It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

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.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

While some are better than others, pretty much all of the Saint films starring George Sanders are watchable at least once, even the lesser efforts. 'The Saint's Double Trouble' is a contender for the weakest of the series, and somewhat of a let-down after one of the best of the series with 'The Saint Takes Over'.There are good things here. The sets are suitably atmospheric, it is one of the better looking films of the series and jauntily scored. The best thing about the film is Sanders, not just playing the title role but also his criminal double. He is super-suave, sophisticated and wonderfully caddish, while also giving a charming and humorous edge and delivering some cutting lines with aplomb.Jonathan Hale is also very good, while the ending is effective.On the other hand, the script is a complete mess and is enough to bring the film down more than one notch. It is just too underdeveloped and has too many loose ends, with a lot of corn and very little mystery. The story is also one of the series' least involving, it fails to maintain momentum and gets needlessly over-complicated with very few twists and turns.It is interesting for featuring Bela Lugosi, who tries to depart from his horror roles to prove that he could do more than that. However he makes very little impact in a role with nothing to it whatsoever, a real waste. The characters are just not interesting at all and sometimes confusingly written.In summary, a contender for weakest of the Saint films with Sanders. Sanders and Hale are fine but the script and story certainly aren't and bring the film down significantly. 5/10 Bethany Cox

There's a dead ringer for Simon Templar operating as a crime kingpin in Philadelphia…and he's started leaving the Saint's calling card at crime scenes. Will the real Simon Templar please come investigate?Meanwhile, the Saint's old friend Inspector Fernack (Jonathan Hale) is on vacation in—you guessed it—Philadelphia. He stops at the department to visit old friend Deputy Chief Bohlen (Donald MacBride)—and tags along with him on a murder case that turns up the Saint's calling card. Fernack is on the job.George Sanders pulls double duty as both Simon Templar and his counterpart, "The Boss" of Philadelphia crime, in this far-fetched but entertaining mystery. The hero's look-alike, and a single actor playing both roles, is not an especially unique idea; and this particular version of that old plot doesn't offer any special twists or turns. Basically, the Saint encounters mistaken identity, sets out to clear his name, runs into danger….Sanders is, of course, very good. Hale is also fine as Inspector Fernack, and the picture's best scenes are mostly those between Sanders and Hale, as once again outward gruffness partly veils their mutual respect and admiration.Bela Lugosi is a henchman with a thick accent; somewhat disappointingly, his role here is rather bland and Lugosi becomes just another actor. Helene Whitney is fine as an old flame of Simon's whose professor father is unwittingly drawn into the bad guys' plot; again, her performance is good but the role is rather predictable. A rather slow middle section is redeemed by an exciting final third, culminating in a neat and clever resolution…. Overall: nothing exceptional but smoothly produced and certainly easy to take, especially for fans of the Saint or Sanders or B mysteries in general.

I generally enjoy watching these old films with George Sanders because he was such a super-smoothie that one never tires of seeing him glide through a film with the effortless ease of a champion ice skater, carrying the very concept of urbanity to undreamt-of extremes. But sometimes the stories are just too silly! Of all the 'Saint' series where he plays Simon Templar the detective (the character invented by Leslie Charteris), this must be the weakest and most pathetic. (It is the fourth in a series of nine.) No efforts whatsoever were made to make the film even remotely believable, and the age level of the viewer must have been calculated to be about six, since after that even a child would refuse to believe this ludicrous story. Essentially, we are meant to believe that George Sanders has a lookalike (hence the 'double trouble' of the title, i.e., he has a double and that is trouble). The only difference between them is that they wear different suits. Otherwise they look and talk exactly alike. And there is not even the pretext that they are related. One is good and one is bad. Well, it's as simple as that really. It is sad to see Bela Lugosi here relegated to the status of a bit player. The pretty girl in the film is 23 year-old Helene Whitney, in one of only two credited roles which she played in films; she retired the same year, married, or died, one doesn't know which. What happens to people who disappear from the screen? Do they go to some celluloid paradise? If so, they will leave this silly film behind, that's for sure.

One reviewer said this film is strictly for fans of the series and I tend to agree, though non-fans could still watch it and enjoy it if they aren't overly critical of the film's silly plot. Now as for me, I love old B-detective series films and don't mind the silliness too much--after all, if you think too much, films about Charlie Chan, Boston Blackie and the like are pretty tough to believe. Suspending disbelief and just enjoying them for the fun of it is definitely how you need to approach most of these films. In a way, they were like the modern detective TV show (such as "Murder She Wrote" or "Columbo")--predictable, sure, but still engaging.This film starts off pretty well, as we see that one of the supporting characters is Bela Lugosi--that's a definite plus. However, a bit later, the silliness of the plot becomes very apparent when viewers are expected to believe that there is an exact double of Simon Templer AND this double is evil and wanted by the police. Additionally, Lugosi isn't really given much to do and is wasted. Also, considering how famous Templer is supposed to be, don't you think the cops would have realized the crook was an exact double for Templer a long time before? While "The Patty Duke Show" and other TV shows and movies have given us the concept of identical doubles, this is just silly and impossible to believe. Now had this double deliberately gotten plastic surgery to make himself look like Templer, this COULD have been a decent plot idea (like was done in a classic episode of "Hawaii 5-0"), but we are to assume that they are exact in every way (including accent)--all by chance!!Additionally, late in the film, the conclusion becomes WAY TOO COMPLICATED. Templer COULD have easily exposed the double and wrapped everything up well--but then he dresses like a lady and gets himself to switch places with the phony! This just made no sense at all and seemed like padding. Also, leads like the mummy, the knife blade and the ring are never really developed--like the script was still in need of a re-write.While I always like the Saint movies, I do have to admit that this is one of the worst due to the writing. No matter how hard George Sanders tries to carry the film, it sinks beneath plot holes and I could see non-fans of the genre disliking the film if they can't ignore all the problems with the plot. Fun but flawed.