Return Of The Saint – 25th Anniversary
Special Edition 7-DVD Set
(Umbrella Entertainment/Region Zero/PAL)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: B Episodes: B
PLEASE NOTE:
This set (issued in 2004) is also available in a similar edition from
the Network U.K. label (who has issued ‘Episode 4’ below on Volume 3 of the retro-ACTION! Blu-ray compilation reviewed elsewhere on this site;
expect the whole series on Blu-ray in the near future), while this Australian
Umbrella version should play on some U.S. DVD players due to its region-free
nature. See the link at the end of this
page for a new documentary on this show.
Sir Lew
Grade had many hit TV series during the original reign of his ITC production
company, from the SuperMarionation shows (Thunderbirds,
Captain Scarlett) to live action
Sci-Fi hits (U.F.O., Space: 1999) to Spy classics (Danger Man/Secret Agent, The Prisoner)
and many other action hits. Of all his
hits, none were bigger, more profitable, influential or successful than The Saint with Roger Moore, running
much of the 1960s from early black and white half-hours to full color hours
that put Moore
on the map along with ITC in a way no other show had. It is no surprise Grade would try to repeat
that particular kind of success.
Immediately
after the original show was cancelled, he rehired Moore
(before he could sign on to be James Bond in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service) for The Persuaders with Tony Curtis, a lush show with much money in the
production taking place in Monte Carlo
and surrounding areas. It was a hit
everywhere but in the U.S.
and was soon folded. Grade continued to
make TV shows and feature films with U.S.
and U.K.
stars, with some success, but nothing huge.
Grade decided to reteam with Saint
Producer Robert S. Baker and revive the series, especially since Moore was had since
become a big hit as James Bond.
With
that, they needed a new actor and though several may have been considered, the
team (including almost the entire crew from the 1960s series) would have the
actor Ian Ogilvy on board as Simon Templar.
Ogilvy had already shown his ability to be a lead actor and solid
character actor in films like Witchfinder
General, The Sorcerers, Invincible Six and Robert Fuest’s
underrated adaptation of Wuthering
Heights, as well as TV series like Upstairs,
Downstairs and The Avengers. The result was perfect casting and Return Of The Saint began production.
As was
the case with The New Avengers, the
show would be a bit more realistic and take place in even more of a real world,
but unlike The Avengers, The Saint was already walking the fine
line between gumshoe detective and classical detective fiction. This series would meld the two nicely as 24
expensive, elaborate episodes were shot in an amazing 18 months!
The show
had a good run, including co-production of several episodes with the Italian
company RAI, but problems with ITC finances thanks in part to Grade’s expensive
epic adventure film Raise The Titanic
and awkward U.S. broadcasts of the show (many had to see it 12:40 EST on CBS
after reruns of the 1960s Avengers
on Fridays in 1979 – 1980) cut a great show short before its time. The episodes (first broadcast 1978 – 79 in
the U.K.)
that were made are as follows, listing title/director/summary and RAI (the
temporary Italian co-producers) noted in ‘[]’ where applicable:
1)
The Judas Game (Jeremy Summers) – MI-6 asks
Templar to help them save Selma Morell (Judy Geeson, Star Maidens) who turns out to be an old friend of his. She is trapped in Albania and has vital secrets that
could turn the Cold War against the West, but when he finds her, he also finds
a different story. This is one of the
few shows done in the heightened style of the old 1960s shows and it often
works, but its Cold War storyline cuts into the suspense a bit.
2)
The Nightmare Man (Peter Sasdy) – One of the shows
that has appreciated the most since it was first broadcast almost 30 years ago,
a woman (Moira Redmond) interrupts Templar and his actress girlfriend (Kathryn
Leigh Scott, Dark Shadows) at the
hotel they are staying at scared to death in her bed. As they investigate, it turns out a hitman
(Joss Ackland, the “diplomatic immunity” villain from Lethal Weapon 2) is out to kill a vital target. Clever teleplay by veteran John Krause and
yes, the woman with John Bennett’s Col. Perez is Sharon Maughan (spelled
without an ‘a’ in the credits) from the Nescafe/Taster’s Choice coffee ads! [RAI]
3)
Duel In Venice (Jeremy Summers) – Good thriller
episode about a sick enemy of Templar’s (Maurice Colbourne) who has kidnapped
his current lady friend and put a metal band around her neck that will crush it
if a loud noise activates it. The John
Kruse teleplay has some holes in it, but it is a strong show.
