The Saint Season One and Two Dvd Review

British thriller series

The Saint
Titlecard of the black and white episodes
Created by	Leslie Charteris
Starring	Roger Moore
Theme music composer	Edwin Astley (B/W) Edwin Astley and Leslie Charteris (color)
Composer	Edwin Astley
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original linguistic communication	English
No. of series	6
No. of episodes	118 (71 black-and-white, 47 colour) (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Robert Due south. Baker Monty Berman (B/Westward)
Producer	Roger Moore[1]
Running time	49–51 minutes
Product companies	Tempean Films for ATV (B/W) Bamore for ATV (colour)
Distributor	Independent Television Corporation
Release
Original network	ITV
Picture format	35 mm Black and white (commencement 71 episodes) Colour (last 47 episodes)
Audio format	Mono
Original release	4 October 1962 (1962-ten-04) – 9 Feb 1969 (1969-02-09)
Chronology
Followed by	Return of the Saint

The Saint is a British mystery spy thriller telly series that aired in the United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland on ITV between 1962 and 1969. It was based on the literary character Simon Templar created by Leslie Charteris in the 1920s^[ii] and featured in many novels over the years.^[2] In the telly serial, Templar was played by Roger Moore.^[3] Templar helps those whom conventional agencies are powerless or unwilling to protect, frequently using methods that skirt the law. Main Inspector Claud Eustace Teal is his nominal nemesis who considers Templar a common criminal, but often grudgingly tolerates his actions for the greater good.

NBC picked up the show as a summer replacement in its evening schedule in 1966 because of the strong functioning in the United States of the first two series in first-run syndication. The programme, therefore, ended its run with both trans-Atlantic primetime scheduling and color episodes. It too proved popular beyond the UK and US, eventually airing in over 60 countries, and made a turn a profit in backlog of £350m for ITC.^{[4] [5] [six]} With almost 120 episodes, the program is exceeded simply by The Avengers as the most productive show of its genre produced in the UK. As with The Avengers, the colour episodes were originally circulate in the United kingdom in black and white earlier the advent of colour transmissions on ITV.

Serial overview [edit]

Roger Moore had earlier tried to buy the product rights to the Saint books himself, and was delighted to be able to play the part. Moore eventually became co-owner of the show with Robert S. Baker when the bear witness moved to color and the product credit became Bamore Productions. Virtually of the wardrobe Moore wore in the series was his own.

He was reportedly offered the function of James Bond at to the lowest degree twice during the run of the series, but he had to plough it down both times due to his tv set commitments. In one early episode of the series (titled "Luella"), another character actually mistakes Templar for Bond. (Coincidentally this episode as well features David Hedison who appeared alongside Moore in the Bail pic Live and Allow Dice.) Moore was eventually in a position to take the function equally Bond in 1972 after filming ITC'southward The Persuaders! with Tony Curtis.

Moore had a few recurring co-stars, particularly Ivor Dean, who played Templar'south nemesis, Inspector Teal. In three early episodes, Teal had been played past Campbell Singer, Norman Pitt, and Wensley Pithey; Dean featured from the episode "Iris" (vii November 1963) onward. Teal'due south relationship with Templar was broadly like to that depicted in the novels, but in the series, he is often depicted every bit bungling, rather than merely Charteris's characterisation of him as an officious, unimaginative policeman. When in French republic, Templar had a similar relationship with Colonel Latignant (Arnold Diamond). Latignant is depicted as being even less competent than Teal, and is even keener than Teal to detect Templar guilty, though Templar repeatedly helps him solve the case. Unlike Teal, Latignant did not appear in Charteris's novels. In all, Inspector Teal featured in 26 episodes and Colonel Latignant in six.

