December 11th, 2008: Death and The Saint
Sadly we have to note the recent passing of a number of Saintly alumni:
Available for pre-order now is this rather splendid DVD. Not that we're biased of course.
Word reaches us that a new adventure for the Saint's long lost cousin is due soon...Steele Cruising is written by show creator Michael Gleason and features Steele, Laura Holt and Mildred Krebs playing a game of deadly cat and mouse on a luxury cruise ship in the Mexican Riviera. More as we know it because quite frankly, we can't wait...
Publication date for The Best of the Saint vols. 1 & 2 has been put back to December 11th.
Saint Roger Moore will be appearing on Henry Kelly's show on BBC Radio Berkshire on Thursday October 16th. Aside from promoting his book he'll also be taking time to answer some questions from fans. You can submit your question for him here.
Ian Ogilvy was in the UK recently attending CollectorMania 14 in Milton Keynes. Whlst there he met up with Saint Mike Smith who happens to own one of the original Jaguar XJ-S cars that were used in the making of Return of the Saint. Ian was delighted to be reunited with his old motor...
"In a completely different, inorganic and almost idiotic vein, Sky's UKTV has been replaying 1960s episodes of The Saint on weekday afternoons, and I defy anyone of any age not to find them thoroughly entertaining. The plots are beyond lame by today's standards, and the characters less rounded than those you'd find in Tintin. But they give you a blast of fashion - the clothes and cars - of the time. The dialogue is surprisingly sparkly. "Are you a model?" says a lustful young woman to Simon Templar. "Er, no, I think you'll find I'm actual-sized," smirks the debonair and slightly creepy Saint. Roger Moore - later a memorable James Bond - in pale, ungrubby-able suits, fist-fights the villains, but never to the point of disarranging his Brylcreemed hair. And every villain is knocked unconscious with a single blow. No Tom Cruise, Bruce Willis or Matt Damon character can manage that." Volume 1 has an introduction by novelist Ken Follett and the following Saint adventures: The Man Who Was Clever, The Policeman With Wings, The Lawless Lady, The Inland Revenue, The Charitable Countess, The Star Producers, The Art of Alibi, The Simon Templar Foundation, The High Fence, The Elusive Ellshaw, The Miracle Tea Party and The Affair of Hogsbotham. Volume 2 has an introduction by Sir Roger Moore and the following Saint adventures: The Covetous Headsman, The Angel's Eye, The Rhine Maiden, The Golden Journey, The Loaded Tourist, The Spanish Cow, The Latin Touch, The Patient Playboy, The Talented Husband, The Reluctant Nudist, The Lovelorn Sheik, The Pluperfect Lady, The Sporting Chance, The Better Mousetrap, The Prodigal Miser, The Hopeless Heiress. Simon Templar is part of a secret organization known as 'Knights of the Templar'. He's responsible for enforcing the group's code of ethics against the criminal underground of the world. Those familiar with 'Knights' know Simon Templar by one name: The Saint. His current assignment has him in Montenegro, rescuing captive children from being sold on the black market. When the operation is finished, Templar discovers that one of the children is missing. An orphan once himself, he vows to rescue the lost boy, no matter what the cost. Waiting for him in Paris is Patricia Holm, an intelligence specialist and Templar's lover. She has information that a crooked businessman named Carger is responsible for the children's abductions; however, the Knights learn that Carger is now into much bigger things. The Saint is ordered to find Carger and steal a treasured relic that, if made public, could ignite a spectacular holy war. When he discovers Carger has also been keeping the missing orphan as his own son, Templar must decide between his own personal convictions and his duties as The Saint. Suave, chivalrous & Utterly Heroic! In 1989 the cult British spy series, The Saint, was again welcomed back to TV in six feature-length episodes staring Simon Dutton as Simon Templar-aka The Saint. In a role immortalised by Roger Moore in the 60s, Dutton plays the suave, debonair super sleuth who is adored by women, feared by his adversaries and remains a constant thorn in the side of police forces everywhere. An Australian/British co-production from 1989, this was the final remake of the cult British spy series originally starring Roger Moore - Ian Ogilvy starred in the 70s vehicle, The Return of the Saint. The entire series on 3 Discs - six, 2 hour movie versions of the hugely popular British TV series Brightlight Pictures Inc of Vancouver will co-produce the live action 26 x ½ hour series with Great Western under GWE's WiKKiD.tv brand. Joining the adventures of Canadian teenage characters Jason and Lee on Stormworld, is Singapore's TheatreRed. Principal photography will take place in Perth, Singapore, Vancouver and the Kimberley coast in North-Western Australia. The series is supported by ScreenWest, Film Finance Corporation (FFC), the Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA), TheatreRed, Lotterywest, the Nine Network, ABC-TV, the Disney Channel Australia, Daro Film Distribution and Canada's CTV (Space Channel). The series has already been sold to Ireland, Romania and Hungary and will be launched at MIP in April 2009. Stormworld was created by UK writer John Goldsmith and Paul Barron. The Canadian co-producers are Stephen Hegyes and Shawn Williamson of Brightlight Pictures, with Ian Hogg of TheatreRed as Co-Executive Producer. The series will be directed by Edward McQueen-Mason and BAFTA award-winning director Mark DeFriest. Series writers include David Ogilvy, Robert Greenberg, Kelly Lefever, Coral Drouyn, Vanessa Yardley, Bryan McQueen-Mason, Alex Burrows and Victor Gentile. The series is scheduled to enter Principal Photography in January 2008.