4)
One Black September (Leslie Norman) – In another
story that has aged nicely, Templar is called in to help British and Israeli
intelligence bring to safety an Islamic terrorist who wants to defect! Great idea that holds up well thanks to John
Goldsmith’s teleplay.
5)
The Village That Sold Its Soul (Leslie Norman) – A small Italian
town turns out to be a place you can have people killed off and they’ll cover
for it, but instead of just gangsters, Templar discovers an uglier plot than he
first imagined and may be the only one who can shake the town to its core. This idea worked better in the Diana Rigg
Avengers episode Murdersville, but
this is still a good episode.
6)
Assault Force (Peter Sasdy) – Templar is once
again stupid enough to come to the aid of a woman in distress, but this time it
turns out to be a lady (Kate O’Mara) who wants to recruit him to be part of a
secret operation. Plenty of surprises,
including Burt Kwouk (Kato in the Peter Sellers Pink Panther films) in a more serious role. [RAI]
7)
Yesterday's Hero (Roy Ward Baker) –Smart, strong,
dramatic episode has Templar trying to help a down and out old agent (Ian
Hendry from The Avengers and its
semi-precursor series Police Surgeon)
who is about to be released from jail, is officially dead according to British
authorities and has unfinished business to take care of. [RAI]
8)
The Poppy Chain (Charles Crichton) – Veteran
actor Laurence Naismith gives one of his best performances as the father of a
young lady who dies on poisoned heroin and Templar happens to be friends with
her sister and tries to stop him from going on a rampage. Another winning John Kruse teleplay and one
of the best episodes here. Anton
Phillips (Space: 1999) guest
stars. [RAI]
9)
The Arrangement (Peter Medak) – Two women on a
plane flight with Templar joke around about killing each other’s husband, but
only one (Sarah Douglas, Ursa from the Superman
films) means it and so begins a sharp psychological thriller written by Anthony
Terpiloff and handled by Medak in peak form.
10) The
Armageddon Alternative (Leslie Norman) – Templar is kidnapped so he can see
that a lone nut terrorist can show him he has a nuclear bomb and will bomb London if his demands are
not met. The show gets carried away a
bit, but post 9/11, it holds up well.
[RAI]
11) The
Imprudent Professor (Kevin Connor) – A lady friend (Susan Penhaligon) asks him
to run interference when she believes her science professor father is in
trouble. Some great humor in Terence
Feely’s script and the welcome guest casting of Catherine Schell make for a
strong installment.
12) Signal
Stop (Ray Austin) – On a train, Jane Lennox (Ciaran Madden) believes she
sees a murder in a building they ride by, but Templar is also on the train and
when basic investigations lead to a dead end, he becomes suspicious and
discovers his lady friend is not lying. Slightly
conventional Kruse script is still fun,
plus the guest casting of Frederick Jagger is a plus. [RAI]
13) The
Roman Touch (Jeremy Summers) – Templar is ready to show a young lady
friend, who is now a pop music star, a good time around town when her agent
(Linda Thorson) and bodyguards show up.
Kim Goody and Laurence Luckinbill also star and the show reunites
Thorson with Ogilvy, who guested on a Tara King Avengers memorably. The chemistry is still there and Thorson is
great in a very different role.
14) Tower Bridge Is Falling Down
(Roy Ward Baker) – When a junk yard owner turns up dead, Templar suspects it is
no accident and investigates, with chilling results. A friend of the man’s daughter, the case
leads to larger, uglier doings. [RAI]
15) The
Debt Collectors (Leslie Newman) – Templar crosses swords with MI-6 again,
this time simply by saving a young lady on a runaway horse. She is being used as bait to find a traitor
in the organization and decides to poke around himself. Anton Rodgers (The Prisoner,) Diane Keen (The
Sandbaggers) and Geoffrey Keen (of the Bond films) co-star in one of the
best shows in the series.
