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The Saint Takes Over (1940) More at IMDbPro »

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Overview

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6.5/10   187 votes
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Director:
Writers:
Leslie Charteris (creator: "The Saint")
Lynn Root (screenplay) ...
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Contact:
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Release Date:
7 June 1940 (USA) more
Genre:
Plot:
The Saint plays a "modern-day Robin Hood" in order to clear his friend, Henry Fernack, who was framed by mobsters. They run into a series of murders. more | add synopsis
User Reviews:
Solid and lively entry in the series that will please fans more (10 total)

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)
George Sanders ... Simon Templar / The Saint
Wendy Barrie ... Ruth Summers
Jonathan Hale ... Inspector Henry Fernack
Paul Guilfoyle ... Clarence 'Pearly' Gates
Morgan Conway ... Sam Reese
Robert Emmett Keane ... Leo Sloan
Cy Kendall ... Max Bremer (as Cyrus W. Kendall)
James Burke ... Patrolman Mike
Robert Middlemass ... Captain Wade
Roland Drew ... Albert 'Rocky' Weldon aka Rocks
Nella Walker ... Lucy Fernack
Pierre Watkin ... Ben Egan
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Additional Details

Runtime:
69 min
Country:
Language:
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (RCA Recording System)
Certification:

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
The fifth of nine classic RKO movies featuring Simon Templar, The Saint starring George Sanders. more
Movie Connections:
Followed by The Saint's Vacation (1941) more

FAQ

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5 out of 5 people found the following review useful.
Solid and lively entry in the series that will please fans, 13 February 2006
Author: bob the moo from Birmingham, UK

Simon Templar (aka The Saint) decides to go and help when he reads that acquaintance Inspector Henry Fernack has been dropped from the police force for not being able to explain the thousands and thousands of dollars that had been found in his safe. He starts to investigate the suspicion that Fernack was actually set-up by a group of mobsters, eager to get him off their backs in regards a race fixing ring they have going. The more Templar pushes to help his friend though, the more the bodies start to pile up – ironically mostly pointing to Fernack as the murderer.

After getting a couple of episodes out under Sanders' control, the Saint series started to make me forget that I had enjoyed the original portrayal by Hayward a lot more than the later films. As a result I enjoyed this Saint film more than I had the last couple I'd watched. It may have also helped that the plot was an original tale (as opposed to an adaptation from Charteris' novels) and that it involved a lot more murders and mystery than other films. This isn't to say that it is brilliant because it is still very much fitting with the b-movie serial feel that the series generally had although it had enough movement to it to keep me watching.

Sanders is quite enjoyable and the tone of the series seems to have mellowed to better suit his cool, smooth delivery and style – which is a shame in my opinion but I'll try not to bang on about it. He leads the film nicely although he does tend to suck the urgency and tension out of the story by being so laid back all the time. Support from regulars Hale and Barrie is good along with some nice touches from Guilfoyle and a few others.

Overall this is an enjoyable and quite lively entry in the series that will please fans of The Saint and The Falcon. Nothing special and it never aspires to be more than the next episode in a b-movie serial but it is still OK if you meet it at that level.

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