Detective Drama (1947 - 51)
Simon Templar, AKA "The Saint" was not
a Saint
in fact, the name was the underworld's
sobriquet for this radio detective, who often did
a little bad to get the "goods" on his criminal
of choice. "The Saint" is a bon vivant who
savors detection as an art form. He's nothing like
his American hard-boiled detectives-in-arms such as
Sam Spade, Boston
Blackie and Phillip
Marlowe, although closer in spirit is The
Fat Man, and closer still, Nero
Wolfe.
Text on OTRCAT.com ©2001-2011 OTRCAT INC All Rights Reserved-Reproduction is prohibited.
Simon Templar was called "The Saint" because of his initials: "S.T."
The Chinese-English crime novelist Leslie Charteris
wrote over a hundred Saint adventures. Many "Saint"
movies were made, the best starring George Sanders.
Tom Conway, who played The Falcon on the silver screen,
was in real life George Saunders brother! (To prevent
confusion on the part of the public, they tossed a
coin to see who would have to change his name. Tom
lost, and became Tom Conway.) When in 1947, The Saint was developed for radio, the first choice was Tom
Conway. He quickly stepped aside, however, and the
legendary Vincent Price went on to give the radio
public its most wry dilettante of the demimonde.
Text on OTRCAT.com ©2001-2011 OTRCAT INC All Rights Reserved-Reproduction is prohibited. The Saint's crime fighting is sophisticated.
He's usually sharp enough to stick to slinging witty
words like arrows, since he's the "Robin Hood
of Modern Crime", but sometimes thugs want their
slugs. Lawrence Dobkin is "Louie," the (Brooklyn)
Cab Driver, who keeps The Saint streetwise while getting
him across town. A congenial cast of characters is
always on hand, or fist, thanks to the witty scripts.
Orchestral music adds to the enjoyment, too, but it's
Mr. Vincent Pricethat gives The Saint a halo.
Please note this is the same collection as in the
Vincent Price Collection
Volume 2. For more Vincent Price excitement
and guest star appearances, please see The
Vincent Price Collection Vol. 1.
For more hard hitting detective action, don't forget to call on some of the most popular detectives: Phillip
Marlowe, Richard
Diamond, Let
George Do It, Boston Blackie,
and The Falcon.
For more brainy detectives, see also: Softboiled Detectives.
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