The Falcon in Danger (1943)

The Falcon in Danger, the sixth of RKO's Falcon films, is an unremarkable affair, where an annoying sidekick, a dull script and flat direction undo the charming lead.

The story starts intriguingly, with freelance crime solver the Falcon, aka Tom Lawrence (played by Tom Conway) somehow getting roped into investigating a plane crash at an airport in New York. Missing from the wreckage is the pilot, two wealthy businessmen and $100,000 in securities.

Sadly instead of spending time developing this mystery properly, there is instead too much attention given to the Falcon's grating fiancée Bonnie Caldwell, and her, ultimately unsuccessful, attempts to keep Lawrence out of crime fighting. It is not that a character like the Falcon cannot work with a female sidekick; it is more that, whoever that sidekick is, they need to serve a function in the storytelling, whether that is getting the hero into or out of scrapes, or providing somebody for the hero to explain plot points to, for the benefit of the audience. Given that the film only has just over an hour to tell the story, the fiancé diversions are a mistake, and when we do return to characters and elements related to the crash, they feel rushed or poorly thought out.

Tom Conway took over the character of the Falcon from the original star, his brother, George Sanders, and while Conway is no George Sanders – who could be? – he still manages to be suave, (even when on roller skates) and entertaining enough to keep us watching, and make for mostly pleasant, if unessential viewing.

The Saint in London (1939)

The second film to feature George Sanders as Simon Templar, a sort of modern day Robin Hood, The Saint in London is a breezy, enjoyable, lightweight romp.

The plot sees Templar back in England, and getting a tip-off from a friend in British Intelligence about a foreign government official who seems to be caught in a plot by a gang to print millions in illegal bank notes. Things get complicated when the gang kidnap Templar's female sidekick - can he rescue the girl and the money before it is too late?

George Sanders is excellent, as he nearly always was, although the role of Simon Templar allows him to display genuine charm, without the sinister undertones found in some of his later roles.

The move by Templar back to his home country is a slight let down, as it does make you realise that part of the fun of the previous entry, The Saint Strikes Back was watching the fish-out-of-water effortlessly deal with the foreign culture as much as the crime. Back on his home turf of 1930s London, he presents less of a contrast. There is also little challenge to him from the story, which is not really a whodunit, but simply involves Templar finding people and sorting a situation out. Fortunately, the main villains are a good match for him, both in brains and wit, and can be funny without seeming laughable.

The criminal element of Templar’s character is played down somewhat, although the film does start with him pickpocketing a pickpocket, Duggan, an American man who instantly goes on to become his helper. His reasons for being in London seem a little vague, but I assume the studio thought that, with the Saint being back in England, they ought to include one American accent for the Stateside audiences, and the character does get some of the best one liners (“Tell me, what part of the states are you from? Sing Sing?” “Nah, San Quentin”)

Templar's other sidekick is Polly Parker, played by Sally Gray, who, as well as conveniently getting Templar out of a couple of scrapes, also gets some good dialogue, and Gray's quirky, daffy energy makes a good contrast with smooth, charming Sanders. Also worth a mention is Gordon McLeod as the henpecked Scotland Yard detective (and frequent Templar adversary) Claude Teal, who has a running gag of some very funny phone exchanges with his unseen wife.

If anything this film feels more like an episode of the Saint television series that Roger Moore would find fame with in the 60s, particularly with the short running time, and fast pace. Also, as on an established TV show, there is a lack of any back-story for the main character, assuming that we are familiar enough with him to dive straight in.

There is a link to the other character that Moore would enjoy huge worldwide success with, that of James Bond. Although there are differences in the characters and in the nature of the stories, there are also some elements that foreshadow Bond, certainly the cinema incarnation. Both characters are English, unflappable, charming, but will be forceful, even violent, when needed, and they do not always work within the law. They both start stories on their own, but end up paired with a female companion, who they end up having to rescue, and at one point, the Saint even introduces himself as “Templar. Simon Templar”.

The Saint Strikes Back (1939)

Before Roger Moore made the part of Simon Templar his own in the 1960s TV series, the smooth talking gentleman thief and amateur sleuth appeared in a series of B pictures made by RKO. After putting Louis Hayward in the title role for The Saint In New York, the studio switched for the effortlessly debonair George Sanders for the follow up, The Saint Strikes Back.

Loosely based on the novel Angels of Doom, by Saint creator Leslie Charteris, the plot sees Templar come to the aid of the daughter of a San Francisco police officer, a man who committed suicide after being framed by a mysterious gangster. Can our hero clear the name of the innocent party, and unmask the crook?

George Sanders is one of those actors who nearly always plays a variation on the "George Sanders" character, someone who is charming, witty, and impervious to the doubts and emotions that plague us mere mortals. Unlike later films such as The Picture of Dorian Gray or All About Eve, the "George Sanders" here lacks the malevolent edge of Lord Henry or Addison DeWitt, which is in keeping with the roguish but basically decent character of Simon Templar, but is slightly less fun to watch.

I have seen The Saint described as a "Robin Hood-like" character, but if anything he seems like a precursor to Dr Who, someone whose motives are vague and wanders into situations seemingly by accident, solving problems, charming the authorities, then disappearing off into the sunset with no material reward.

The rest of the cast are competent enough, with significant roles given to Jerome Cowan, who would be immortalised as Miles Archer, the doomed partner of Humphrey Bogart's Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon, and Neil Hamilton, later to play Commissioner Gordon on the Batman TV show.

The direction from John Farrow is also competent and workmanlike, with no expressionistic or artistic flourishes, apart from one brief and unexpected scene of a policeman having a nightmare about lobsters on trapezes. Farrow works hard to convince us we are in the City by the Bay, with some nicely foggy ambience. Screenwriter John Twist moves the action here from the original novel's English setting, and packs the dense screenplay with plenty of twists and turns, and some witty dialogue.

An enjoyable bit of fun, The Saint Strikes Back ends on a slightly downbeat note. For all Templar's cool, detached persona, at the end we are left with the impression of a lonely man and the final scene sees him quoting Kipling (“he travels fastest who travels alone”) before the camera tracks back, leaving a solitary Templar, leaning on a lamppost in the fog, whistling in a slightly resigned, almost melancholy fashion.