The Saint In Palm Springs Review

• 18th May 2011

Growing up in the late 70s/early 80s I would gleefully watch The Saint starring the simply awesome Ian Ogilvy. Years later my joy grew when I got to see Roger Moore as The Saint in the original TV series. Now imagine my joy when a DVD arrived called The Saint in Palm Springs with the amazingly sleazy George Sanders as Simon Templar.

Apparently there is an entire series of RKO films starring the character created by Leslie Charteris, which may be the best news I’ve heard all year. This time around our hero, Simon Templar, is in Palm Springs following some rare stamps which have been stolen.  Pre-James Bond, this Templar is more in the Phillip Marlowe mould than the version seen on UK TV. Private detective movies were very popular during this era with Humphrey Bogart hogging all the great parts. The usual wise-cracking and hard-boiled emotional approach is much in evidence as Sanders puts his own spin on the part.

The female lead in the movie is played by Wendy Barrie as Val Travers, who delivers a nice little performance. Researching the film has actually revealed that this was Barrie’s third outing in the franchise in as many films. The insane aspect of this is that she played three different leading women in the first three films in the series. I doubt strongly that this has ever happened before or since. Unfortunately, having never seen the preceding films, I can’t detail how her characters may have been different.

This film brings the Thin Man franchise to mind as the Saint swans around the expensive hotels searching for the missing stamps. Many alcoholic beverages are consumed and Sanders definitely seems to be having a splendid time in this fluffy nonsense. The harder Saint that Ogilvy would embody in the TV series I loved is unrecognisable when compared to this lighter version.

The action is passable but on the whole the film is clearly a B-movie so it’s limited. The remaining value undoubtedly lies in Sanders (who’s now a cult legend after his mind-blowing roles in All About Eve and Psychomania to name but two). Sanders always had an air of menace and sleaze about him which is well suited to the role of private detective/anti-hero.

For me, The Saint will always be Ian Ogilvy (which I’m sure will upset fans of Roger Moore), but this version was undoubtedly interesting. Oddly enough it makes it abundantly clear that Simon Templar works better on TV, especially when you consider the disastrous Val Kilmer film from the 90s.

At the end of the day, this film proves that any film George Sanders appears in is worth seeing just for his strange and disturbing style…

Aled Jones