"The Saint"
The Pearls of Peace (1962)

Director:

David Greene

Writers:

Leslie Charteris (novels)
Richard Harris (screenplay)

TV Series:

"The Saint" (1962)

Original Air Date:

8 November 1962 (Season 1, Episode 6)

Genre:

Action | Crime

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Mission | Cult Favorite | Cult TV | Famous Opening Theme | The Saint

Cast

Roger Moore	...	Simon Templar aka The Saint
Dina Paisner	...	Consuelo
Erica Rogers	...	Joss Hendry
Bob Kanter	...	Brad Ryan
Robin Hughes	...	Harry Tiltman
John Barrard	...	Carlos the Pedlar
Warren Stanhope	...	Mike Harris
Frank Olegario	...	Bartender
Hugh Futcher	...	Delivery Boy
Steven Scott	...	Hotel Clerk

A poor example of early Saint

Before it got into its stride, the early episodes of The Saint were somewhat patchy, sometimes excellent, sometimes poor. This extended meditation on the skin-depth of beauty is decidedly on the poor end of the spectrum.

The plot centres around an ill-fated expedition for pearls in Mexico, led by an old friend of Simon's. The friend, Brad, played without charm by Bob Kanter, is about as cretinous as it is possible for a character to be, just about able to tie his shoelaces without help but no more. It is virtually impossible to imagine how smooth Simon and this schmuck ever got together. Of course the expedition goes wrong, with results closer to mawkish than tragic.

The story is told in flashback, and Simon hardly appears in the first half. We ache for his appearance, but when he does finally turn up, he is crude rather than urbane, with his treatment of Brad's scheming girlfriend particularly scandalous. She is certainly mercenary, but her point of view is completely reasonable - she is castigated by Simon for not accompanying her idiot boyfriend on his hare-brained jaunt to a remote spot in Mexico, as if it is the duty of any girl to indulge her man's whims however moronic. She (being an evil bitch) wants to stay in New York to continue pursuing her career - appalling! And Simon is never witty in his put-downs, only ever rude - completely out of character.

Simon's resolution of the difficulties is supposed to be rough justice - though actually unjust and criminal. And then - unforgivably, since the whole tale is a flashback - we don't get the end of the story.

I think they were trying to be a little bit thought-provoking, but the end result is sexist, sentimental, morally dubious and tedious in the extreme.