#michael cramoy
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The Saint: Paper Chase (5.11, ITC, 1966)
"Have you the file?"
"We have outraged Mr. Redman's sense of fair play. How British you have become. The Marquess of Queensberry Rules, even in a fight to the death."
#the saint#paper chase#itc#leslie charteris#1966#leslie norman#harry w. junkin#michael cramoy#roger moore#ronald hines#niall macginnis#penelope horner#gordon gostelow#jack gwillim#carl duering#michael beint#steve plytas#tony wager#norma west#john g. heller#hans de vries#paul williamson#gordon sterne#frank maher#Gwillim's British Intelligence boss from 5.5 returns and once again Simon is strong armed into doing some spy stuff for queen and country#(but fr why not send the actual spies... John Drake could have done this job with a lot less showing off). a high octane action heavy ep#which presents a fairly simple plot to get Simon into East Berlin and then spends most of the episode on the adventure to get out again#it all feels like it might owe a debt to The Spy Who Came In from the Cold‚ a big screen hit the previous year‚ and even the downbeat#ending feels more le carre than fleming. partly a return to moodier and more realist form‚ except that Simon working for mi5 or 6 feels in#and of itself kind of silly... i mean he's a rich playboy jewel thief. still‚ MacGinnis (a considerable get for the team) is great fun
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The Saint: The Spanish Cow (4.8, ITC, 1965)
"Oh Simon, you're a wonderful man!"
"Yes, I know. It's the clean living."
#the saint#the spanish cow#itc#1965#leslie charteris#michael cramoy#john gilling#roger moore#gary raymond#viviane ventura#nancy nevinson#arnold diamond#leonard sachs#michael wynne#david jackson#nicholas donnelly#terry yorke#back on the french riviera‚ so naturally we're visited by Col. Latignant once again. he gets rather more to do here than in some#of his other outings‚ and he's even given a bumbling assistant to spark off (played with deadpan splendour by Michael Wynne)#the plot is fairly familiar guff about valuable diamonds and a country in need (the fictional Santa Cruz; I know there are many real Santa#Cruzes but I don't think any are countries?). Simon must help or not help the widow of a former dictator.. perhaps wisely (or perhaps#cowardly) he never really gets drawn into the political aspect of the discussion‚ focusing instead on doing his diamond thief biz#terry nation would have written this very differently imo. anyway. Gary Raymond gets to chew the scenery as the villain; he was a good get#for the team too‚ having made a couple of high profile films and starred in an adaptation of Martin Chuzzlewit for the bbc the previous#year (sadly lost); the following year he'd be starring in The Rat Patrol in the US. Viviane Ventura also travelled over the pond to try and#make it big but with less success (she did a couple of MfU and Get Smart eps). both are still with us happily‚ and Raymond in fact still#acting (he can be glimpsed in House of the Dragon atm!).
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The Saint: The Smart Detective (4.4, ITC, 1965)
"A boat?"
"A cruiser."
"Where is she?"
"Out there. She's the big white one."
"You know who owns her?"
"Yep."
"Well, are you going to tell me?"
"I'm just thinking about it."
"There are other ways of finding out, you know."
"Yeah, be quicker if I told you though, wouldn't it, guv?"
#the saint#the smart detective#1965#itc#leslie charteris#michael cramoy#john llewellyn moxey#roger moore#brian worth#anne lawson#fabia drake#ivor dean#barry shawzin#martin miller#reg lye#larry taylor#dennis blake#ron welling#zero memory of this episode whatsoever. it began and i was pretty sure i was in for a carbon copy of 2.15 (The Benevolent Burglary) and#the two episodes do have very similar set ups‚ but happily this went in a slightly different direction. actually this was a surprisingly#good episode‚ which is why it's odd i don't remember it. the plot is old hat but the script is delightfully witty. between Worth's self#satisfied private detective (he convinces as a heel‚ less so as a martial arts expert) and Simon's utter disregard for him‚ there's a lot#of fun to be had (a good Simon ep all round; the moment Worth brags 'Watch this!' and Simon simply turns around and wanders away is#genuinely one of the character's greatest moments). elsewhere we have a superb scene stealing turn by Reg Lye as an inexplicably unhelpful#boat yard watchman (he doesn't want a bribe in the above quoted moment; he simply enjoys being difficult for the sake of it)#and Moore's old RADA teacher Fabia Drake pops up again to be fearless and fighty (although pity her one dreadul scene in which her#character unexpectedly reveals her archaic views on gender equality‚ the only real clanger in an otherwise inoffensive script)#the martial arts element feels very timely to 1965 (consider The Avengers and Mrs Peel's judo moves‚ and particularly the first Cybernauts#episode which also aired in 65). oh! and Claude! he's back‚ as are his peppermints‚ for the first time this series#and what a welcome return it is (nobody does withering impatience quite like Ivor Dean)
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The Saint: The Golden Frog (3.19, ITC, 1965)
"Any questions, Professor?"
"Yes, well, uh..."
"Go on."
"Well, I was wondering, I, I - I'm a businessman, General, I... wondered if there was something in it for me."
"Ohh... there's a lot in it for you, Professor. Quite a lot. Your life."
#the saint#the golden frog#1965#itc#leslie charteris#michael cramoy#john llewellyn moxey#roger moore#jacqueline ellis#hugh mcdermott#alan tilvern#walter brown#alex mccrindle#inia te wiata#alvaro fontana#barry shawzin#alan curtis#dino shafeek#frank singuineau#a curious ep that feels like two separate plots smashed together‚ either of which would usually have been enough to fill an#ordinary episode. Simon is in South America‚ aiming to help a friend recover the money he was conned out of by conning the conners#but also there's a coup in the offing and gunrunning going on. of the two plots‚ the former is much the more satisfying if only to see#Roger clearly having so much fun with the part: once again Simon adopts the Sebastian Toombs alias and a wavering accent‚ but here he seems#barely invested in the deception at all‚ allowing Moore to deliver a truly outrageous arch performance that's amongst his finest comic work#the coup element feels under developed tbh but Alan Curtis gets to be suitably sinister and throw a knife around so that's fun at least#also i have to say how refreshing it is‚ in a series that has routinely been guilty of racism‚ to have native characters who are actually#in on the con and whose apparent naivety is actually performed for money to entrap Simon; it feels almost meta (tho i hardly think#the series was capable of commenting that openly on its misuse of actors of colour).
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