Hayward does cut a dashing figure with an easy smile, a penchant for poetical one-liners, and a snap-brim fedora. His version of the Saint is also more interesting than the standard sleuth of the period since he's not above breaking the law when it serves justice or following his own code of integrity. Too bad this kind of character complexity didn't survive the many sequels.The story itself is pretty routine: cleaning up the city by getting the mysterious Big Fellow. Not much excitement or suspense as the one-man-army sort of bounces back and forth between bad guys, snapping off occasional nifty one-liners. Then there's the sexy Kay Sutton to ease the eyes after all the ugly bad guys. And though her delivery sometimes sounds a flat note, she and Hayward manage to make their boilerplate romance surprisingly wistful.Anyway, I've got to say this about someone, and I think it's director Ben Holmes. How many of these programmers have you seen where somebody gets shot in one scene, yet turns up miraculously made whole in the next. Not here. The Saint gets wounded in one scene and, by golly, he favors that shoulder for the rest of the film. So an unofficial Oscar for Attention to Neglected Detail to Ben Holmes by default since such matters are usually the job of the director. Then too, on a slightly different note, I hope cable comes up with Holmes' intriguingly titled Cutie on Duty (1943) sometime real soon.

The first film adaption of Leslie Charteris's hero Simon Templar, aka The Saint finds The Saint In New York taking on the job of cleaning out organized crime in the big apple. As if Thomas E. Dewey wasn't doing enough around that time.But I doubt Dewey would condone The Saint's methods. He's been put on retainer by an elite group of civic leaders concerned about rising crime rate. What they get is little more than a contract killer, albeit a charming one.Louis Hayward plays The Saint and then left the role to return to it for one more go in the Fifties. I wish he had done a few more episodes in this film series.What The Saint's been hired to do is eliminate one way or another a gang of six that control all the crime in New York City worth controlling. There's a seventh involved, but nobody knows who he is, he's an almost mythical figure known as the Big Fellow.Given this is a B film with a limited cast there's not too much suspense involved and it's rather obvious who the mastermind is. Still this Saint film gets by on the considerable charm of Louis Hayward and it's easy to take.

While the movie lacks the charm and sophistication of George Sanders (who most associate with the leading role), it makes up for it in a big way by being so very different. Instead of a crime fighter who always wraps everything together neatly for the police by the end of the film, this version of the Saint just kills the bad guys or gets them to kill each other!! I really liked this, as the typical role played by Boston Blackie, the Falcon or Charlie Chan is way too predictable--they NEVER would plug a bad guy who isn't even resisting arrest or making an attempt on the hero's life! Here, we find a supremely practical crime fighter who doesn't bother with courts and evidence! In many ways, it's like taking a movie such as THE STAR CHAMBER or MAGNUM FORCE and fusing it with a traditional 1930s and 40s B-detective film. Simon Templer's methods are sure a lot more practical and fun to watch than other crime fighters! Apart from the way he dispatches criminals, the film is a rather standard film about bad guys and a mystery--in this case WHO is responsible for leading a crime syndicate in New York City. Generally good pacing (though it DOES sag a bit in the middle), decent but not so sophisticated acting and a good script all work together to make one of the best examples of the genre. This is an excellent film for all--particularly lovers of old B-movies.

With crime rife in New York due to gangs and a small group of men in particular, Inspector Fernack makes the decision to bring in Simon Templar aka "The Saint" to help. The Saint is known as someone able to bring down criminal organisations but has gained notoriety due to the criminal methods he uses to do so. Dispatching one of the men with a clinical kill very early on, Templar quickly uncovers the existence of a character known as the "Big Fellow" – clearly a top man behind the gangs. Moving steadily into more and more danger he tries to reach and remove the Big Fellow to cut the head off the snake.I'm not sure why this film was apparently banned in Sweden on its release but I would hazard a guess that it had something to do with the marvellous anti-hero qualities that Templar is given in this film. The plot could have been straight out of any crime b-movie as it essentially involves bringing "justice" to New York by taking down a major crime syndicate; however in many other films from the 1930's the hero would have been a cop trying to get a conviction and, if he killed anyone it would have been by necessity rather than choice. However with this film we have a character who kills by choice and is as much a killer as he is a bringer of justice. This dark edge makes the film more interesting than the standard plot suggests it should be and I was quite taken in by it even if the quest for the "Big Fellow" wasn't really delivered with any tension or mystery (which was a bit of a shame, although it did enough to keep me guessing and watching).The real feather in the cap is Louis Hayward who plays it with the perfect mix of the suave and the psychotic. He is convincing as a bit of a smooth character but, more importantly, he convinced me as a cold-blooded killer and I enjoyed the dark feel he brought to the film. Outside of his though the performances are either just OK or wooden but nothing better; they more or less do the job but I could help feel that Hayward deserved more than the very basic caricatures of cops and criminals.Overall though this is a tough and enjoyable b-movie that features an enjoyably dark anti-hero. Later films in the series (well, the next one in fact) would quickly lose touch with this dark, cruel character and tone it down to be nonexistent but here it is in full effect and it makes a standard (if engaging) plot much better than it deserved to be.