The Saint’s Double Trouble *** (1940, George Sanders, Helene Reynolds, Jonathan Hale, Bela Lugosi, Donald MacBride, John F Hamilton) – Classic Movie Review 3223

Director Jack Hively’s 1940 crime thriller The Saint’s Double Trouble is the fourth episode of the RKO Pictures The Saint series, and the third for George Sanders as Simon Templar, aka The Saint, all entirely made in their studio in less than four weeks.

The admirable George Sanders seems to be clearly enjoying himself as he gets to play twin roles when Simon Templar discovers that the jewel thief he is after is his exact double, ruthless gang leader Duke Bates, known as The Boss. When Duke Bates is spotted smuggling diamonds into the US, Templar is blamed for the crime, and when bodies start piling up, Templar is blamed for those crimes too.

Jonathan Hale returns as holidaying NYPD Inspector Henry Fernack, brought into the case by Deputy Chief John Bohlen (Donald MacBride), and is the other star of the show, and horror star Bela Lugosi is a welcome cast member as the villain’s assistant or henchman, The Partner.

Jack Hively brings lively direction to this entertaining series entry with a view to humour (thankfully less broad than usual) as well as suspense, and, with a screenplay by Ben Holmes, black and white cinematography by J Roy Hunt and score by Roy Webb, it scores well in other departments too.

It is the first film in the series to not be based directly on one of the original Saint novels, though author Leslie Charteris did contribute to developing the story, and Ben Holmes’s screenplay is billed on screen as being from the story by Leslie Charteris. Unfortunately, there are a lot of puzzling loose ends among the script’s good ideas, and some roles are poorly developed, especially the heroine’s and Lugosi’s.

Also in the cast are Helene Reynolds (billed as Helene Whitney) as the heroine and love interest Anne Bitts, Thomas W Ross as her father Professor Horatio Bitts of Philadelphia’s Keystone University, Stanley Blystone as Detective Sadler, John F Hamilton as villain Limpy, Byron Foulger as Ephraim Byrd, William Haade as Helm Van Roon aka The Dutchman, Ralph Dunn as the Police Sergeant, Elliott Sullivan as Monk and Pat O’Malley as the Express Man.

It starts promisingly in Cairo, where The Partner discovers that The Saint has arranged to send a rare mummy of a pharaoh to Philadelphia to his friend, Keystone University archaeology professor Horatio Bitts, whose beautiful daughter Anne he has previously encountered. The Saint then mysteriously appears in their house. Unfortunately, soon the mummy and The Partner are loose ends.

Nevertheless, after much confusion involving the two George Sanders, who are pretty much alike except they wear different suits and the real one has a posher accent, the pace quickens up around half way, and the film climaxes in exciting style, with Templar escaping from a sinking speedboat and working out a devillish death for the lookalike villain. Sanders is a big, chunky man, but he is surprisingly fit and nimble in the film’s several action scenes.

It follows The Saint in London (1939) and is followed by The Saint Takes Over (1940).

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 3223

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