Though probably not as well known today as it was for much of the twentieth century, author Leslie Charteris’ character Simon Templar aka The Saint was a fixture of the entertainment media for many decades.  From his first appearance in 1928, Mr. Charteris would pen novels featuring the character until 1963, when he allowed others to ghost write the character’s adventures.  The Saint would subsequently appear in movies, comic books, and the radio during that time.  He was perhaps most famously featured in a TV show starring soon-to-become 007 Roger Moore between 1962-69.

The series showed how much of an influence The Saint had on James Bond and vice-versa and I wouldn’t be surprised if this series proved an extended audition for Mr. Moore as Bond.

For in The Saint you had many of the elements that would appear in the James Bond series.  Simon Templar, like James Bond, is a suave, sophisticated yet deadly man who the police and society at large view as a criminal yet who works against the criminal underworld from within (a spy, you might say).  While he doesn’t have a “license to kill”, he is not at all adverse to knocking out villains with extreme prejudice.  His adventures, like James Bond, would take him to exotic locales where he would confront at times garrish villains.  He would also meet intriguing women who he’d seduce or who would, alternately, try to seduce him.

Way, waaaaay back in 1938, a mere decade from The Saint’s first appearance in print, the character would make his first theatrical appearance in The Saint in New York.  Louis Hayward would be the first actor to portray the character, though this proved his one and only time doing so.

The plot of the movie goes as follows: New York is in the middle of a deadly crime wave.  A council of high level functionaries meet to discuss what can be done.  A (presumably) high up inspector in the police department is the last to arrive at this meeting and shows his incredible frustration in the current situation.  He states that the police have no problems arresting the criminals out there but these same criminals walk within a day or two after being arrested thanks to the courts. (Sounds familiar?)

After the chief of police leaves, the remaining members of the council mull what to do.  One of them notes the actions of The Saint and the members resolve to find and hire him to take out the trash.

I guess its a sign of my aging, but these early scenes, frankly, struck me as chilling.  These high level members of society effectively decide that the only solution to their criminal problems lies in hiring an outside vigilante, a man the world thinks is a criminal himself, to (let’s not mince words here) murder the criminals plaguing New York.

To that end, one of the members of the meeting flies off to various countries in search of Simon Templar, eventually finding him in South America, where he is about to start some kind of revolution.

Simon Templar is exactly as described above: Suave, sophisticated, well dressed and well versed.  He hears the offer and decides traveling to New York isn’t such a bad idea.  Once there he gets a lay of the land and a list of five or so criminals he needs to take out.  In short order he takes the first of them out just before the criminal shoots the high level police inspector who walked out of the initial meeting at the start of the film.

As Templar continues his “work”, he acquaints himself with that inspector (who is more than willing to look the other way) and a mysterious and beautiful woman who is somehow in the middle of this criminal lot but who is more than willing to help Simon take them out.  As things move along, Simon realizes there is one big man above them all, and that once he takes that master villain out, New York will be “free”.

For a 75 plus year old “B” film, The Saint in New York isn’t all that bad though, again, the implications of the story are alarming.  One would hope the highest levels of governmental official would have some confidence in their justice system rather than bringing in an outside gunman to clean up their mess.  But if you can overlook this rather startling concept, the movie proves a decent enough distraction.

The movie’s age and pace will probably be difficult for some modern audiences to take.  We’re very far down the road from the action-fests that populate modern cinema.  Yet there is a fascination in seeing a prototype of a James Bond-like character, minus the gadgets, on screen.

A curiosity, for sure, yet an interesting one.