Tonight's Wild Wednesday encounter is from the 1962 TV show titled "The Saint."
"The Talented Husband" was the first show from the first season, and was a story of a man who was a better actor in real life than he was on stage.
Here's one of those quirky deals! I never was a big fan of Roger Moore as 007. For me, there was just no replacing Sean Connery, but at the same time, I have to say, that I don't think I ever saw an episode of "The Saint." Let's see, what the Hell was I doing back in 1962?
I was busy, and "The Saint" was a little too intelligent and mature for me, but after watching this first episode, I have to say that I have a lot more appreciation for Roger Moore as James Bond now, and I do finally believe he was the rightful heir to the throne!!
This happy couple was Derek Farr as the unscrupulous John (The Projected Man) Clarron, and his wife, the one who has all the money in the family, Patricia (The Phantom Strikes) Roc, as Madge Clarron, in her last role.
John Clarron is not that nice of a guy, and 'accidentally' pushes this large vase onto his unsuspecting wife, and almost kills her. He feels SO bad about it!
The Doctor wants to drop by every day, but John tells him that he thinks he only needs to cone around every six weeks or so because Madge is doing so good!
In the meantime, John and Madge have a new neighbor move in, and what a lucky guy John is, at least he thinks so. The neighbor is Adrienne Halberd as played by God's gift to the world,
Shirley (The Golden Girl) Eaton!
If you didn't know John was playing his wife for a fool because he IS a very talented actor, then it becomes very evident when he tells Madge he doesn't know if Adrienne is attractive or not, because he's only seen her from a distance!
Then suddenly, a new housekeeper shows up, a Mrs. Jafferty, who everybody thinks he helping out with Madge, everybody but Madge that is, since she's never seen her or knows that she exists!
The best product placement ever, the Volvo Corporation supplied all the P1800's for Simon Templar to cruise around in!
Adrienne is more than just a pretty new neighbor, she is also an insurance investigator snooping around because John's two other wife's both died mysteriously leaving him large sums of money!
Simon Templar is there because he's a friend of the family to Madge. As it turns out, Simon and Adrienne aren't strangers to each other either!
Shirley Eaton is 82 these days!
It's pretty interesting to me that she worked with both Sean Connery as James Bond, and Roger Moore, not as James Bond!
Intermission time!
Simon smells a rat!
Maybe it's because John is busily making up a rat poison fondue for Madge!
John slips out of town as Mrs. Rafferty, and when he get back home, he is totally shocked and surprised to find his wife dead!
The Saint is less surprised since John forgot to completely dispose of the rat poison!
"The Saint" was on for six seasons from 1962 to 1969!
It appears I've got a lot of catching up to do, especially since the episode I intended to watch was the one with Barbara Bates in it called "The Loaded Tourist," so there's something for us both to look forward to!
Moore, Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig were all able to play Bond successfully, but no one besides Moore ever really made much of an impression as The Saint.
ReplyDeleteThe 1940s "B" movie series with George Sanders, the radio series with Vincent Price, a short-lived 1970s TV series with Ian Ogilvy, a couple of made-for-TV movies with Simon Dutton in the early 1980s, and a movie with Val Kilmer, are all almost forgotten today.
Lois Maxwell appeared in one episode of The Saint, and in one of The Persuaders. So she worked with both Connery and Moore in Bond movies, and with Moore when he played other cool action heroes.
Nice packet of information! Thanks A!
ReplyDeleteI'm a lifelong fan of The Saint, having watched it since it first aired here in Australia in the mid 60s. I have the complete series (multiple times) on various DVD collections put out here in Australia and also in the U.K.
ReplyDeleteYou should check out the two slightly "sci-fi" episodes which were "The Convenient Monster" and "The House on Dragon's Rock" (the latter being the more sci-fi of the two).
cheers!
Paul
Thanx Paul! We've got so much to wade through, it's always nice to get suggestions from knowledgeable people! I'll add those episodes to my viewing schedule. Thanks again pal,
ReplyDeleteLove me some 1960s crisp, sharp, and contrasty black and white TV stuff! Too bad the first season of STAR TREK wasn't black and white too!
ReplyDeleteI found out after we made "The Creep" that a lot of young people just won't watch black and white movies, and it's really a shame in my opinion!
ReplyDeleteThese kids got no class or sense of film-as-art! Color *may* be "prettier," but shooting black and white is ARTFILM imagery! Hitchcock's best and most popular film = PSYCHO! Welles' best and most popular film = CITIZEN KANE! The best and most popular '50s sci-fi film = DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL!
ReplyDelete'Nuff said! ;)
PS: Gene Roddenberry, when he showed the original STAR TREK pilot at the 1972 Detroit Triple Fan Fair convention, had a B&W work print, and forever I will see STAR TREK's best hour as being B&W, if only in my mind!!!
(Further evidence for B&W: TWILIGHT ZONE = B&W, OUTER LIMITS = B&W, etc etc etc.)
Couldn't agree more! Also all the Film Noir movies wouldn't be the same in color either!
ReplyDeleteExcuse my ranting, but sometimes I just get pissy when I see/hear a decline in the appreciation of the art of film. (In all honesty though, to me all film is art, meaning anything on film that is intentionally created by the mind and hands of someone as self-expression is art. Just as I believe that there is NO SUCH THING as a "bad" film, other than a wholly subjective perception of a film as such: there are no bad films, only ones we as individuals DON'T LIKE.
ReplyDelete(Sorry EEGAH, for my very opinionated rant!) ;)
COLOR Film Noir? Bwahahahaaa! Nope, no such animal! :)
ReplyDeleteNo Problem KD, You can rant here any time you want to!
ReplyDeleteThe Saint was in 1962, not 1952. Small detain as it makes Shirley Eaton 10 years OLDER in her Bond role.
ReplyDeleteI discovered this series backwards as I became a fan of the OTR show with Vincent Price. IT was years later that I discovered the TV series. I agree with you, it does show off more of Roger Moore's abilities than his Bond run.
Thanks for the correction Lace. I had it right in the heading, just not in that first line. I've been making a lot of mistakes lately. Chalk it up to old age, I guess!
ReplyDelete