''The Saint's Double Trouble'' is a 1940 action-adventure film produced by

RKO Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, is an American film production and distribution company, historically one of the major film studios, "Big Five" film studios of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood's Clas ...

. The film stars

George Sanders George Henry Sanders (3 July 1906 – 25 April 1972) was a British actor and singer whose career spanned over 40 years. His heavy, upper-class English accent and smooth bass voice often led him to be cast as sophisticated but villainous charac ...

Simon Templar The Saint is the nickname of the fictional character Simon Templar, featured in a List of works by Leslie Charteris, series of novels and short stories by Leslie Charteris published between 1928 and 1963. After that date other authors collaborat ...

, a.k.a. "The Saint", a master criminal turned crime-fighter, and features

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legend

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as "The Partner". This was the fourth of eight films in RKO's

film series A film series or movie series is a collection of related films in succession that share the same fictional universe, or are marketed as a series. It is a type of series fiction. This article explains what film series are and gives brief examples ...

about the character created by

Leslie Charteris Leslie Charteris (; born Leslie Charles Bowyer-Yin; 12 May 1907 – 15 April 1993), was a British-Chinese author of adventure fiction, as well as a screenwriter.doppelgänger A doppelgänger ( ), sometimes spelled doppelgaenger or doppelganger, is a ghostly double of a living person, especially one that haunts its own fleshly counterpart. In fiction and mythology, a doppelgänger is often portrayed as a ghostly or p ...

, Duke Bates. When Bates is spotted smuggling diamonds into the US, Templar is blamed for the crime. Co-starring in the film is

Helene Whitney Helene Whitney (born Kenyon Fortescue, July 4, 1914 – March 28, 1990) was an American actress who appeared in films in the late 1930s and 1940s. She was known as Helene Reynolds after her marriage. Biography Whitney was born Kenyon Fortes ...

as love interest Anne Bitts, and

Jonathan Hale Jonathan Hale (born Jonathan Hatley; March 21, 1891 – February 28, 1966) was a Canadian-born film and television actor. Life and career Hale was born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Before his acting career, Hale worked in the Diplomatic Co ...

as Insp. Henry Farnack.

Plot summary

An authentic mummy is packaged and shipped from Cairo to Professor Horatio Bitts in Philadelphia. The package is sent under the name Simon Templar, but the sender is a man called The Partner, who is a member of an international team of jewel thieves, led by Boss Duke Bates. Meanwhile, John Bohlen of the Philadelphia Police Department is visited by Inspector Henry Fernack from New York. Bates himself, posing as Templar due to their uncanny resemblance, comes to visit Professor Bitts and gathers some of the smuggled diamonds. Later that night, the police are called to the professor's home to investigate a homicide committed by Bates as he left. Fernack and Bohlen arrive at the crime scene and suspect Simon Templar of the killing, since Bates planted one of Templar's calling cards on the dead body. Knowing that he is a suspect, Templar has to stay away from the police, but he still visits Inspector Fernack at his hotel late at night. Fernack tells Templar that he personally does not suspect him. Templar goes back to the crime scene, talks to Anne, daughter of the professor, and has a closer look at the mummy. Templar has no idea that Boss Duke Bates is his spitting image as yet. When Boss kills another man, one of his fences, Templar manages to find his hideout at the 4 Bells Café and finds out about his doppelganger. After Boss finds out that one of the jewel packages is still inside the mummy, he goes back to the professor's house, but the professor crosses his path and is murdered by Boss. Templar sends a message to the police and Anne, alerting them of Boss' existence and of the café. Boss tries to kill Anne but Templar arrives just in time to save her life. Then he goes back to the 4 Bells Café, but is caught by Boss and his henchmen, bound and gagged. Boss plans to kill him and transports him to a boat nearby to get rid of the body afterwards. Before Boss has time to kill Templar, the police arrive and arrest Boss, presuming he is Templar. When they have gone, Templar manages to free himself and escape from the boat. He dresses up as a woman to get into the jail where Boss is held, and lets Boss knock him out and steal his disguise in order to escape; Boss is shot and killed fleeing the jail. Fernack realizes that Boss was Templar's double and lets him run after he has returned the stolen jewels he found in the mummy.

Cast

in a dual role as both Simon Templar and Boss Duke Bates *

as Anne Bitts *

as Inspector Henry Fernack *

as The Partner *

Donald MacBride Donald Hugh MacBride (June 23, 1893 – June 21, 1957) was an American character actor on stage, in films, and on television. MacBride launched his career as a chorister at St Thomas Fifth Avenue and then at Garden City Cathedral in New Yo ...

as Chief of Detectives John H. Bohlen *

John F. Hamilton John F. Hamilton (November 7, 1893 – July 11, 1967) was an American-born actor who worked for many years in the theater but only occasionally on film. He is probably best-remembered as Pops, father of Eva Marie Saint's character, in Elia Kaz ...

as Limpy, a Henchman * Thomas W. Ross as Professor Horatio T. Bitts

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Saints Double Trouble, The 1940 films The Saint (Simon Templar) American black-and-white films Films scored by Roy Webb 1940 crime films Films produced by Cliff Reid Films directed by Jack Hively RKO Pictures films American crime films American action adventure films 1940s action adventure films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films English-language crime films English-language action adventure films