The Saint's Return

''The Saint's Return'' (released in the US as ''The Saint's Girl Friday'') is a 1953 British crime thriller film directed by Seymour Friedman and starring Louis Hayward, Naomi Chance, Diana Dors and Sydney Tafler. Ian Fleming appeared in a very small role. It was produced by Hammer Film Productions in London and released later in the United States as ''The Saint's Girl Friday''.

It premiered in London under the original title on 12 October 1953,www.saint.org: ''The Saint in Movies and Films''
Retrieved 2012-07-25 distributed in the UK by Hammer Films' own distribution company, Exclusive Films. It was released in the US by RKO under the US title in March, 1954. Louis Hayward, who had been the first actor to play Simon Templar in '' The Saint in New York'' (1938) returned here to the role one last time. Diana Dors was only added to the cast a week after shooting began, to add a little spice to the picture. Jimmy Sangster was assistant director, Phil Leakey did Makeup, and J. Elder Wills was the art director. Tully Montgomery was originally signed to direct this picture, but Louis Hayward requested to work with Seymour Friedman instead, and got his wish.Filming ran from Feb. 2, 1953 until March 6, 1953, and the film was trade shown at the Rialto on Sept. 1, 1953. It was released in the UK on Oct. 12, 1953.

Plot

A female friend Judy Fenton asks the Saint for help and tells him that her fiance Keith Merton is being blackmailed by gangsters. She soon after ends up dead in a suspicious car accident. The Saint sets about investigating and discovers the involvement of the River Mob, a gangster organisation involved with a floating casino barge. The Saint is helped by a beautiful woman named Carol Denby and his faithful valet Hoppy Uniatz. Later Keith Merton winds up murdered. The Saint discovers the leader of the gangsters is a man named Irish Cassidy, and finds out who was responsible for the murders.

Cast

* Louis Hayward as Simon Templar/The Saint
* Naomi Chance as Carol Denby
* Sydney Tafler as Max Lennar
* Charles Victor as Chief Insp. Claud Teal
* Jane Carr as Katie Finch
* Harold Lang as Jarvis
* William Russell as Keith Merton
* Diana Dors as The Blonde in Lennar's Apartment
* Fred Johnson as Irish Cassidy
* Thomas Gallagher as Hoppy, his valet
* Russell Napier as Col. Stafford
* Sam Kydd as Barclay
* Ian Fleming as Lord Merton

Production

Although based upon Charteris' character, the film was an original work by British screenwriter Allan MacKinnon and not based directly on any of Charteris' stories. Charteris, however, had a percentage interest in the film. It is the first filmed ''Saint'' production to feature the character of Hoppy Uniatz, Templar's assistant in the 1940s-era ''Saint'' books. Percy Herbert later played the character in at least one episode of the 1960s TV series.

Hayward's casting was announced in January 1953. He was originally going to England to make ''No Escape'' but that film was actually made in Hollywood. It was Hayward's first film in England since ''The Lady and the Bandit''.

In March 1953 as filming was being completed the title was changed from ''The Saint's Queen'' to ''The Saint's Return''.

It was the second film Dors made for Hammer after ''The Last Page''. In September 1953 producer Julian Lesser had signed Dors to make two more movies.

Reception

Critical reception

The ''Los Angeles Times'' said it had "unusually good suspense elements with Hayward competently leading the way".

Derek Winnert called it "a very watchable British stab at reviving the series", adding that "with its neat plot and decent sly sense of humour, it is entirely entertaining, if only mildly". Of the actors, he wrote: "An ideal Hayward is aloofly smooth and suitably chilly in a role he created in the original film", concluding that "there’s a really good true Brit cast to support him".

Box office

This was the first ''Saint'' film to be released in ten years, following RKO's ''The Saint'' series 1938-1943, and Hammer Films had hopes to revive the series, but this did not occur. In 1960, a French-Italian film entitled ''Le Saint mène la danse'', with Felix Marten playing The Saint, was released with very limited success. It was not until 1962 and the TV series '' The Saint'', starring Roger Moore, that the character achieved lasting success beyond the literary world. The next English-language cinema film featuring the character wouldn't be released until 1997, with Val Kilmer playing the character in '' The Saint''.

References

External links

*
The Saint's Return
at TCMDB
The Saint's Return
at BFI
Review of film
at Variety

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint's Return, The
1953 films
The Saint (Simon Templar)
Hammer Film Productions films
British crime thriller films
Films directed by Seymour Friedman
Films set in London
1950s crime thriller films
British black-and-white films
1950s English-language films
1950s British films
Films scored by Ivor Slaney
English-language crime thriller films