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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.
Please e-mail any current news and rumors about The Saint to: 
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!
American/ Region 1 DVDs:
The Falcon
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.
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.Labels: 2012, DVD, George Sanders, Hugh Sinclair, Louis Hayward, RKO
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Thursday, January 26, 2012
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!Labels: 2012, RKO, Travis Wright
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Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Officially released March 4, 2009, Editions Montparnasse have collected together eight of the RKO films in a very nice Region-2 DVD set:DVD 1
Le Saint à New York (The Saint in New York). Un film de Ben Holmes with Louis Hayward (1938)
Le Saint contre-attaque (The Saint strikes back). Un film de John Farrow with George Sanders (1939)
DVD2
Le Saint à Londres (The Saint in London). Un film de John Paddy Carstairs with George Sanders (1939)
Simon Templar face au Saint (The Saint’s double trouble). Un film de Jack Hively with George Sanders (1940)
DVD3
Le Saint reprend du service (The Saint takes over). Un film de Jack Hively with George Sanders (1940)
Le Saint à Palm Springs (The Saint in Palm Springs). Un film de Jack Hively with George Sanders (1941)
DVD4
Pas de vacances pour le Saint (The Saint’s vacation). Un film de Leslie Fenton with Hugh Sinclair (1941)
Le Saint face au tigre (The Saint meets the tiger). Un film de Paul L. Stein with Hugh Sinclair (1943) Extras include a 5-min TV interview in French with Leslie Charteris, and a 20-page booklet, Le Robin des Bois des temps modernes, by noted Saint expert Jean-Marc Lofficier.
The set can be ordered from Amazon France. | |
Labels: 2009, Amazon.com, DVD, Jean-Marc Lofficier, RKO
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Saturday, November 10, 2007
 Turner Classic Movies (TCM) has an interesting schedule for Monday, November 12, 2007.
The day starts off with a fine selection of Dick Tracy movies, and then don't miss a large number of hours of the old RKO movies of The Saint, starring Louis Hayward, George Sanders, and Hugh Sinclair.
Since these films are still not out on DVD yet, this is a great way to see them again on your new flat-screen TV!
Nov 12, 2007 (All Times are Eastern):
6:00 AM - Dick Tracy (1945)
Dick is faced with a series of murders in which the victims all come from different social and economic backgrounds. Cast: Morgan Conway, Anne Jeffreys, Mike Mazurki. Dir: William A. Berke. BW-61 mins, TV-PG
7:15 AM - Dick Tracy Vs. Cueball (1946)
A police detective uses his girlfriend to track down a homicidal maniac. Cast: Morgan Conway, Anne Jeffreys, Dick Wessel. Dir: Gordon Douglas. BW-62 mins, TV-PG
8:30 AM - Dick Tracy's Dilemma (1947)
Dick Tracy takes on "The Claw" in this crime thriller Cast: Ralph Byrd, Lyle Latell, Kay Christopher. Dir: John Rawlins. BW-60 mins, TV-PG
9:45 AM - Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome (1947)
Dick Tracy tracks down a bank robber using nerve gas. Cast: Boris Karloff, Ralph Byrd, Anne Gwynne. Dir: John Rawlins. BW-65 mins, TV-PG
11:00 AM - Saint In New York, The (1938)
The Saint goes undercover to get the goods on New York's mob kingpins. Cast: Louis Hayward, Kay Sutton, Jonathan Hale. Dir: Ben Holmes. BW-72 mins, TV-G
12:15 PM - Saint Strikes Back, The (1939)
The Saint helps a young beauty take vengeance on the mobsters who ruined her father. Cast: George Sanders, Wendy Barrie, Barry Fitzgerald. Dir: John Farrow. BW-64 mins, TV-G
1:30 PM - Saint In London, The (1939)
The Saint's investigation of a counterfeiting ring uncovers a nest of spies. Cast: George Sanders, David Burns, Sally Gray. Dir: John Paddy Carstairs. BW-72 mins, TV-G, CC
2:44 PM - Short Film: Looking At London (1946)
C-10 mins
3:00 PM - Saint's Double Trouble, The (1940)
Reformed jewel thief Simon Templer lands in hot water when a look-alike smuggles stolen goods out of Egypt. Cast: George Sanders, Jonathan Hale, Bela Lugosi. Dir: Jack Hively. BW-67 mins, TV-G, CC
