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The Saint - The Talented Husband
episode 1.1
UK 1962
produced by Robert S. Baker, Monty Berman for ITC/ITV
directed by Michael Truman
starring Roger Moore, Derek Farr, Shirley Eaton, Patricia Roc, George Roderick, Donald Churchill, Norman Mitchell, John Kelland, Howard Douglas, Clemence Bettany
screenplay by Jack Sanders, created by Leslie Charteris, music by Edwin Astley
TV-series The Saint, The Saint (Roger Moore)
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Ever since John Clarron (Derek Farr) has almost killed his wife Madge
(Patricia Roc) by accidently dropping a flower pot onto her, he does his
utmost to nurse her back to health - at least it seems so to her, behind
the scenes the picture looks a little differently, as Clarron asks the
local doctor (Donald Churchill) to visit less often, he refuses to employ
a nurse to help him take care of Madge, and even though he has a
housekeeper to run his errands, Madge never gets to see her and he never
even mentions her to Madge. This is all weird enough for Simon Templar to
make some inquiries, especially since Clarron's last two wives died under
mysterious circumstances. Now to Templar's delight, Clarron's new
neighbour Adrienne (Shirley Eaton) is not only very attractive, but she's
also an insurance agent investigating Madge's accident undercover, and
she's more than happy to invite Templar over for some assistance. And not
a moment too soon it seems, as Clarron's housekeeper is already buying rat
poison - and it doesn't take much imagination who it's for. Right about
then, it's revealed to the audience that Clarron actually only dresses up
as his housekeeper to have an alibi, as on the day he actually plans to
murder his wife, he leaves for London early, with Templar being a witness
of him entering the train, then though returns to his house as the
housekeeper, prepares some poisoned lunch for Madge as himself, leaves
home as the housekeeper again, again heads for London to have an actual
meeting as an alibi, then returns home to find his wife dead - or that was
the plan, as of course Templar has saved Madge, and has seen through
Clarron's dress-up, and of course ultimately Clarron gets his just
desserts. Given the fact that The Saint turned
out to be an immensely successful TV series running for 118 episodes until
1962 and being a decisive stepping stone on Roger Moore's way to
superstardom, this first episode is actually ... somewhat disappointing
really. Basically it's an over-constructed mystery that is a bit too far
fetched to feel true while getting its lead character into the story in a
very contrived way. That's not to say this is a bad episode as such, as
it's solidly structured, and some of the acting's really good actually,
it's just basically nothing to write home about.
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