16) Collision
Course: The Brave Goose (Cyril Frankel) – Templar becomes involved with a
beautiful widow (Gayle Hunnicut) when it turns out her husband helped to heist
tons of gold and now, his partners want it and will kill her or anyone else in
their way to get it. Thing is, she does
not know where it is, so Templar dives in.
This is the first of a two-part show written by John Kruse and cut into
a feature film released theatrically in Europe as a few Moore two-parters had. Stretching the storyline a bit much, it is
not bad, but could have been more effective.
The movie version is on DVD 7 of this set. [RAI]
17) Collision
Course: The Sixth Man.
18) Hot Run
(Peter Sasdy) – Templar goes to Cortina when a skier is shot to death before
his eyes. The murdered man’s sister is
also a suspect and The Saint quickly meets up with Diane Lang (Rula Lenska) who
turns out to know more about everything going on than he first imagines. Lenska was on U.S. TV with a series of very
successful Alberto VO-5 commercials, but can definitely act, making for an
opponent equal to The Saint. John Nolan
(Batman Begins) also stars.
19) The
Murder Cartel (Tom Clegg) – In a reverse of the now cult-classic James Bond
film The Man With The Golden Gun,
Templar goes undercover as a world class hitman to protect an Arab sheik (Marne
Maitland, The Avengers) and no less
than Britt Ekland (from that very Bond film) plays a mysterious woman part of
the plot. Helmut Berger also stars in
this complex thriller by John Goldsmith that is one of the best shows here.
20) The
Obono Affair (Peter Sasdy) – The most serious dramatic show in the series,
Templar has to help an African diplomat when his son is kidnapped, he is the target
of an assassination and racism may only help the matter. A mature show that is a nice surprise among
these shows. Jack Hedley (For Your Eyes Only) also stars. [RAI]
21) Vicious
Circle (Sam Wanamaker) – A racing car friend (Michael Forest aka Massimiliano
Baratta aka Massimo Baratta) of Templar’s is killed and especially becomes
suspicious when he meets his fashion designer wife (Elsa Martinelli) in this
intense episode.
22) Dragonseed
(Leslie Norman) – Templar is visiting a good friend for his birthday as a
surprise, but he leaves and dies in a helicopter explosion and Templar is
certain it was no accident, so he decides to avenge his friend. Another strong show and guest star Shane
Rimmer is a plus.
23) Appointment
In Florence (Peter Sasdy) – Italian terrorists capture and kill a
best friend of Templar, which immediately sets him about finds how it happened,
who did it and how to hunt them down.
Stuart Wilson, James Aubrey and Carla Romanelli co-star in this well-paced
episode, though the Italian villains were wearing thin at this point.
24) The
Diplomat's Daughter (Charles Crichton) – Cars keep near-missing Templar’s
Jaguar XJ-S until he figures out the real target is of the title character,
whose father only just became an ambassador, but little do they know it is a
very bad idea to cross The Saint; especially in his favorite ride. David Garth (Dr. Who) co-stars and yes, that is Murray Head from the musicals Jesus
Christ Superstar and Chess (with the hit One Night In Bangkok) and John
Schlesinger’s Sunday Bloody Sunday.
[RAI]
Like
several shows ending before their prime (Kolchak:
The Night Stalker, U.F.O.,) this
is a series that had several more strong seasons in it, but like The New Avengers could not overcome syndication
issues, target advertising not being effective enough and simply a push by U.S.
companies to against imports, no matter how good. At the same time, Grade’s latest big budget
feature film project would be his last as the box office money-loser Raise The Titanic (finally hitting
screens in 1980) forced him to sell his shares of ITC and without his vision
and support, the new owners folded the show.
Had it been the hit it deserved to be on these shows in the U.S., it likely
would not have folded and more episodes ordered.