The Saint began equally a straightforward mystery series, but over the years adopted more secret agent and fantasy-style plots. It also made a well-publicised switch from black-and-white to colour product midway through its run. The early episodes are distinguished past Moore breaking the quaternary wall and speaking to the audience in character at the get-go of every episode. With the switch to color, this was replaced by unproblematic narration. The pre-credit sequence normally ended with someone referring to (and/or addressing) the Saint by name – "Simon Templar"; at this betoken, an blithe halo appeared above Templar'southward head equally the Saint looked at the photographic camera (or straight at the halo). Some episodes, such equally "Iris", broke away from this formula and had Templar address the audition for the entire pre-credit sequence and referring to himself past name, setting up the story that followed.

Many episodes were based upon Charteris's stories, although a college percentage of original scripts were used as the series progressed ("Queen'south Ransom" was both the first colour episode and the first episode not to be based on a Charteris work). The novel Vendetta for the Saint, credited to Charteris but written by Harry Harrison, was one of the last Saint stories to be adjusted. Some of the later on scripts were novelised and published as part of the ongoing series of The Saint novels, such equally The Fiction Makers and The People Importers. The outset of these books, which gave cover credit to Charteris, but were actually written by others, was The Saint on TV, and the serial of novelisations continued for several years later on the television programme had ended.

The Saint drove a Volvo P1800 in the serial

Templar'southward car, when it appeared, was a white Volvo P1800 with the number plate ST1. This model Volvo is still often referred to equally "the Saint'due south car", with miniature versions fabricated by Corgi which accept proved popular. Volvo was pleased to supply their recently introduced car in 1962 for its promotional value, subsequently Jaguar Cars had rejected a asking from the producers to provide an E-type.

Moore and guest star Earl Green in "Interlude in Venice", 1966

Different its contemporary rival, The Avengers, The Saint was shot entirely on picture from the offset, whereas the commencement three series of the other series (circulate betwixt 1961 and 1964) were videotaped, with minimal location shooting. All episodes of The Saint were syndicated abroad.

The black-and-white series were offset syndicated in the United states by NBC chapter stations in 1967 and 1968, and 32 of the 47 colour episodes were broadcast past NBC from 1968 to 1969, and take since played in syndication in the Us for many years after. Nigh serial are available on DVD in North America. Two two-part episodes from serial 6, "Vendetta for the Saint" and "The Fiction Makers", were fabricated into feature films and distributed to theatres in Europe, and oft show up on late-night television in America. They are also available on DVD.

In the UK, ITV4 has broadcast color episodes. In the United states, FamilyNet and RTV have aired both the black-and-white and colour episodes. MeTV has likewise broadcast the series. In March 2015, the CBS-owned Decades digital cable network aired a "Series Binge" marathon of the show every bit role of "Countdown to Decades", a soft-launch prelude to the network'southward official launch in May 2015. The marathon featured every episode of the series aired back to back. The marathon began on 30 March at 5 pm Eastern Time and ended on iii Apr at 11 pm. The broadcast network This TV has been running iii or 4 episodes in a cake on Sat evenings since April 2018, starting at either 11:00pm or midnight (depending on the running fourth dimension of the moving picture scheduled to air ahead of it). After in October, This Boob tube added a two-episode-per-weekday run at 7:00am, independently sequenced of the connected Saturday dark airings. Neither includes the two-part episodes referenced in the previous paragraph.

Filming locations [edit]

In the Television set series, the Saint lives in London, though the exact accost is never revealed (53 Grosvenor Mews is his stated accost in series ii episode ii) and he is seen travelling to locations beyond London, the United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland, and around the world. The entire series was shot at Associated British Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire, with very few scenes shot on location elsewhere. This was achieved by making all-encompassing use of the sets at Elstree, early blue-screen engineering science to simulate unlike locations in the groundwork, painted or projected backdrops, and revolving painted backdrops for moving scenes. A few exceptions exist, such equally the extensive location shoot on the island of Malta for "Vendetta for the Saint". Look-alikes were used for location shoots where the Saint is seen in the distance entering a well-known building or driving past the photographic camera at speed.^[7] Where it was not possible to do it in the studios, some scenes were shot in North London, such equally the block of flats Embassy Gild in Regents Park Road NW3, which is shown in 5-15 The Persistent Patriots.

