The Saint in New York (1938)

Simply Perfect

Good movie but grossly overrated

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Brilliant and touching

The very first "Saint" made into a film, based on the novel by Leslie Charteris. And STILL not available on dvd, as of June 2018. Interesting. This one stars Louis Hayward as Simon Templar. Hayward was a war hero, shorter but dashing, and was married to Ida Lupino. In this one, he dresses up as a nun. Jack Carson is in here as a mob goon.. ..he was in so many films, could play any part. Sig Rumann was the comic foil to the Marx Brothers. Here, he's Hutch, the leader of the mob. Sound and picture quality are a little shaky, could probably use a restoration. Kay Sutton is "Fay"... according to imdb, most of her roles were either deleted or uncredited. This story kind of goes all over the place... the Saint puts the moves on Fay to see what he can find out about Hutch and the mob, and wants to dismantle the gang. Moves pretty slowly. Entertaining enough, but a bit dry. Also interesting as the one that started off the films. Later played by George Sanders. and of course, Roger Moore in the tv series.

Simon Templar, the character alluded to as The Saint, is best known through the UK TV series that ran from 1962 to 1969 with quintessential Englishman Roger Moore in the title role; Moore would of course go on to play the equally enigmatic James Bond. Other, later attempts were less convincing, but in spite of the runaway success of the Moore version, we should never forget the original.The Saint began life as a literary character, the creation of Leslie Charteris (1907-93), who in spite of his emphatically English name was half-Chinese and born in Singapore. The original Saint was a much darker character than portrayed by Roger Moore, Ian Ogilvy or (on film) by Val Kilmer; he was a murderer, for that is what we call vigilantes who execute gangsters without due process of law.In this short black and white film we see Louis Hayward as a sardonic avenger brought in by the legal authorities in New York to clean up the city's underworld any way he sees fit. Even making allowance for 1930s gangster films, the script, the plot (including the romantic sub-plot) and most of all the escapes, are silly, but the one-liners more than compensate for that:"you're getting so crooked, you don't even trust yourself" and later after dispatching two hoods: "they've gone to join their fathers, if they had any". However did that one get by the Hays Code?

Louis Hayward is "The Saint in New York" in this 1938 film starring the Leslie Charteris character of Simon Templar, aka The Saint. Here, Simon is sent to New York to deal with gangsters who have escaped punishment by the justice system, and also to identify the man behind all of them, "The Big Fellow." I have to admit that though I've seen Roger Moore, Ian Ogilvy, and George Sanders in the role and enjoyed them, my favorite Saint has always been Louis Hayward since I first saw this film years ago. Hayward is smooth as silk both in manner and voice, as well as charming and lethal. While Sanders especially, with his talent for the acerbic, mined the humor in the role, Hayward mines the elegance, the grace, the light touch.Hayward is backed up by the beautiful Kay Sutton, who reminded me of Kay Francis, Sig Ruman, Jonathan Hale, and Jack Carson in an early role.Very good. It's a shame Hayward didn't do the role more.

This by my lights is a splendid and very good story about Leslie Charteris's enigmatic character, Simon Templar, "the Saint"; it was the first of a series of films which starred several actors inn the role. Louis Hayward is fascinating inn the part, occasionally a bit stodgy but intelligent, and compelling. The film was directed by Ben Holmes, and also stars Kay Sutton as an enigmatic bad girl, Sig Ruman, Jonathan Hale, Jack Carson and many others in small but effective parts. The storyline is what set\s this ethical masterpiece apart. Templar is tracked down in foreign parts by an honest man representing a group in New York who want to bring down the mysterious crime boss who is poisoning the city with his influence. Templar, for his own reasons--the challenge, the chance to accomplish something worthwhile--agrees to risk his life; not for altruism but for his own code of values, his own desire to use his talents to the full. He starts pushing, commits some questionable break-ins and more,, all the time making himself more dangerous and getting closer to finding out who the big fella" is. I will not reveal the climax or the ending, except to say Templar has fallen in love with Kay--but she can never be his after what happens. Roy Webb wrote the music; the production values of this B/W gem are subtle and a little above average. But what drives it is the script, written from Charteris's novel,; it is the best of an interesting series because it is fast-paced, original, clever in dialogue and clear in its contexted ethical purposiveness; the group who hired him and the viewers finally come to know that they picked the right man, whatever doubts they may originally have had about the famous and notorious Simon Templar. Sutton is very good; Carson and several others are very competent also. Highly recommended.