La revancha de El Santo

This nifty little movie demonstrates the rock-solid virtues of a time, place and kind of masculine strength that we no longer have or even aspire to have. The Saint is a paladin with only the best motives, to say nothing of a polished vocabulary and diction. No need to turn up the volume or read the dialog. George Sanders is so charming and, yes, low-key that all that talent, smarts, physical presence and above all, masculinity, seem, well, almost normal. Some normal! George Clooney can not begin to master the scene as Mr. Sanders does (and does without Mr. Clooney's mugging).He could play a sniveler (witness The Ghost and Mrs. Muir and Rebecca) but when he was good, he was very, very good. Truly, a man for all reasons and seasons.

"The Saint Takes Over" stars George Sanders as Simon Templar, aka "The Saint" in this 1940 entry into the series. It also stars Wendy Barrie, Jonathan Hale and Paul Guilfoyle. On board ship en route to the U.S., The Saint meets and tries to make time with a woman (Wendy Barrie) who gives him the brushoff. Simon is coming to New York to help Inspector Fernack, now thoroughly discredited due to a gangster frame-up; $50,000 was found in his home. The gangster, Rocky (Roland Drew), of course, was found not guilty at trial, and he and his fellow mobsters pay the bill for the frame and attorney representation - $90,000 in total. Today you need that to defend yourself against a parking ticket. This was a murder rap.

Rocky sends his bodyguard, Pearly Gates (Guilfoyle) to the lawyer's house to steal the $90,000 from the safe. The attorney catches him red-handed and sends him back to his boss with a message. Seconds later, he's dead. Rocky meets a similar fate. And on and on - who's killing this group of gangsters? The Saint has to get one of them to talk so that Fernack can be cleared - can he get to anyone before they're murdered? The woman he met on board ship reappears and figures prominently in the case.

Few actors have a way with a line like George Sanders, and his dry wit, good looks, smooth voice and depth as an actor suit Simon Templar perfectly. Paul Guilfoyle provides some humor as the nervous, milk drinking Pearly Gates, and Jonathan Hale is great as the sometimes exasperated but worried sick Inspector Fernack. Wendy Barrie, who appeared in many Saint episodes, is very good as the woman who captures Simon's heart.

Very enjoyable.

Excellent entry in the RKO Saint series with well-written original script, good camera work and transitions, good directing to handle some twists in the plot, good editing to keep the flow constant, and good acting. George Sanders is suave and witty. Jonathan Hale simply is Inspector Fernack. Paul Guilfoyle plays a mobster who goes straight (and drinks milk) because he cannot take the pressure. He will return in a later entry in the series. Story begins on an ocean liner headed to the U.S. where the Saint meets but cannot connect with Wendie Barrie. She eventually succumbs to the Saint's charms but she breaks his heart in the end. The Saint assists Inspector Fernack clear his name from a frame. A few bodies fall along the way. Good entertainment and above average for this type of film. Watch it.

George Sanders playing the Saint for the penultimate time does a good job out of a good script - with the usual good RKO cast around. It's a non-Charteris story too, bristling with murders and good clean fun.

Thread 1: In New York, Police Inspector Fernack, Templar's friend is framed in a corruption scandal and disgraced - ST comes over from London to try to put things right. Nice and simple so far - but is there really more than $90,000 in the world? Thread 2: Another tale of a woman taking revenge on the people who murdered her brother, Wendy Barrie does well in bumping off some nasty men and having the Saint fall in love with her to boot. Including a baddie who was under their direct protection and in Fernack's cellar - there's a creepy shot of him (dead and staring) and them in a car when they're taking him back to where they'd got him. Paul Guilfoyle as Pearly Gates must have supposed to have been homosexual in this - witness the dressing gown at the beginning, and the later beguiling comment by ST that he was thinking of keeping him as a pet - and did too for "Palm Springs"! Fernack was played by Jonathan Hale as usual but this time with such a beaten deflated attitude that what he really needed was a good slapping from Templar to liven him up.

The Hays Office also made sure you got the picture right, all threads are tied up with no straggly bits. Well worth watching for all of us who like this kind of thing, but if Val Kilmer's version is your yardstick then don't bother.

By all means, all of them are worth watching. They're not great films, or masterpieces, but they are good fun that give you the right amount of entertainment for just over an hour running time.

'The Saint Strikes Back' was a decent debut film for George Sanders in the role, though there was a finding-its-feet feel to it with the supporting cast and some of the storytelling being patchy. 'The Saint in London' is an improvement, with things feeling more settled and with a much better supporting cast, though production values weren't as good and the story could have been tighter and had more mystery.

Conversely, the third Saint film with Sanders 'The Saint Takes Over' is the best of the three and among the best of the series. There is not much actually to complain about, although the sets are still atmospheric the film does look at times like it was made quickly on a tight budget and the ending just felt too conveniently and easily wrapped up.

On the whole though, while things felt more settled in the previous film it was with 'The Saint Takes Over' where the series hit its stride. The story is by far the best executed of the Sanders-Saint films so far, it's breezy and tight and light-hearted and always easy to follow without being simplistic. At the same time, there is much more mystery here, and it's a compelling one, and it is the film in the series up to this point to feel closest to the tougher edge in the Louis Hayward Saint film that preceded the series.

Scripting is smart and with the right balance of fun and mystery, while the music is jaunty but also atmospheric. The direction is suitably brisk, and there are some good scenes such as the scaring to confessing scene.

As said with the previous films, Sanders himself is super-suave, sophisticated and wonderfully caddish, while also giving a charming and humorous edge and delivering some cutting lines with aplomb. Jonathan Hale is fine support, while Wendy Barrie is leagues better than she was in 'The Saint Strikes Back' (there she was a draw-back, here she blends right in tone with the story and has a much warmer character). Paul Guilfoyle is very amusing too.

On the whole, the best of the Saint series starring Sanders up to this point and among the best of the series too. 8/10 Bethany Cox