Fan social club [edit]

The Saint and its books have a fan lodge created originally past Leslie Charteris for the fans of the series. The club roughshod under the command of honorary chairmen, Sir Roger Moore (prior to his death) and Ian Ogilvy (who played Templar in the 1970s revival series, Return of the Saint). The club marks events such equally the publication of books or other data on the serial.

Episodes [edit]

The blackness-and-white episodes of The Saint were fabricated in ii production runs, the outset, of 39 episodes, was split into 2 separate serial on transmission, and the second, of 32 episodes, again dissever into two series on transmission. Series five, the first to be produced in colour, consisted of a production run of 32 episodes. The 2nd colour production run consisted of 15 episodes, and has a revamped theme tune, marking it out from the first batch of colour episodes.

"The Fiction Makers" from series five was edited into a two-parter using the revamped theme for inclusion in series vi, as was "Vendetta for the Saint". However, during transmission of serial five, manual of the episodes caught upwardly with production, significant repeats of some of the black-and-white episodes had to be slotted into the schedule to slow the broadcast of new episodes (this had little touch on on viewers, as the color episodes were being broadcast in black and white anyway). This series started transmission halfway through product, leading to simply 26 of the episodes beingness screened. The three unscreened episodes plus "The House on Dragon's Rock", which in some regions was not broadcast because it was thought unsuitable for children, were then mixed in with series six for transmission.

Home media [edit]

A&E Home Entertainment, under licence from Carlton International Media Limited, released all the episodes on DVD in Region one. They have released two sets of monochrome episodes: the first with iii discs, the second with 4. Each disc contains four complete, unedited, uncut original broadcast episodes, meaning just 28 of the monochrome episodes are bachelor. Each episode has been completely restored from the original 35 mm film prints and digitally remastered in full colour, and was presented in its original UK circulate presentation and their original US broadcast order. All of the colour episodes have been released in vii two-disc sets, equally well as in one 14-disc "megaset". The two-part episodes are only in movie form.

A&E Dwelling Entertainment also released the original monochrome episodes on Region 1 DVD, entitled The Saint: The Early Episodes , in which A&E had remastered and restored all the black-and-white episodes of the series from the original flick elements.

On 26 May 2015 Timeless Media Group released The Saint: The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1 for the first time. The 33-disc set features all 118 episodes of the series as well equally bonus features.^[8] They later released series 1 and two on DVD in a divide 10-disc collection on 13 October the aforementioned year.^[9] Series three and 4 were released on 19 January 2016.^[x]

In Region 2, Network Distributing has released two multidisc sets, with all the monochrome episodes available in an 18-disc set, and all the colour ones in a xiv-disc set. The colour set includes the theatrical versions of the 2 double-length stories, as well as the original 48-minute two-part versions. Also included are a 40-infinitesimal documentary and isolated music tracks. Prior to this, Carlton Video had released 4 separate discs, the first i with the get-go two episodes, and the rest with 4 episodes each. Also, a ten-disc fix repackages the previous iv discs alongside six more than, containing the showtime 39 monochrome episodes. The monochrome and colour sets are the best out at that place, in terms of picture, audio quality, and special features. In French republic, TF1 Vidéo has released five multidisc sets, containing all the 118 episodes, in French and in English.

In Region 4, Umbrella Amusement released the entire series in Australia, in five boxed sets of six discs each. These are in PAL format, but with no region code. The boxsets characteristic numerous extras including a series of audio commentaries recorded in 2004 with surviving members of the bandage and crew, ranging from guest stars to Roger Moore.

