'THE SAINT' TV EPISODES........EVIL THWARTED.....ROGER THAT.......

The Saint (1962-1969)    While Bond-mania swept the world throughout the 1960's, Roger Moore, the actor who seemed like the next most Bondian contender, steadfastly soldiered on as 'The Saint' on television. Based on the slightly rogue-ish, globe-trotting do-gooder created by novelist Leslie Charteris, the series had the smooth, impossibly suave Simon Templar (Moore) conveniently popping up in exotic locations, just in time to foil murderers, kidnappers, blackmailers, third world dictators......and even, we swear, a mutated giant ant.

               The BQ can't describe how much an all night binge on these episodes gave us a comfy cozy feeling. Comfy cozy for international swashbuckling?  Absolutely.....and here's why.  A typical episode opens with a stock footage shot of some gorgeously far flung locale where it's going to take place......but the episode itself entirely unfolds on the cramped little indoor sets of Britain's Elstree studios. (Outdoor scenes, like the Scottish Highlands, feature cardboard mountains and painted skies)

              Call us crazy, but those cheapjack sets, dictated by the demands of fast, volume-oriented TV production schedules, make the "Saint" episodes, to us, adorably quaint and soothing. And since these episodes, unlike shot on location movies, couldn't dwell on their hastily slapped together versions of foreign streets and buildings, the actors involved held your full attention........they were the only things interesting to watch.....

               And what actors! Like so many British TV series, the cream of British, Canadian and international acting talent show up in supporting roles. Unlike Hollywood, which still enforced an unofficial actors caste system, separating film and TV actors, European actors freely moved about from theater to TV to feature films.  Sooner or later, all of them show up in "The Saint".......and it's a no end of fun spotting them....(Hey, isn't that 'Miss Moneypenny' herself, Lois Maxwell?)

              Episodes usually begin with Moore arriving in a sparsely populated, room-sized foreign airport (only the wall posters change, so you know which city he arrived in)  In about a minute or so, for reasons linked to the plot, somebody take a swing at Roger, provoking him into a roundhouse right cross to the guy's jaw. After that, it's time to squire around the episode's too-cute-for-words ingenue, almost always a virginal little blonde with a severe 1960's hair style.  Before the 50 minutes wind up, a few dead bodies hit the floor and a bunch more thugs need their jaws massaged by Roger's fists. The Saint cocks one eyebrow upward as the catchy theme song swells up.....

             Call it old-fashioned cheese, but we're all in with "The Saint".....with its Community Theater sets and props and decidedly old-school brawling....(we smile every time we watch the show's stuntmen hurl themselves over tables, chairs and couches)   For the BQ, it's like munching a box of year old cookies......stale and soft, but still sweet and addictive.   After a whole night of watching the dear departed Sir Roger Moore roll his eyes up to view the cartoon halo above his head, we cock 4 eyebrows upward for "The Saint" (****)....a pure guilt-free pleasure.