Customer Reviews

Saint Goes West

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

 

 

The book contains three stories , all dealing with the Saint's adventures in the West.The best is the first one where the Saint stops a gang of Nazis from mining Uranium in a ranch.The other two stories will also appeal to any reader.

Published in 1942, this is the first of the wartime Saint books, and (to judge by a couple of tongue-in-check references) the first one on which American censorship clamped its clammy fingers, eliminating all the immoral activities that made the previous Saint books such fun. It's also the first one in which Charteris appears to have been paid for product placement of various alcoholic drinks.

There are three novellas:

In ARIZONA, the Saint foils an attempt by the Nazi-American Bund to take over a mineral-rich ranch. There are intriguing hints that Charteris knew of the Manhattan project, since the Saint says:

"[O]ne day thousands of men will be killed will be killed and cities will be blasted with what there is on this ranch."

The mineral concerned is later (sensibly) stated to be cinnabar; but cinnabar is not found in quantity in Arizona, and pitchblende is.

In PALM SPRINGS, the Saint bodyguards a spoiled playboy who has received a threat on his life.

In HOLLYWOOD the Saint solves the murder of an obnoxious film producer, commenting:

"I feel rather satisified about Ufferlitz getting killed... Once upon a time, before the Hays Office got hold of me, I might easily have killed him myself."

These last two stories do not sit well in wartime scenario, and, after the first one, lead one to wonder what on Earth the Saint can have been thinking of.

All three stories are rather dull by earlier standards.

Debonair adventurer Simon Templar aka The Saint, is on a tour of the American West. His first stop is a ranch in Arizona where he rescues a lovely damsel from being swindled (or worse) from a gang of Nazis - yes Nazis the story was originally published more than fifty years ago. His next stop is Palm Springs where he joins a most unusual household as a bodyguard and finally takes a trip to Tinseltown and takes a whirl at the movie business.

Like many babyboomers I would sit in front of the tv, eagerly awaiting for the lilting tune that would signal the arrival of The Saint. Each week he would whisk me away to yet another exotic location where he would dispense his own particular brand of justice to another villain. Before my time others had eagerly awaited the latest Saint story to appear in their favorite magazine, or perhaps a new movie adventure at the local theater. This collection of vintage Saint stories will appeal to those of us who have these fond memories, who will recognize some of the outdated "current" references and will not be puzzled by a culture that has long ago passed away. Anyone who is unfamiliar with The Saint and his exploits will probably be unimpressed by this collection - their loss.