Vacaciones de El Santo

All the Saint wants to do is take a little trip abroad…but the gang of reporters tracking him down to the pier just won't believe he's not on a case. Among those reporters is Mary Langdon (Sally Gray), the only girl reporter in the bunch, determined to catch a big scoop to launch her career.

Along with his friend Monty, Simon tries to convince Mary he's on vacation, but suddenly things start to happen all at once: a mysterious parking lot meeting, a pursuit by automobile, a foot chase through the woods, a fight in a darkened clearing in which even our heroine assists, stomping a prone tough guy's wrist and taking away his knife just in time….

Simon Templar may be on vacation, but a case certainly finds him. Gradually he learns that all the to-do concerns a small, mysterious package that multiple parties seek (and Templar soon has).

Gray and Sinclair work well together, and exchange some enjoyably clever repartee. (Mary: "I suppose you realize we stand an excellent chance of being sent to jail for a couple of years." Simon: "Well, you can't expect to have your fun for nothing, can you.")

The picture really gets interesting when veteran English actor Cecil Parker comes on the scene as villain Rudolph Hauser, a spy who—like everyone else—badly wants that little box. Parker and Sinclair are excellent together—two experienced operators who maintain an exceedingly polite surface while playing a deadly game.

Hugh Sinclair is actually a quite pleasing Simon Templar—he captures the character's polished and polite exterior as well as the cool alertness and ready athleticism lurking just beneath. The picture's strong cast and a plot that presents a few surprises help to make this a very entertaining series entry. Only the resolution seems a bit weak…but that may be because the buildup was so good.

Best dialog exchange: In a highly tense moment, Templar bursts into Hauser's living room to find the owner ready to confront and presumably trap him. Templar plays it suave: "You don't mind me….butting in like this?" To which the reply is equally civil: "Oh, on the contrary, I…I'm always pleased to see you."

"The Saint's Vacation" moves along briskly. The fast pace enhances what would otherwise be a pretty typical B-mystery of the era.

The incandescent Sally Gray is at her peak here and she is the main reason you don't want to miss this movie. Wow- blonde hair, vivaciousness, overall screen presence, but mostly her magnificent voice. One of the best screen voices (female or male) ever to grace the screen in 1940 or any era. You can't take your eyes (or ears) off her. She was truly one of the all time screen babes.

The film also features the "inevitable" Cecil Parker (I call him inevitable because of his participation in so many good British films such as "The Lady Vanishes").

Sinclair was no way comparable to the rakish George Sanders but is adequate as the Saint here, livened as he is by being forced to go at the fast pace required in this story. A competent actor.

You should catch this non-classic because of the vibrant screen presence of Sally Gray. For sheer screen "Presence"- that often alluded to but seldom describable factor- whatever it is Ms. Gray had it.

The Saint courts media interest wherever he goes and today is no interest – even though Monty just wants a nice quiet holiday with him, with no mystery or adventure. Slipping onto the ship in disguise throws most of the journalists off Templar's trail but not the plucky and determined Mary Langdon, who follows him on his trip. But as Summer follows Spring, so adventure follows the Saint and it is not long before he finds himself involved in shady goings-on over the possession of what appears to be a perfectly ordinary music box.

As a fan of the Falcon series I decided to give other franchises a try and where better to start than the series that the original Falcon jumped out of – The Saint. In this entry the Saint gets into his usual scraps in the pursuit of a mystery box and the end result is a quite enjoyable little b-movie. The plot is straightforward but just about has enough action to make it worth seeing if you are into this sort of light entertainment (which I am). However those seeking a bit more substance will find this film lacking it but as long as you know what you are getting then it'll do the job.

With Saunders jumping ship to join another RKO franchise (The Falcon) the role falls to Sinclair and he takes to it with no great distinction. True his performance is fitting for a b-movie serial but I didn't find him very memorable at all. Macrae is better and made some of his scenes better – never a good thing for a sidekick from a lead's point of view. Parker makes a good villain and he is by far the most interesting person in the film – his chemistry with Sinclair is effective and the former helps the latter be better than in solo scenes. Gray is just too obvious a blonde starlet to really stand out from the crowd but she does well enough. The film makes reasonable use of the location despite some heavy foreign accents that are distracting – the train scenes are quite enjoyable and the film manages to avoid feeling like it is stuck on a soundstage (even if it mostly is).

Overall this is an OK film that will be enjoyed by viewers who like this sort of b-movie serial a la the Falcon etc. The plot is interesting enough even if it never really grabbed me; the acting helps and, although I didn't think Sinclair really managed to make the role his own, he is helped out by a great Parker and nice support from Macrae. Not anything special but a typical b-movie serial that can be enjoyed on that level.

Saint's Vacation, The (1941)

** (out of 4)

Seventh film in RKO's series has George Sanders being replaced by Hugh Sinclair. This time out The Saint is battling a man over a mysterious box, which contains some sort of secret code. This is a rather strange entry in the series as I found it to have one of the best stories but the production is so poor that this really kills anything positive in the film. What really kept getting under my skin was the incredibly bad editing, which really stands out to be among the worst I've ever seen. There's one scene where The Saint must fight two guys while his sidekick and a female reporter (Sally Gray) are watching. The way this thing is edited is so poorly done and the bad music selections really made me laugh when the scene was of course going for suspense. As for Sinclair, he really doesn't make a very good leading man. I wasn't too impressed with Sanders in the role but he was certainly more fitting than his replacement. I'm not sure if he should get all the blame for being so stiff because the entire film pretty much plays out that way. There's never any real energy built by the director and in the end the movie just comes off pretty bland.

As well as showing several Falcon movies recently, BBC2 also shown The Saint's Vacation, so I set the video and was pleased I did.

The Saint goes on a vacation to Switzerland and gets involved to solve the mystery of a music box. After getting into several fights, the mystery is solved at the end.

The movie is rather fast paced throughout.

The Saint is played well by Hugh Sinclair and is joined by Cecil Parker, Sally Gray and Arthur Macrae.

A nice way to spend an hour one evening.

Rating: 3 stars out of 5.