The Saint in London

This article is about the film. For the Simon Templar book, see The Misfortunes of Mr. Teal.

The Saint in London
Directed by	John Paddy Carstairs
Written by	Lynn Root Frank Fenton
Based on	"The Million Pound Day" 1932 story by Leslie Charteris
Produced by	William Sistrom
Starring	George Sanders Sally Gray
Cinematography	Claude Friese-Greene
Edited by	Douglas Robertson
Music by	Marr Mackie
Distributed by	RKO Radio Pictures
Release date	30 June 1939 (1939-06-30)
Running time	77 min.
Country	Great Britain
Language	English

The Saint in London is a 1939 British crime film, the third of eight films in RKO's film series featuring the adventures of Simon Templar, alias "The Saint".

It stars George Sanders as Templar and was produced by William Sistrom. John Paddy Carstairs directed. Lynn Root and Frank Fenton wrote the screenplay based on Leslie Charteris' short story "The Million Pound Day", which was published in the 1932 collection The Holy Terror, published in the US as The Saint vs. Scotland Yard.

Plot

Having returned home to London, Simon Templar, alias "the Saint," meets and hires a reformed ex-con named named Dugan while rendezvousing with Sir Richard Blake, a friend of his in British Intelligence, who recruits him to look into a(it would turn out) suspected spy named Bruno Lang, informing him that Lang will be at a party some mutual friends are having the following weekend. There he meets a beautiful, adventurous woman named Penny Parker, who is fascinated to realize who he is and tails him to Lang's house, helping him escape after he steals evidence against Lang from his safe.

As they flee, they rescue a terrified and tortured French diplomat who had been abducted from one of Lang's henchmen, who they knock out, and return to Templar's home, while Lang informs his co-conspirators of Templar's interference. Leaving Penny in Dugan's care, Templar takes the diplomat to an inn and has him tended to. The diplomat, Count Duni, reveals his country sent him to supervise the printing of new currency and that he had be forced to authorize the secret printing of over a million pounds of it, which Lang and his partners mean to flee the country with.

Templar hands over the document he stole from Lang to Blake, meanwhile his home is visited by Kussella, another of Lang's subordinates, who Penny tails. Templar's actions have drawn the attention of his friendly rival from Scotland Yard, Inspector Teal, who he finds waiting for him when he returns home. After he leaves, Penny telephones and tells where she has tailed Kussella to, before he captures her and tells Templar to come to him alone. Rescuing her with Dugan's help, they return to the inn to find Duni murdered by Lang's other subordinates, who have framed Templar, but Teal has deduced there was more to it and lets him escape to help him pursue the true killers.

Updated by the inn-keeper that Duni had contacted a man at his embassy shortly before he was murdered, Templar visits the man, Stengler, who is in charge while the Ambassador is away. Posing as Teal, Templar tricks him into lying about Duni and unknowingly revealing his involvement in Lang's plot, before having Dugan trail him, while he and Penny return to where she'd be captured to look for more evidence against the gang. They later call a number Dugan left with an ally, and he informs them he's trailed Stengler to Lang's house and has them at gunpoint.

Before Templar and Penny can arrive, Dugan is knocked out by Kussella, and Lang surprises them when drive up. Having Penny tied up, he tells Templar to return the document he stole in less than an hour, but Templar disarms Lang with throwing knife and knocks him out before rescuing Penny and Dugan fleeing with the stolen money and Lang, and leaving his remaining subordinates to be caught by Teal, who has been trailing Templar, after Kussella is accidentally shot and killed.

Back at Scotland Yard, where Teal brings Stengler while pretending not to suspect him of wrongdoing, they find Templar and the others waiting with Blake. Teal has Lang and Stengler arrested for espionage and murder following Blake's explanation about enlisting Templar to help expose them, and Templar leaves to take Penny home before he ends up in love and married.

Cast

• George Sanders as Simon Templar / The Saint
• Sally Gray as Penny Parker
• David Burns as Dugan
• Gordon McLeod as Inspector Claud Teal
• Henry Oscar as Bruno Lang
• Athene Seyler as Mrs. Buckley
• John Abbott as Count Stephen Duni
• Ralph Truman as Kussella
• Charles Carson as Mr. Morgan
• Carl Jaffe as Stengler
• Norah Howard as Mrs. Morgan
• Ballard Berkeley as Sir Richard Blake
• Charles Paton as Tobacco Shop Proprietor

Reception

The film was shot in London. Sanders arrived there in March 1939.

Notes

The film made a profit of $140,000. According to Saint historian Burl Barer, Charteris considered The Saint in London to be the best of the RKO film series. He admired director Carstairs' work enough to dedicate the book The Saint in the Sun to him; Carstairs is also the only person to direct not only RKO Saint films, but also two episodes of the 1962–69 series The Saint.

References

• Burl Barer, The Saint: A Complete History in Print, Radio, Film and Television 1928–1992. Jefferson, N.C.: MacFarland, 2003 (originally published in 1992).

External links

• The Saint in London at IMDb
• The Saint in London at AllMovie
• The Saint in London at the TCM Movie Database
• The Saint in London at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films