SAINT MEETS THE TIGER, THE

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SAINT MEETS THE TIGER, THE (director: Paul Stein; screenwriters: Leslie Arliss/James Seymour/Wolfgang Wilhelm/based on the novel Meet the Tiger by Leslie Charteris; cinematographer: Robert Krasker; editor: Ralph Kemplen; cast: Hugh Sinclair (Simon Templar, the Saint), Jean Gillie (Pat Holm), Gordon McLeod (Inspector Teal), Clifford Evans (Tidemarsh), John Salew (Merridon, curator of the Baycome Museum), Louise Hampton (Aunt Agatha Gurten), Charles Victor (Bittle), Wylie Watson (Horace), Dennis Arundell (Bentley), Noel Dainton (Burton),Joan Hickson (Maid), Ben Williams (Joe Gallo), Claude Bailey (Donald Jones); Runtime: 70; MPAA Rating: NR; producer: William Sistrom; RKO; 1943-UK)
“Don’t expect more than a time killer.“

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

Paul Stein (“Mimi”/”Lisbon Story”/”Footsteps in the Sand”)directs the eight Saint movie. It’s an adequate crime drama programmer (but don’t expect more than a time killer) that’s basedon the novel Meet the Tiger by Leslie Charteris. The writers are Leslie Arliss, James Seymour and Wolfgang Wilhelm, who leave too many plot holes. The pic did a poor box office, which prompted RKO to sell the series to Republic Pictures.

The body of bookie Joe Gallo turns up at the doorstep of Simon Templar’s (Hugh Sinclair) London house. Simon is the debonair and roguish private detective known as “The Saint.” Before dying the bookie utters something to the Saint about a million pounds in gold, Tiger, Baycombe and a gold mine. With that Simon treks to Baycombe, a resort town in Cornwall, with his butler Horace (Wylie Watson), and rents a cottage. The Saint meets the pretty Pat Holm (Jean Gillie), who owns a gold mine in Capetown that has no gold. When shady financier Bentley (Dennis Arundell) offers to buy the South African gold mine for a big price, the Saint figures out he’s part of the gang that robbed the Bristol bank of a million pounds and are now planning to use the gold mine to store the stolen loot. With the help of Scotland Yard’s Inspector Teal (Gordon McLeod), the Saint tracks down who is the gang’s mysterious leader named Tiger and that the stolen money is hidden in a smuggler cave in Baycombe and is to be transported by boat to Capetown.

Stage actor Sinclair is a step down from the previous Saint, the suave and roguish George Sanders.

REVIEWED ON 10/14/2010 GRADE: C+

Dennis Schwartz: “Ozus’ World Movie Reviews”

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