April 23rd, 2008 : A Saintly Icon? Claude Eustace Teal : 40s. An inspector at INTERPOL. Lean, strong, "a man of no vices". A brilliant tactician. American. Happily Married. Series Regular Patricia Holm : Striking, Tall, lean, maddeningly sexy, dirty blonde, extremely fashionable (very Jerome Creedy : 60s. The director of INTERPOL. Toupeed. Bureaucratic, a pain in the ass. A bad temper. Recurring; Hollis McCarthy : 50s. Lantern-jawed, square, "not to be f**ked with" Ex-military. Dark-souled. Spiritual. Recurring; Emma : Carger's assistant. Young, petite. Horribly abused and embarrassed by the unspeakable treatment she faces from Carger; Jasper Wells : 30s. Lean, imposing, a stone-cold killer. Works for Agent Siri : 20s. Green eyes, beautiful. Stoic and anguished over the kidnapping of her son Paolo : 3-5. Siri's green-eyed boy; Jakrule : 30s. Of Indonesian descent. A criminal Weiland : 40s. A Baltic Mutt. A criminal Nino : 30s. With the Italian Puglas : 50s, an Asian-Hungarian fat man. "A sweaty, hairy mass". A criminal; Old Drunk Man : Panhandling at the waterfront during the first scene with Simon ; Guard : Heavy-set. Guards the waterfront Agent Grimes : Works for INTERPOL Agent Zemanski : Works for INTERPOL Ticket Agent : Male, French. Works at the train station in French-Accented Woman : Asks Templar for Directions at JFK airport Cyclist : Races with Templar down a running path. Doorman : At Carger's Townhome; Carpenter : At Carger's Townhome; Guard #2 : At Apollyon Antiques when Templar and Baldwin try to enter under disguise; Hans : The Head guard at Apollyon Antiques. "New take for 'Saint' series "The Saint" is marching back to television via a contemporary take on the Leslie Charteris' books, with James Purefoy in talks to topline as the debonair international thief Simon Templar. Producers Barry Levinson and Tom Fontana, writer Jorge Zamacona , feature producer Bill Macdonald, Roger Moore -- who played Templar in the 1960s British series -- and his son Geoffrey Moore are all involved in the project. Levinson is set to direct the two-hour TV movie/backdoor pilot, which will be produced independently and then shopped to the networks. The project is backed by Nehst Studios, a financing, production and distribution company that recently partnered with Lexicon Filmed Entertainment to share $250 million from private-equity sources to finance features, TV series and Web series. Macdonald has been associated with "Saint" on and off for 17 years. In 1991, he acquired the rights to the books for producer Robert Evans. The two went on to produce the 1997 feature starring Val Kilmer as the dapper adventurer. In 2004, Macdonald teamed with Zamacona and Roger and Geoffrey Moore to bring the "Saint" franchise to television. The four formed Templar Entertainment Group, through which they acquired the TV rights to Charteris' novels. The new "Saint" series was created by Zamacona, who penned the pilot script, and Macdonald. The project was originally set up at TNT, which announced it as part of its 2007 development slate last March (HR 3/13). TNT later passed on it, and the rights reverted to the producers. Macdonald and Zamacona might have gone the traditional route -- trying to find a new network home for the show -- if it hadn't been for the writers strike. With development activity in "The strike changed our strategy because no one knew how long it was going to be, but producing the project independently gives us a lot more creative freedom," Macdonald said. During the strike, Zamacona approached Levinson and "One of the things we lost a little bit of in the movie but want to bring to the TV series is that Simon Templar is very funny character with great lines and situation humor, and I don't think there is anybody better than Levinson to tackle that," Macdonald said. The producers then went after Purefoy, who recently starred on the HBO/BBC series " Casting is under way for the other key parts in the pilot: Inspector Claud Eustace Teal, the Interpol agent in charge of tracking Templar; Templar's romantic interest/assistant, Patricia Holm; and his enemy-turned-partner in crime, Filming on the two-hour telefilm, whose script was reworked after the strike, is expected to begin in April in The project is funded for seasons to come, Nehst founder and chairman Larry Meistrich said. "We are committed to financing the pilot and deficiting the potential series," he said. Added CEO Ari Friedman, "I think it's a really good time for a project like this, and we are confident we can find a home for it." The two-hour movie/backdoor pilot model was used successfully to launch an updated version of another classic action-adventure series, "Knight Rider," which is expected to be picked up to series by NBC after the movie scored big ratings last month. "Saint" was packaged by CAA. Levinson is repped by ICM. Roger Moore starred on, produced and directed several episodes of the original British "Saint," which ran on ITV from 1962-69 and in syndication in the In the past 10 years, there have been two attempts by broadcast networks to remake the series. In 2000, UPN teamed with director John McTiernan and ATG, while ABC took a stab at the franchise in 2004 with writer Stephen Nathan and "American Idol" producer FremantleMedia North 
Atlantic Film in Sweden will be adding to their Saintly inventory by releasing the B&W episodes of The Saint starring Roger Moore on 3 DVD sets starting this December with vols. 2 and 3 to follow in early 2009
This December sees the DVD release of The Saint Steps In...to ITC. A web exclusive from Network DVD this single disk release combines all three of their Saint documentaries with new interviews from the likes of Brian Degas, Jeanne Moody, Kate O'Mara,Tony Arnell and Burk Kwouk into one feature length release.
