Customer Reviews

The Saint - The Early Episodes, Set 2

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A&E doesn't list the episodes on the outside of the Set 2 box, or on their website, so here goes:

DISC ONE
The Fellow Traveler
Starring The Saint
Judith
Teresa

DISC TWO
The Elusive Ellshaw
Marcia
The Work Of Art
Iris

DISC THREE
The King Of The Beggars
The Rough Diamonds
The Saint Plays With Fire
The Well-Meaning Mayor

DISC FOUR
The Sporting Chance
The Bunco Artists
The Benevolent Burglary
The Wonderful War

If you love Roger Moore and appreciate The Saint then this DVD set a serious let down thanks to the lazy recording team.The sound is terrible it's almost annoying to listen through the amp or even without it.The menus are designed in a rather amaturist style where the whole plot is revealed while you play start as the chapters show the images.How could they be so careless.I bought series one from Amazon UK and it had much better sound and menus.

Also it would have been nice if some sort of running commentery or tributes to all the famous supporting stars of the Brithish cinema/tv.Most of these stars have appeared in some of the best films ever made.

The BW episodes are much better than the colour ones and also they have a better line up guest stars Oliver Reed, Julie Christie and Jackie Collins.The villians are also much more threatening here than latter episodes!!

One of the best episodes are 'The Saint plays with fire' and the weakest being the Sporting Chance. Most of the weak episodes directed by Jeremy Summers. He has no control over the charecters or the plot.

The early Saint episodes were some of the best television ever produced. I'm only sorry that The Saint-The Early Episodes, Set 1 and Set 2 cover just the first 28 of the seventy something black and white shows. Set 2 takes us only through episode 16 of the 27 that were made for season two.

Where oh where, is the rest of season two as well as seasons three, four and five!!!

In any case, if you like adventure, comedy, and/or mystery then you should quickly buy both of these early episode sets. You won't miss the lack of color and you won't be sorry!

I wouldn't have bought the 2nd set if I didn't like the first set. The fact is, I am an enormous fan of Roger Moore as The Saint and James Bond. I own all the episodes of The Saint that A&E has released on DVD. I will never tire viewing well written stories of suspense, good morals and excellent acting. I recommend The Saint - The early episodes, or any of the other episodes to anyone who enjoys viewing good old fashion television that was more about the story and acting than special effects fancy digital videoing.

Roger Moore is at his best as Simon Templar - aka The Saint. These episodes are period Brit TV at its best, running the gamut from quaint settings to world capitals. Moore is witty and urbane, and a lot of fun, with occasional asides to the audience. Video quality is good, bearing in mind this was shot a long time ago in black and white. The cars alone are worth the price of admission, with lots of scenes in Moore's white Volvo P1000.

This is really cool. I also reviewed the Set I collection and will just say the same thing for this set...I remember the old reruns on TV from when I was little, and recall enjoying them so I took a chance and bought this set. I do not regret it. Even these early episodes are very well-written, well-acted, and to my surprise the film quality is quite good. Sometimes with older TV shows you get iffy visual quality, but these are crystal clear. Moore is terrific as the Saint. It's also cool to see different parts of the world circa the early 1960's. Cool cars, cool furniture, everyone is well-dressed, and of course Moore is very classy. The thing that impressed me the most is the writing and the plots. I was afraid TV from this era might not age well, but they're not cheesy at all, and they really did age quite well. Still completely watchable today.

Roger Moore is an excellent choice for the Saint; and almost all the monochrome episodes have the inestimable advantage of being based on Leslie Charteris's stories, more or less loosely adapted -- although some are very loose indeed.

If you'd like to read the originals, here's where you can find them. Where the name of the episode is different from Charteris's title, the latter is in parentheses.

01 The Fellow Traveller -- #25: The Saint On Guard (The Sizzling Saboteur)
02 Starring the Saint -- #23: The Saint Goes West (Hollywood)
03 Judith -- #28: Saint Errant
04 Teresa -- #28: Saint Errant

05 The Elusive Ellshaw -- #14: The Saint Goes On
06 Marcia -- #17: The Ace of Knaves (The Beauty Specialist)
07 The Work of Art -- #17: The Ace of Knaves (The Spanish War)
08 Iris -- #28: Saint Errant

09 The King of the Beggars -- #27: Call for the Saint
10 The Rough Diamonds -- #25: The Saint On Guard (The Black Market)
11 The Saint Plays with Fire -- #19: Prelude for War/The Saint Plays With Fire
12 The Well-Meaning Mayor -- #21: The Happy Highwayman

13 The Sporting Chance -- #31: The Saint Around the World
14 The Bunco Artists -- #32: Thanks To The Saint
15 The Benevolent Burglary -- #21: The Happy Highwayman
16 The Wonderful War -- #05: Featuring the Saint

I would have given you links to all of them, but there's a maximum of ten per review :-(

P.S. For a list of -- and discussion of -- all Charteris's Saint books, see my So You'd Like To... Guide.

I love the early saint films in B/W. Every
fiture is all Roger More action at its
best. The DVD and Sound are great.

I have the first set of THe Saint and it is a great set. But, I think this set is even better. This set goes back to the beginning when the shows were based on the original stories. Very early, very good.

Truly a great set of shows!

The early episodes are the best ones. Great show especially for fans of Roger Moore or classic 60's spy/action shows. I would like to see a new set with all the B&W episodes released on region 1 DVDs.