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DVD: The Saint, Set 7
A&E Home Video, 2 DVDs, 7 Episodes
Reviewed by DJ Johnson
This is the final box set in the Saint series, and also the final seven episodes of the TV series in chronological order. Roger Moore had become so indelibly written into the minds of television viewers as the clever, suave, daring Simon Templar that there really weren't going to be a lot of job opportunities for him when the show closed down, unless the role of James Bond came open. Face it, the move from Templar to Bond only required a few tweaks and a whole lot of gadgets.
As much as most of us love the Bond flicks, there's something special about The Saint. Templar had less to work with, but he had a strong sense of fair play, always aligned himself with the underdog, and had the courtesy to have his adventures in a different exciting country every week so we could have fantastic eye candy. And whether he was in Belgium, Monaco, Krakatoa or Mars, he always managed to have his ultra-cool Volvo 1800 with him. Neat trick, Simon! A&E has done a brilliant job restoring the entire series. The color is beautiful, the picture is crystal, the sound crisp. Heaven.
Set 7 finds Simon in all kinds of trouble, as usual, this time playing cat and mouse with kidnappers while dealing with an arrogant movie director who happens to be the father of the victim in "Where The Money Is." Having survived that situation, he decides to do what any of us would do: piss off the Mafia. "Vendetta For The Saint" is a two parter featuring an angry mob boss and an equally angry Simon Templar. Which one do you think's more dangerous? "The Ex-King Of Diamonds" plays more on humor, as the deposed king of um... someplace personally runs a card came at a casino every night and seems to win more than his share until Simon and a crazy Texan show up. The ending of this episode was almost like watching The Penguin and his henchmen scramble in panic as Batman and Robin sprang their trap. Only it was a booby trap and no arrests were made. Oh, you'll see. "The Man Who Gambled With Life" is an interesting episode in which Simon is recruited against his will to be a test subject in an experiment designed to spare the life of a brilliant but very sick man. Is he evil or desperate? Should Simon help? Hell no. The "Portrait Of Brenda" hangs on the wall of an artist friend of Simon's, one who just turned up dead, paint brush in hand and "Brenda ap" painted on the floor. Simon, naturally, wants answers. Will he get them from the butler, Josephine? Finally, we get to see Simon with the pedal to the metal in "The World Beater," the final show of the series, in which Simon takes to the race track to help a father and son who build race cars and find their business and more at stake.
Only one of the stories in this final batch of seven is derived from anything written by The Saint's creator, Leslie Charteris. There was only so much to draw from and the series was still doing well, after all. It didn't much matter. By this point, the production company and, in particular, Roger Moore understood the essence of The Saint so well that they could have adapted a Noel Coward play and made Simon Templar come out as cool as a cucumber. Moore went on to be a fine James Bond, despite what the embittered Connery fans say. However, I think his finest moments were spent tooling through exotic locations in his Volvo 1800, rescuing damsels in distress, playing with the mind of Chief Inspector Teal, and peeking upwards with a mixture of questioning and "here we go again" weariness at that superimposed halo at the beginning of each adventure as he was recognized as the one and only Simon Templar.
© 2003 - DJ Johnson