Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

For my first encounter with The Saint, I'm glad it was with the original film in the series, this one featuring Louis Hayward in the role of Simon Templar, though continued in subsequent pictures by the likes of George Sanders and Hugh Sinclair. Hayward refers to himself as a 'lone wolf' later on in the story, describing the way he operates. Which is interesting in light of the fact he went on to portray that character in 'The Lone Wolf' TV series of the mid-Fifties.I was somewhat struck by the idea that The Saint was called on to deliver a brand of vigilante justice way back in 1930's New York. Operating under the auspices of the NYC Police Department, Templar was hired to dispatch mob big-wigs who always managed to avert prosecution with the help of shady lawyers. The concept of revolving door justice seems a product of more recent times, but obviously that wasn't the case at all as we see here.Clever repartee and offbeat disguise help The Saint make his rounds in New York as he gets closer and closer to the identity of The Big Fellow, one of the men on The Saint's hit list. In the midst of it all, he manages to get involved with gun moll Kay Sutton (Fay Edwards), who's motivation to help Templar isn't adequately enough explored. Sure he was good looking, charming and mysterious, but why trade that for her connections?On the flip side, I thought Templar walked into too many situations that surely should have cost him his skin, but hey, the guy was a genius according to henchman Hymie (Paul Guilfoyle). Apparently The Saint thought so too - "I'm such a hero I hardly recognize myself". Which was a curious thing for him to say, since every now and then I thought he resembled a young Desi Arnaz.

The first film adaption of Leslie Charteris's hero Simon Templar, aka The Saint finds The Saint In New York taking on the job of cleaning out organized crime in the big apple. As if Thomas E. Dewey wasn't doing enough around that time.But I doubt Dewey would condone The Saint's methods. He's been put on retainer by an elite group of civic leaders concerned about rising crime rate. What they get is little more than a contract killer, albeit a charming one.Louis Hayward plays The Saint and then left the role to return to it for one more go in the Fifties. I wish he had done a few more episodes in this film series.What The Saint's been hired to do is eliminate one way or another a gang of six that control all the crime in New York City worth controlling. There's a seventh involved, but nobody knows who he is, he's an almost mythical figure known as the Big Fellow.Given this is a B film with a limited cast there's not too much suspense involved and it's rather obvious who the mastermind is. Still this Saint film gets by on the considerable charm of Louis Hayward and it's easy to take.

The Saint In New York is the first of the Saint movies and of the ones I've seen, one of the best.In this one, The Saint is sent to New York to investigate gangsters in the underworld there. There are plenty of shootings and killings and he gets involved in some quite dangerous situations. He is after one particular gangster known as The Big Fellow who is the leader of a gang. He also falls in love.The cast features Louis Haywood as the Saint, Kay Sutton and Jonathan Hale.The Saint In New York is worth watching if you get the chance. A treat.Rating: 3 stars out of 5.

The first Saint movie was a very good effort, true to the spirit of the book albeit made on the cheap by RKO. I grew up thinking that Roger Moore was the Saint and no-one could top him, but have to admit that Louis Haywood was just right in the title role with the right amount of debonair, imperturbable devil-may-care attitude. I hadn't seen this for over 10 years until off UK cable TV tonight, but there was a small but significant chunk of action which for some reason was cut out of the print shown. I hope the full version is still out there somewhere!The Saint is "hired" by the NYPD to flush out and deal with a group of gangsters strangling the city. In his role as unpaid mercenary Prince he has to deal in his own inimitable fashion with 7 metaphorical dwarf hoodlums before moving on to the shadowy "Big Fellow" whilst falling in love with an alluring raven-haired femme fatale. This is Snow White for adults!A real pity Haywood only played the Saint this glorious once in Hollywood - I don't count his 50's British attempt - although Sanders was very funny in his 5 films didn't really hit the right note. My favourite Haywood film came much later, Fritz Lang's "House by the river", an overlooked suspense gem from 1950.