SmugKitZine
Tied for the best movie I have ever seen
Derry Herrera
Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.
Ginger
Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.
ksf-2
The very first "Saint" made into a film, based on the novel by Leslie Charteris. And STILL not available on dvd, as of June 2018. Interesting. This one stars Louis Hayward as Simon Templar. Hayward was a war hero, shorter but dashing, and was married to Ida Lupino. In this one, he dresses up as a nun. Jack Carson is in here as a mob goon.. ..he was in so many films, could play any part. Sig Rumann was the comic foil to the Marx Brothers. Here, he's Hutch, the leader of the mob. Sound and picture quality are a little shaky, could probably use a restoration. Kay Sutton is "Fay"... according to imdb, most of her roles were either deleted or uncredited. This story kind of goes all over the place... the Saint puts the moves on Fay to see what he can find out about Hutch and the mob, and wants to dismantle the gang. Moves pretty slowly. Entertaining enough, but a bit dry. Also interesting as the one that started off the films. Later played by George Sanders. and of course, Roger Moore in the tv series.
Spikeopath
So it begins, the start of the realisation of Leslie Charteris' literary creation, one Simon Templar, AKA: The Saint. And it's a good start to be sure.Templar here is played by Louis Hayward, all smirky confidence, lithe and deadly, Templar is "hired" by some big city suits to snuff out New York's baddies who have in turn been snuffing out policemen and getting away with it. He's deadly, has a quip on the tongue and laughs in the face of danger, and of course he can charm the ladies as well. He gets into scrapes, meaning we get to enjoy his many escapes from impending death, he does indeed assassinate bad guys; and has us firmly on side in the process, and he crucially has us hankering for more of Charteris' rogue good guy!It's good old fashioned fantastical fun mixed with some rugged 1930s gangster shenanigans. Hooray! 7/10
Michael_Elliott
Saint in New York, The (1938) *** (out of 4) The first in RKO's series of The Saint films features Louis Hayward in the title role. In this film, The Saint is tired of criminals getting away due to the judicial system so he sets out to get his own vengeance. I've seen a lot of these early mystery series from the Crime Doctor to Boston Blackie to The Falcon and so on but this one here, at least the first film, is a big change from those series because The Saint isn't a totally friendly character. Where those other series have the good guys trying to arrest the bad guys that's not the case here because The Saint wants them dead and will even kill in cold blood or kill an unarmed man to get his vengeance. I guess you could call this an early version of Death Wish because the vigilante theme runs very high here. I'm not sure what the rest of the series holds but this first film is very impressive even with its low budget. Hayward is very good in his role and his dry acting really adds a lot to the character. The supporting cast really isn't that impressive and that holds the film back some as does some ill-fated humor at the hands of two of the top gangster's gunmen but outside of that this is a very good movie and one that's unlike the others of its type that was out there around the same time.
didi-5
The first film in RKO's series (continued, successfully, with George Sanders, and unsuccessfully, with Hugh Sinclair), this features tiny, white-suited Louis Hayward, as the dangerous psychotic Simon Templar, law-enforcer of a kind (mainly by shooting people), on a mission to find the 'big fellow', head of a crime gang. Hayward is excellent in this, having just the right amount of repartee and daring (without making the role comedic as Sanders did or boring as Sinclair did), as is his love interest, Kay Sutton, who seemed to do very little in films despite her good looks and strong voice. One gripe about the film would be that the print currently available on video is poor as regards picture and sound - I understand this entry in the series was lost for a while and it really does cry out for restoration. Still, this aside it has many compensations. Hayward went on to be the man in the iron mask, the son of Monte Cristo, and the snipey son Oliver in My Son My Son. Jonathan Hale, introduced here as the Saint's cop foil, went on to other Saint entries and eventually committed suicide.
