Todesroulette

The movie series based on Leslie Chateris' long-running collection of novels about "the Robin Hood of Crime" ends where it began, with Louis Hayward taking on the role of Simon Templar. When a girl friend dies after sending him a telegram asking him for help, the police thinks it was an accident. Hayward soon discovers a ring of crooks running a crooked gambling joint. The problem lies in finding out who the mysterious boss is and wrapping them up in a neat bow before Chief Inspector Charles Victor can arrest him for the corpse that came tumbling out of Hayward's refrigerator.

It's a handsome mix of light-hearted bravado, lucky turns and murderous incidents, far removed from the RKO series of the early 1940s. It's a solid light-hearted mystery from Hammer Films, despite the fact that Hayward is not the young man he had been a decade and a half earlier. Naomi Chance is the busty young woman whom he reforms, although Diana Dors has a small role in which, after complaining that she has no gun to use on Hayward, is told to "Use what she's got" and she most certainly does.

Still, there wasn't enough interest to keep the series going. It would be another decade before it was successfully revived on the small screen, with a perfectly cast Roger Moore.

I always felt that Louis Hayward did better with the swash and buckle that with an hat and raincoat, and back after fifteen years since his first outing as the eponymous detective he doesn't really manage to make much impact with this thinly spun drama. His ex-girfriend had send him a cryptic note asking for his help, but before he can meet her she has a fatal car accident. The police are content it was just an accident but he isn't and so together with his nimble-fisted valet "Hoppy" (Thomas Gallagher) determines to get to the bottom of things. Along the way, it becomes clear that there is some sinister goings-on and that the gambling, debt-laden, "Carol" (Naomi Chance) might be able to help out with their investigations into the nasty machinations of the underworld. There's a little gentle humour here but the rest of it is very by-the-numbers with a story that isn't the strongest. There's still a decent set of supporting characters and there's a slight twist at the end to make it worth a watch, but the "Saint" formula for the big screen is a bit tired now, and I doubt I'll remember it for long.

Louis Hayward returns to the character he helped launch on the big screen in the first of RKO's The Saint series back in the '30s. He portrayed a gritty and tough Saint in one movie before George Sanders took over and made the role his own, bringing a suaveness and sophistication to the part. It's a nice bookend for the character, I suppose, to have the same actor start and essentially finish the series. Hammer was probably hoping this might revive the series for them. Unfortunately it did not and the reason is this movie is lifeless. Whatever appealed to Hayward about the role of Simon Templar in 1938 that helped his performance there so much seems long gone here. This time around he seems to be just going through the motions and collecting a paycheck. No one else in the cast stands out in any noticeable way and the script is a cure for insomnia, so there really isn't much else to say about this. It's a dull movie that you'll probably forget a minute after the end credits appear.

Simon Templar is shocked to learn that an old girlfriend was killed, the same day that she cabled him, reaching out.

It's a pretty good, if not dynamic movie, I believe it was the last on the big screen, it would of course return with the well remembered series.

It's a solid storyline, there is a sense of mystery, one thing you'll notice, it doesn't really have any lighter moments, it's quite a straight up mystery, it's definitely atmospheric.

Diana Dors appears, what a presence, what an absolutely beautiful woman.

It had been quite a few years since Hayward last played Templar, The Saint in New York, Hayward made some impressive films in the gap years, including one of my favourites, And then there were none.

There is no denying that Hayward was a handsome actor, with presence and charisma, well suited for the part, people will no doubt compare him to Sanders, I liked both.

Solid, 6/10.

Like Louis Hayward as the Saint. Sydney Tafler as usual an excellent bad guy. Some of fight scenes are a bit tame. My expectations of this film weren't high sure it has it's flaws but found it entertaining enough & there's more good than bad in this film. The England of the early 50's portrayed here seems a different world today. A film should be entertaining & hold your interest in spite of some of it's flaws it largely achieves this & that is more than Citizen Kane did ( mind numbingly boring) It's a film that somehow makes you want to go back in time to early 50's & see the UK as it was then.