Revivals/remakes [edit]

• In 1978, the serial was revived as Return of the Saint, starring Ian Ogilvy every bit Templar.
• 2 further attempts were made to revive The Saint on television in 1980s. In 1987, a 46-minute U.S. TV pilot, "The Saint in Manhattan", was fabricated starring Australian histrion Andrew Clarke; and, in 1989, London Weekend Goggle box in the United kingdom made a series of six moving picture-length episodes starring Simon Dutton.
• Roger Moore never played the role once again after 1969, though he is heard speaking on a car radio during the 1997 film The Saint, starring Val Kilmer every bit Templar. The final film bore little resemblance to the books or TV series, and carried no credit for Leslie Charteris. The producers bought the rights to employ the character's name from Robert S. Bakery, who held the rights and had developed and produced both The Saint and Return of the Saint.
• In September 2009, a new adaptation for The Saint was to exist remade for television past Vancouver-based studio Brightlight Pictures. Scottish actor Dougray Scott was lined up to play Simon Templar,^[eleven] only no series came about. James Purefoy was also considered to play The Saint in a remake, product of which was scheduled to begin in July 2011.^[12] This project also failed to materialise.
• Another effort was announced in Dec 2012, when Roger Moore was to be producer for a new serial and to have Adam Rayner star as Simon Templar and Eliza Dushku as his girlfriend Patricia Holm.^{[xiii] [xiv]} In a promotion that was after released, information technology was as well shown that Moore would star in the new series, as would his successor in Return of the Saint, Ian Ogilvy. Product of a pilot episode was completed by early on 2013. As of summer 2014, it was awaiting a broadcast fourth dimension in the U.S.^[fifteen] All the same, the piece underwent reshoots for the catastrophe and add an extra prologue in Nov 2015, and the pilot episode was retooled equally a Tv film, The Saint, getting an online release on 12 July 2017, two months after Moore'due south death.^[16]

References [edit]

1. ^ Marnell, Blair (21 December 2012). "Roger Moore & Ian Ogilvy Return To 'The Saint'". CraveOnline.
2. ^ ^{a b} "Leslie Charteris Dies; Mystery Author Was 85". The New York Times. eighteen Apr 1993.
3. ^ Chase, Chris (26 June 1981). "At the Movies; Roger Moore is anybody'due south replacement". The New York Times.
4. ^ Boob tube Oasis overview of The Saint Archived 14 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine
5. ^ Time mag article from 18 Apr 1969 detailing the premiere of the 5th series of The Saint
6. ^ The Guardian Robert S Baker obituary, paragraph 3
7. ^ Uk Color Series DVD Release, deejay viii, special feature documentary "The Saint Steps In...To Color", narrated past Roger Moore
8. ^ Official Shout!/TMG Printing Release for 'The Consummate Series' Set Archived 4 May 2015 at the Wayback Machine
9. ^ A Timeless Release of 'Seasons 1 and 2,' Starring Roger Moore! Archived 16 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine
10. ^ Shout!/TMG Schedules DVDs for Roger Moore in 'Seasons 3 and 4' Archived 19 October 2015 at the Wayback Automobile
11. ^ Broadcastnow.co.uk
12. ^ "James Purefoy equally Simon Templar alias The Saint". Saint.org. 25 April 2011. Retrieved eight Jan 2012.
13. ^ "The Saint Is Dorsum". Bedfordshire-news.co.uk.
14. ^ "Eliza Dushku To Co-Star In 'The Saint' Backdoor Pilot, Roger Moore To Co-Produce". Borderline Hollywood . Retrieved 10 December 2012.
15. ^ "The Saint – New TV Series Being Developed". xxx April 2014.
16. ^ "All-New Reboot of THE SAINT Arrives on Digital HD/VOD on Today". Broadway World. 11 June 2017. Retrieved 14 July 2017.

Further reading [edit]

• Barer, Paul. The Saint: A Consummate History in Print, Radio, Picture show and Television of Leslie Charteris' Robin Hood of Mod Crime, Simon Templar, 1928–1992. Jefferson, Due north Carolina: McFarland & Visitor, 2003. ISBN 978-0-7864-1680-6
• Dickerson, Ian. The Saint on TV. Andover, United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland: Hirst Publishing, 2011. ISBN 978-1-907959-06-six

External links [edit]

• The Saint at IMDb
• British Film Institute Screen Online
• Saint on Boob tube fanpage with much information
• Scientific discipline Fiction in The Saint

moorehitylo49.blogspot.com

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Saint_(TV_series)

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