Moe details to follow shortly...
There's a definite trend here. In today's Media Guardian the question of the week is "Who would you bring back to TV screens?" Venerable documentary film maker Roger Graef says:
It seems the Roger Moore series is currently running on Sky's UKTV in New Zealand. Stuff.co.nz published the following review:
Saint David Salter
Whilst we all wait impatiently for the RKO films to get an official DVD release in the UK and USA it seems a 2 volume release snuck out in Spain earlier this year.
This book caught our eye
Lovely interview here with Dick Bruna, who did the cover art for innumerable Dutch editions of The Saint.
Ian Ogilvy
Coming this November...
Crain's Detroit Business is reporting that shooting on the pilot of The Saint has been delayed until "at least August because of a possible actors strike",
Sadly we are able to confirm the passing of scriptwriter Donald James. An ITC stalwart he contributed to shows such as The Avengers, The Champions, Department S, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) and three episodes of Roger Moore's incarantion of The Saint ('The World Beater', 'The People Importers' and 'The Organisation Man').
With curious timing icWales is running this piece noting the 80th anniversary. All we can say is that if he thinks the Kilmer movie was rock bottom, well he should see Andrew Clarke in the role, or Jean Marais. And we note with fascination that "the first Saint movie was planned for 1933". Erm, no. The first Saint movie was always planned to be The Saint in New York, which was written in late 1934...
The Unmutual is reporting the death of scriptwriter Roger Parkes. Although he's best remembered for his episode of The Prisoner he merits our attention for he came up with the story for an episode of Return of the Saint (Yesterday's Hero). Plus he was a damned good scriptwriter and a really nice chap who was quite happy to talk about his work...
The Saint was represented at Cannes recently by Arsenal Pictures who had the rather nice teaser artwork you can find on the front of this web site and the following synopsis:
1989 TV
566 Mins - TBC
RRP: AUS $39.99
Turner Classic Movies - the US version, not the European variants--have schedule the old RKO Saint movies for airing this month:
Jay Tobias is production manager on The Saint. His CV includes stints as director on Homicide: Life on the Street, first assistant director on Spenser: For Hire, first assistant director on Law & Order SVU and location manager on Porkys II. Ah well, we all have to start somewhere...
Scriptwriter John Goldsmith--who did some splendid work on Return of the Saint and The Saint with Simon Dutton--has a new show in production. Stormworld, created by John, is an Australian/Canadian production currently shooting on location in Oz. From the press release:
Word reaches us (again!) that Umbrella Entertainment are planning to release The Saint with Simon Dutton on DVD in July this year. And since the word came from Umbrella themselves we won't be quite so cynical about this. All 6 movies--no sign of Saint Andrew Clarke unfortunately--are schedule for release. No word, as yet, on any extras.
Shooting on the 2 hour pilot starts May 28th in Budapest and from there will move to Detroit, USA for five weeks interior shooting.
Dutch company Lime-Lights Pictures will be issuing their first volume of The Saint with Roger Moore on DVD on May 8th. Volume 1 contains the first 12 B&W episodes, with volumes 2 and 3 to follow on August 21st and December 4th this year.
Is The Saint an English icon? You can vote here...
Media Guardian report that ITV plan
Variety reports that Instinctive Film have joined as co-producers of the 2 hour pilot.
Casting has started for the 2 hour pilot and notes have been sent out to various agencies. Breaking them down reveals the following characters will be in the pilot - descriptions are as in the casting requirement!
Okay, the cat's out of the bag...this is from the Hollywood Reporter:
News reaches us that Hungarian cable TV channel Filmmuzeum is showing the Roger Moore series of The Saint at
International bibliographer Jean-Marc Lofficier has updated his web site with a 4 page article by Rinus Daane on the Saint's adventures in Dutch publishing.
Suevia Films in