La banda del Tamigi

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.

Having seen this movie with Louis Hayward I wondered why he did stop with making the saint movies for so long, or why he didn't take the part instead of Hugh Sinclair (i don't like the saint with a moustache). Continuing his strong physical performance for The saint of New York, he's less suave but more the adventurer that Simon Templar is in his earlier years. With Hayward the physical action is believable while this was less the case with Sanders. But for me Hayward is slightly more Saintly. Hoppy Uniatz from the books gets changed in an English valet who does solve crosswords, which is a huge change for those who've read the books. This movie also has Diane Dors in it, the poor man's English Marlyn Monroe. She serves her purpose namely as Eyecandy.

Lets hope for a decent release on DVD for this movie and the series, so they can pleasure the series fans for a long time too come.

I've seen hundreds of RKO Pictures but this is one of the very worst, released in America in 1954 in the waning years of the distributor's existence. It's a must-miss, terminally boring entry in The Saint series starring Louis Heyward as the supposedly charming but deadly dull detective.

The script is lousy, direction by ultra-hack Seymour Friedman nonexistent, and the supporting cast miserable. Leading lady Naomi Chance is a nonstarter. Much of the running time is devoted to the unfunny and stupid conflict of The Saint with the local British gendarmes, while the mystery of a woman's death via car crash is never interesting or compelling.

What we're left with is an hour of pure filler, devoid of entertainment value. Looking fabulous clad at first just in a bath towel, platinum blonde local bombshell Diana Dors brightens up the screen for merely a couple of minutes, hardly enough to justify sitting through this junker.

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.

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.