The Saint – The Early Years: Set One (1962)
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: C- Episodes: B
Though not as often seen as the later full color episodes,
Roger Moore first surfaced as Simon Templar in 1962, when The Saint
debuted in black and white and put Sir Lew Grade on the map as a producer of
action TV. Debuting the same year as
the first James Bond film, Dr. No, a role Roger Moore had been
considered for and would later get, The Saint put Roger on the map. He lasted in the role longer than Sean
Connery did in his initial Bond run.
As Templar, Moore talks directing into the camera, a few
years prior to Michael Caine in the original Alfie (1966) and its recent
atrocious remake, this was a device to make the episodes more personable than
the RKO B-movie series. Along with
adapting the leisurely pace of the Leslie Charteris books, that made these
early shows for book fans the best, though this critic believes the show peaked
in the 1967 color season, reviewed in The Saint MegaSet elsewhere on this
site.
This set offers all twelve hour-long episodes on 3 DVDs,
in the original order of British broadcast, though there may be some debate
between places seven and eight below.
Special actors of note follow certain shows:
1) The
Talented Husband (guest star Shirley Eaton)
2) The
Latin Touch (guest star Warren Mitchell)
3) The
Careful Terrorist (Percy Herbert as Hoppy Uniatz)
4) The
Covetous Headsman (guest star Barbara Shelley)
5) The
Loaded Tourist
6) The
Pearls Of Peace
7) The
Arrow Of God (with Honor Blackman and Anthony Dawson)
8) The
Element Of Doubt
9) The
Effete Angler (guest star Shirley Eaton/different character)
10) The Golden Journey
11) The Man Who Was Lucky
12) The Charitable Countess (with
Nigel Davenport and Warren Mitchell)
Of course, fans will recognize Hoppy, a character from the
book that did not surface in the color episodes. Herbert is fun as the politically incorrect henchman assistant to
Templar, but like Lionel Stander’s max on Hart To Hart, he had to either
be changed or dropped. Roger was
terrific from the get go, playing the British troubleshooter as no-nonsense as
soon as he was incensed by injustice.
There are always jokes about Roger not being able to act and the shadow
of Connery’s Bond haunts all the other actors who played him, but Roger made
this role his and even someone as talented as Val Kilmer could not change this
in the misguided feature film. The
shows are more dramatic than later ones, which evolved well towards more
action, but they are solid early shows worth checking out, especially if you
have not seen them before.
The full frame 1.33 X 1 image is looking good for its age,
though some fine detail is occurrently not present, yet the image shot by
cinematographer Lionel Banes, F.R.P.S., is rich in Gray Scale and Video
Black. This set is more than comparable
with monochrome action shows on DVD at the time like Danger Man and the
1965 Avengers also from A&E, also reviewed elsewhere on this
site. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is
an upgrade of the original monophonic sound and despite some stridentness, is
not bad. The Edwin Astley score first
appeared in these shows that held up into the height of the Spy craze. The theme song is done slower here, but it
is better than the version in the final seasons that I still cannot figure
out. The only extra offered is text on
Moore and a history of the character previously offered on the color
shows. Most important, these shows are
finally coming out on DVD and fans of the series and the books should be satisfied
with another job well done by A&E.
Hope we get more extras next time.
- Nicholas Sheffo