Fortunately,
Grade put the money in this show and along with the great behind the scenes
talent and great casting, the show holds up very well three decades later. Ogilvy was great in the role, continues to be
a successful actor & writer and the few actors who have tried to take on
the role since (including the talented Val Kilmer) have not even come
close. Sadly, this may be the end of the
franchise in peak form, but so many have not seen the show, that if they picked
up this set, they would be very, very surprised. Another revival is being planned as of 2009.
If
anything, the show plays like early seasons of Hart To Hart, where the money is on the screen, in the scripts and
production locations and clothes. This
is from a time when shows were built to last, shot in 35mm film, not afraid of
color filming, intelligent scripts, wit or real intent to show the audience a
good time. That has been lost since the
1980s and one of the reasons the revivals of The Saint afterwards hardly made a
mark. It is certainly the equal of the
Roger Moore shows, something few sequels of any kind could claim.
The 1.33
X 1 color PAL image looks good for its age, with limited color variance between
episode transfers and making one want to see a film print or HD version. Director of Photography Frank Watts, B.S.C.,
gave the show great compositions and made it look even more expensive and lush
than it would in the hands of a lesser cinematographer. There are some detail issues and the video
masters are a few years old, but they look very good overall as shot with EastmanColor
stocks and developed by Rank Labs. Some
prints look a little better than others and hold up well enough against the
first Blu-ray with an episode from the show, which says something about how
well these shows were shot. The Dolby
Digital 2.0 Mono (miscredited as Dolby 1.0 on the package) also sounds good for
its age including the dialogue, sound effects and memorable instrumental theme
song by Brian Dee & Irving Martin taking its semi-Disco approach from The Spy Who Loved Me’s Bond 77 instrumental theme, which makes
sense as the Barbara Bach XXX character informs and inspires more than a few of
the women on this show.
Extras
are many and besides the great box art (which I like better than Network’s box
art, though it is still good too) offers trailers for other ITC/Umbrella DVD
releases, guest cast profiles, various production notes, original ITC pressbook
text inside each case and rare stills on all six main DVDs. Besides a mini-reproduction booklet with the
set, DVD 1 adds an Ogilvy/Baker commentary on Duel In Venice, DVD 2 has isolated music and sound effects on Assault Force, DVD 3 adds an
Ogilvy/Baker commentary on Signal Stop
& alternate opening titles with a terrible Disco/Pop song, DVD 4 adds
storyboards for the animated title sequence and a commentary track on Collision Course – The Brave Goose by
Production Supervisor Malcolm Christopher & Assistant Director Ken Baker,
DVD 5 has isolated music and sound effects on The Murder Cartel, original commercial break bumpers & stills
of original tie-in memorabilia, DVD 6 has an on-camera interview with Ogilvy,
textless opening & closing credits and 1969 episode of the series Strange Report with Ogilvy called “Kidnap – Whose Pretty Girl Are You” and
DVD 7 has the feature cut of The Saint
& The Brave Goose complete with trailer and DVD-ROM PDF printable
pressbook.
A note on
the feature film says it has not been remastered, but the episode versions look
terrific, so it is not as bad and I was not impressed by the new music or new
opening credits. However, it makes for
the largest of the great extras, which are very thorough. The only things one could have asked for not
here include stereo upgrades of the shows, more isolated commentary tracks
(it’s not too late for HD) and possibly those U.S. CBS Late Movie pieces
plugging the show before The Avengers
began. Hard to believe 12:40 A.M. was
this show’s U.S.
debut time.
Otherwise,
it marked the end of the Lord Lew Grade era of entertainment and the last peak of The Saint. Will the Templar character ever really make a
comeback? Hard to say, but this under
seen Ogilvy show is so strong, it is a must for any serious TV on DVD
collection and one of the most highly recommended TV sets we’ll ever feature. For more on the series, try this link to the
new DVD documentary The Saint Steps In…
To Television:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/8681/The+Saint+Steps+In
- Nicholas Sheffo
