotiated the contract for the Saint radio shows retrieving control of the TV rights, which had previously been bundled alongside the radio rights as TV hadn’t really kicked into gear. He was now determined to develop a TV show for the Saint and penned a number of scripts, designed to show how a half-hour Saint TV show would run.
He set to work with an LA based producer packaging the scripts and offering them as “a series or program of motion pictures for use exclusively on television and radio” targeting David Niven for the lead. It never made it in to production and with the benefit of hindsight it can be suggested that no one was willing to risk engaging Charteris, who had absolutely no experience in producing or directing a TV show.
Some verification of this theory was offered over a year later when Ted Ashley, of the Ashley-Famous Agency had tried to sell the Saint on TV. He summarized the problems they were encountering;
I regret having to advise you that the general opinion has been that the scripts are not sufficiently interesting and particularly, not of the proper type, in terms of general content for a motion picture television film.
...we have indicated that you would write scripts or have them written under your supervision...
...there are many indications that a pilot film and possibly a commitment assuring the production of a minimum of 13 pictures can be obtained, if you would be willing to limit your relationship to that of general advisor on scripts, casting, direction and production...
By 1960 the Saint was still to conquer television.
In the hopes that no news is good news, there has not been anything new to report on the forthcoming television revival of The Saint. It's still in the works, and there have been a few changes in the plans, but we're still hopeful that some official news will be on the horizon shortly!
While not technically the soundtrack just to The Return of the Saint, there is a collection of the greatest music from a number of ITC television series, The Music of ITC. There are 133 different tracks on 2 CD audio discs (158 mins), and beautifully illustrated booklet with liner sleeve notes. Disc 1 features Edwin Astley's music from the original Saint TV show, starring Roger Moore on tracks 23 to 31. The Edwin Astley songs have been on CD before; the real news is the songs from The Return of The Saint, starring Ian Ogilvy! Those have not been on CD before, and they appear on the second disc as tracks 45 through 52!
Disc 1 1-6 Danger Man (half hour series)(Edwin Astley) 7-13 Danger Man (hour series)(Edwin Astley) 14-15 Gideon's Way (Edwin Astley) 16-22 The Baron (Edwin Astley) 23-31 The Saint (Edwin Astley) 32-37 Man In A Suitcase (Ron Grainer / Albert Elms) 38-44 The Prisoner (Ron Grainer / Albert Elms / Robert Farnon) 45-53 The Champions (Tony Hatch / Edwin Astley / Albert Elms) 54-61 Department S (Edwin Astley)
Disc 2 1-6 Randall & Hopkirk (Edwin Astley) 7-13 Strange Report (Roger Webb) 14-17 The Persuaders (John Barry / unknown) 18-25 Jason King (Laurie Johnstone) 26-33 The Protectors (Mitch Murray / John Cameron) 34-36 The Adventurer (John Barry / unknown) 37-44 The Zoo Gang (Paul McCartney / Ken Thorne) 45-52 Return Of The Saint (Brian Dee / G&M De Angelis)
45 - Main Title Theme by Brian Dee and Irving Martin 46 to 50 - various Incidental cues by Brian Dee and Irving Martin 51 - Taking It Easy (European Theme) by Guido and Maurizio de Angelis / performed by Oliver Onions 52 - Closing titles by Brian Dee and Irving Martin
So yes! To answer the most pressing issue of the day, the elusive European theme song Taking It Easy by Oliver Onions is indeed included in the collection!
Happy birthday to Leslie Charteris today. He was born on May 12, 1907 so therefore would have been 103 this year! Cheers, and I'm sure we'll all be reading a Saint story tonight in his memory.
by Burl Barer is quickly climbing the UK Kindle charts. Burl reports on Twitter that it is currently #26 on the Amazon UK charts for British Detective mystery books on the Kindle! Move him up! 
for the US version of the Amazon Kindle. 
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