4:15 PM - Saint Takes Over, The (1940)
Reformed jewel thief Simon Templar tries to help a police inspector whose been framed on bribery charges. Cast: George Sanders, Jonathan Hale, Wendy Barrie. Dir: Jack Hively. BW-70 mins, TV-G, CC
5:30 PM - Saint In Palm Springs, The (1941)
Reformed jewel thief Simon Templer's efforts to deliver a fortune in rare stamps are complicated by murder. Cast: George Sanders, Wendy Barrie, Jonathan Hale. Dir: Jack Hively. BW-66 mins, TV-G
6:45 PM - Saint Meets The Tiger, The (1943)
The Saint infiltrates a small English village run by smugglers. Cast: Hugh Sinclair, Jean Gillie, Clifford Evans. Dir: Paul L. Stein. BW-69 mins, TV-GLabels: 2007, Dick Tracy, Film, George Sanders, Hugh Sinclair, Louis Hayward, RKO, TCM
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Monday, April 02, 2007
Author Burl Barer has just posted some interesting notes on his novel, Capture The Saint, on his web blog: My original Saint novel, CAPTURE THE SAINT,is the only Saint novel in which the copyright rests with someone other than Leslie Charteris. That honor belongs to me. For that reason, television and movie producers often contact me about acquiring the rights to this singular adventure -- and then send a contract proposal that, in the fine print, give them all sorts of rights to which they are not entitled. This has happened more than three times in the past four years. The TV rights to the Saint character are currently in the hands of my buddy Bill Macdonald; Robert Evans has sequel rights to his Val Kilmer film, and RKO has remake rights to their old films. Capture the Saint, of course, is a wonderful book, written by a true genius and approved by the Estate of Leslie Charteris. The literary concept and execution of the novel (although the execution was not fatal) is that it replicates, chapter by chapter, the progression of styles used by Charteris between the 1930's and the 1950's. Actually, it begins in the style of the 1950's, then works backwards to the 30's and forward again --not in time, but in writing style. Of course, it's not a copy of Charteris' style exactly, but rather a combination of affectionate homage and occasional outright satire of Charteris' intentionally overwritten prose. He once said that this is what his readers paid for, much as Cadillac owners pay for the big fins and all that chrome. Striped of his verbosity and prolixity, he said, he was left with his skinny "fundaments" exposed. Before I wrote THE SAINT: A NOVEL (the movie tie-in) the publisher read CAPTURE THE SAINT, and said "today's readers are not sophisticated enough to get the humor. In the new novel for us, can you be less literary?" I replied, "You mean, dumb it down?" "Yeah, that's what we mean." Well, I don't think today's readers are dumb or not sophisticated enough to get my humor. However, I did alter the writing style for the novelization - more streamlined, etc. I wanted to keep Charteris' in-joke approach, but I needed a different way of pulling it off. Hence, I crammed the book with all manner of references to old Saint stories, characters, actors, titles, and even worked in the Bishop and the Actress in the first chapter.
If you want a copy of CAPTURE THE SAINT, be prepared to pay well over $100.00. They are collectors items as the first edition was limited to 600 signed and numbered copies, and the second edition (from Volvo) was only 200 copies distributed at the international test drive of their new vehicles in, I believe, 1998 or 1999. [Search ABE Books]
CAPTURE THE SAINT will be reprinted soon via The Authors Guild "Back in Print" program. And yes, movie and TV producers still call me about the rights. As Mr. Macdonald has the TV rights to the Saint character, it only makes sense to allow his company the opportunity to make a television adaptation. We will discuss this further in the near future...stay tuned and watch for the sign of the Saint...he will be back!
Read and comment on this article at Burl Barer's blog.Labels: 2007, Burl Barer, Leslie Charteris, RKO, Val Kilmer, William J. MacDonald
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