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The Saint |
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Simon Templar, AKA "The Saint" was not a SaintÉin fact, the name was the
underworld's sobriquet for this radio detective, who often did a little bad
to get the "goods" on his criminal of choice. "The Saint"
is a bon vivant who savours detection as an art form. He's nothing like his
American hard-boiled detectives-in-arms such as Sam Spade, Boston Blackie and Phillip Marlowe, although closer in spirit is The Fat Man, and closer still, Nero Wolfe. The Chinese-English crime
novelist Leslie Charteris wrote
over a hundred Saint adventures. When in 1947 the Saint was developed for
radio, the role went to the legendary Vincent Price who went on to give the radio public its most wry
dilettante of the demimonde. The Saint's crime fighting
is sophisticated. He's usually sharp enough to stick to slinging witty words
like arrows, since he's the "Robin Hood of Modern Crime", but
sometimes thugs want their slugs. Lawrence Dobkin is "Louie," the (Brooklyn) Cab Driver, who keeps The Saint streetwise
while getting him across town. A congenial cast of characters is always on
hand, or fist, thanks to the witty scripts. Orchestral music adds to the
enjoyment, too, but it's the singular sound and style of Mr. Vincent Price that gives The Saint a halo. When Price was delayed in
London in Sept. 1950, actor Barry Sullivan took to role for two episodes (1950-09-17 The Ghost
That Giggled & 1950-09-24 Dossier on a Doggone Dog) Tom Conway took on the role of The Saint when Price left in
May, 1951 - interestingly Tom Conway's brother George Sanders played The Saint in 5 entries of The Saint movie series - The Saint
movies series (all 9 films) is available from the Movie Series section of
this website. In 1995, the BBC mounted an impressive trilogy of dramatic
adaptations of The Saint.
Starring Paul Rhys and sticking
closely to the original stories, these lush 60 minute productions were great
examples of radio being a "theatre of the mind" - full of adventure
& excitement. In particular was the adaptation of The Saint Closes the
Case (aka The Last Hero) - this was Charteris' 2nd Saint novel
(& often considered his best) which was written in 1930 and told of Templar
making the acquaintance of an arch-villain, destroying a dangerous death ray,
and thereby saving the world from catastrophe and a second Great War! The
other stories were Saint Overboard
(1936) and 1938's The Saint Players with Fire (aka Prelude for War, aka The Saint and the
Sinners) - also impressive dramatic renditions of action-packed Saint
adventures. Want
to check the Jeffery Richards's 30 minute BBC Radio documentary: The Saint
on Radio? It
can be freely downloaded to your computer - just right button click on any
link below and chose "Download Linked File" (or words to that
effect). The file is about 18Mb - download time will depend on your
(broadband) speed BBCRD_1998-06-10
The Saint Documentary.mp3 These 2 MP3 CDs
contain all surviving episodes of The Saint as well as Sir Geoffrey Richard's
documentary of The Saint on Radio and the 3 BBC productions from the mid 90's
- all digitally restored and of perfect sound quality A. A
30 minute BBC documentary of The Saint on Radio 1.
TS_1998 - Documentary
- The Saint.mp3 B. The
Saint as played by Vincent Price 1.
TS_1947-10-15 A
Gangster District Attorney.mp3 2.
TS_1949-07-31 The
Saint Goes Underground.mp3 3.
TS_1949-08-14 Greed
Causes Murder.mp3 4.
TS_1949-09-18 A
Schizophrenic Psychiatrist.mp3 5.
TS_1949-11-06 The Case
of the Unhappy Homicide.mp3 6.
TS_1949-11-13 The Case
of the Blonde Who Lost Her Head.mp3 7.
TS_1950-01-08 The Cake
That Killed.mp3 8.
TS_1950-06-11 The
Sinister Sneeze.mp3 9.
TS_1950-06-18 A Sonata
for Slayers.mp3 10.
TS_1950-07-02 A Real
Gone Guy.mp3 11.
TS_1950-07-09 The
Problem of the Peculiar Payoff.mp3 12.
TS_1950-07-16 Follow
The Leader.mp3 13.
TS_1950-07-23 The
Frightened Author.mp3 14.
TS_1950-07-30 The Case
of the Previewed Crime.mp3 15.
TS_1950-08-06 The
Corpse Said Ouch.mp3 16.
TS_1950-08-20
Reflection on Murder.mp3 17.
TS_1950-08-27 Cupid
and the Corpse.mp3 18.
TS_1950-09-03 Baseball
Murder.mp3 19.
TS_1950-09-10 The
Horrible Hamburger.mp3 20.
TS_1950-09-17 The
Ghost That Giggled.mp3 21.
TS_1950-09-24 Dossier
on a Doggone Dog.mp3 22.
TS_1950-10-29 It's
Snow Use.mp3 23.
TS_1950-11-05 Miss
Godby's School for Girls.mp3 24.
TS_1950-11-12 The Dame
on the Doorstep.mp3 25.
TS_1950-11-19 No
Hiding Place.mp3 26.
TS_1950-11-26 The
Terrible Tintype.mp3 27.
TS_1950-12-03 Martin
Hickerson, Private Eye.mp3 28.
TS_1950-12-10 The
Chiselling Chimpanzee.mp3 29.
TS_1950-12-17 Simon
Minds the Baby.mp3 30.
TS_1950-12-24 Santa
Claus is No Saint.mp3 31.
TS_1951-01-07 Ladies
Never Lie -- Much.mp3 32.
TS_1951-01-14 Simon
Takes a Curtain Call.mp3 33.
TS_1951-01-21 Tuba or
Not Tuba, That is the Question.mp3 34.
TS_1951-02-04 The
Carnival Murder.mp3 35.
TS_1951-02-11 The
Bride Who Lost Her Groom.mp3 36.
TS_1951-02-18 Next of
Kin.mp3 37.
TS_1951-02-25 The Big
Swindle.mp3 38.
TS_1951-03-04 The
What-Not What Got Hot.mp3 39.
TS_1951-03-11 Button,
Button.mp3 40.
TS_1951-03-18 The
Birds and Bees of East Orange.mp3 41.
TS_1951-03-25 Formula
for Death.mp3 42.
TS_1951-04-01 Simon
Carries the Ivy.mp3 43.
TS_1951-04-08 The
Ghosts Who Came to Dinner.mp3 44.
TS_1951-04-15 The
Strange Bedfellows.mp3 45.
TS_1951-04-22 The Lady
Who Learned.mp3 46.
TS_1951-04-29 Fishes
Gotta Eat.mp3 47.
TS_1951-05-20 Pin the
Roses on My Corpse.mp3 C. The
Saint as played by Tom Conway 1.
TS_1951-05-27 The
Children's Crusade.mp3 2.
TS_1951-06-03 The Girl
in the Lower Berth.mp3 3.
TS_1951-06-03 The Girl
with the Lower Berth.mp3 4.
TS_1951-06-24 Peter
the Great.mp3 5.
TS_1951-07-01 Death of
a Cowboy.mp3 6.
TS_1951-07-08 Satan's
Angels.mp3 7.
TS_1951-07-15 No, My Darling
Daughter.mp3 D. BBC
The Saint - Three 60 minute Presentations of Saint adventures. 1.
BBCTS_1995-08-28 Saint
Overboard.mp3 2.
BBCTS_1995-09-04 The
Saint Closes the Case.mp3 3.
BBCTS_1995-09-11 The
Saint Plays With Fire.mp3 |