The Saint in New York

With crime rife in New York due to gangs and a small group of men in particular, Inspector Fernack makes the decision to bring in Simon Templar aka "The Saint" to help. The Saint is known as someone able to bring down criminal organisations but has gained notoriety due to the criminal methods he uses to do so. Dispatching one of the men with a clinical kill very early on, Templar quickly uncovers the existence of a character known as the "Big Fellow" – clearly a top man behind the gangs. Moving steadily into more and more danger he tries to reach and remove the Big Fellow to cut the head off the snake.

I'm not sure why this film was apparently banned in Sweden on its release but I would hazard a guess that it had something to do with the marvellous anti-hero qualities that Templar is given in this film. The plot could have been straight out of any crime b-movie as it essentially involves bringing "justice" to New York by taking down a major crime syndicate; however in many other films from the 1930's the hero would have been a cop trying to get a conviction and, if he killed anyone it would have been by necessity rather than choice. However with this film we have a character who kills by choice and is as much a killer as he is a bringer of justice. This dark edge makes the film more interesting than the standard plot suggests it should be and I was quite taken in by it even if the quest for the "Big Fellow" wasn't really delivered with any tension or mystery (which was a bit of a shame, although it did enough to keep me guessing and watching).

The real feather in the cap is Louis Hayward who plays it with the perfect mix of the suave and the psychotic. He is convincing as a bit of a smooth character but, more importantly, he convinced me as a cold-blooded killer and I enjoyed the dark feel he brought to the film. Outside of his though the performances are either just OK or wooden but nothing better; they more or less do the job but I could help feel that Hayward deserved more than the very basic caricatures of cops and criminals.

Overall though this is a tough and enjoyable b-movie that features an enjoyably dark anti-hero. Later films in the series (well, the next one in fact) would quickly lose touch with this dark, cruel character and tone it down to be nonexistent but here it is in full effect and it makes a standard (if engaging) plot much better than it deserved to be.

Although I had seen all of the other films in the Saint series, I had never viewed this one. This was the very first one in the series. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Louis Hayward played the character as a dapper but stern enforcer. His assignment is to rid New York of its' 6 most dangerous criminals. His intentions are not to capture them but to intentionally kill each of them. His verbal jousting with some of his intended victims provide lots of entertainment as well as suspense. The character, as portrayed by Hayward (long one of my favorite actors) never loses his cool detachment and always maintains his sense of humor. IMHO this is a very good film. Lots of entertainment including suspense, action, and humor.

The first film in RKO's series (continued, successfully, with George Sanders, and unsuccessfully, with Hugh Sinclair), this features tiny, white-suited Louis Hayward, as the dangerous psychotic Simon Templar, law-enforcer of a kind (mainly by shooting people), on a mission to find the 'big fellow', head of a crime gang. Hayward is excellent in this, having just the right amount of repartee and daring (without making the role comedic as Sanders did or boring as Sinclair did), as is his love interest, Kay Sutton, who seemed to do very little in films despite her good looks and strong voice. One gripe about the film would be that the print currently available on video is poor as regards picture and sound - I understand this entry in the series was lost for a while and it really does cry out for restoration. Still, this aside it has many compensations. Hayward went on to be the man in the iron mask, the son of Monte Cristo, and the snipey son Oliver in My Son My Son. Jonathan Hale, introduced here as the Saint's cop foil, went on to other Saint entries and eventually committed suicide.

I caught The Saint In New York late one night on TV. It is actually - violence and all - a very faithful translation of Charteris' novel of the same name. Simon Templar's roguish audacity is very well conveyed by Hayward and the film is a lot of fun.

The Saint In New York is the first of the Saint movies and of the ones I've seen, one of the best.

In this one, The Saint is sent to New York to investigate gangsters in the underworld there. There are plenty of shootings and killings and he gets involved in some quite dangerous situations. He is after one particular gangster known as The Big Fellow who is the leader of a gang. He also falls in love.

The cast features Louis Haywood as the Saint, Kay Sutton and Jonathan Hale.

The Saint In New York is worth watching if you get the chance. A treat.

Rating: 3 stars out of 5.