The Saint in New York (film)
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| The Saint in New York | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Ben Holmes |
| Produced by | William Sistrom |
| Written by | Charles Kaufman Mortimer Offner based on the Leslie Charteris novel |
| Starring | Louis Hayward Kay Sutton Jonathan Hale |
| Music by | Roy Webb |
| Cinematography | Joseph H. August Frank Redman |
| Editing by | Harry Marker |
| Distributed by | RKO Radio Pictures |
| Release date(s) | May 25, 1938 |
| Running time | 69 min. |
| Language | English |
| Followed by | The Saint Strikes Back |
| IMDb profile | |
The Saint in New York, released in 1938 by RKO Pictures was a crime thriller that marked the first screen appearance of sleuth Simon Templar, alias the Saint. Templar had been created 10 years earlier by Leslie Charteris, and this film is based upon his novel of the same title.
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[edit] Production
South African actor Louis Hayward becomes the first actor to play the Saint on screen, and is supported by Kay Sutton as the love interest. Hayward's performance has been described as "a poor man’s version of Orson Welles"[1] and was roundly considered rakish and successful in the role[1][2] while staying faithful to Charteris' original character.[3] Hayward would later go on to play the Saint once more in The Saint's Girl Friday (a.k.a. The Saint's Return) in 1953.[1]
In the books, Templar's nemesis on the side of law and order is Inspector Claud Eustace Teal; for the film series it was decided to replace that character with Inspector Henry Farnack (Jonathan Hale) who would become a regular in the RKO film series. (The character's name is spelled Fernack in the original novel, but for some reason was changed for the film.)
In 1937, Alfred Hitchcock met with Lillie Messinger of RKO Pictures. Hitchcock showed interest in coming to America and making The Saint in New York.[4][1] Ultimately, the film was made a year later with Ben Holmes in the director chair.
[edit] Plot
The script followed the novel rather closely. New York is laid low by crime wave. Right-thinking citizens and the police despair of the judicial system. The Crime Commission, of its own accord and despite his off-color reputation, decides to call in the Saint. If judges won't serve the cause of justice, perhaps the Saint will. Templar is charged with bringing six gangsters to justice, or, barring that, eliminating them.
Disguised as a nun, the Saint shoots a gangster just as he is about to plug a police officer (this differs from the original novel in which the Saint shoots an accused cop-killer in cold blood after the man walks free from court). The mystery is who is the Big Fellow? The Saint dispatches all the underlings before he comes, finally and inevitably, to the Big Fellow, who is, just as inevitably, the most upright of all, the man who hired him to start with.
[edit] Cast
- Louis Hayward as Simon Templar
- Kay Sutton as Fay Edwards
- Sig Ruman as Hutch Rellin (as Sig Rumann)
- Jonathan Hale as Inspector Henry Fernack
- Jack Carson as Red Jenks
- Paul Guilfoyle as Hymie Fanro
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d The Saint in New York at Turner Classic Movies
- ^ The Saint in New York at Time Out
- ^ The Saint in New York at The New York Times
- ^ Spoto, Donald (1999). The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock. Da Capo, 171-172. ISBN 030680932X.
[edit] External links
- The Saint in New York at the Internet Movie Database
- The Saint in New York at Allmovie
- The Saint in New York at the TCM Movie Database
