THE SAINT MEETS THE TIGER is the second film RKO made in Britain with a British cast with Hugh Sinclair in the title-role. The plot is a familiar one: the Saint (Hugh Sinclair) travels down to Cornwall to uncover a smuggling plot involving in which one million pounds of gold will leave the country. What makes this thriller worth watching, however, is its incidental pleasures: although much of it is shot in the studio, with quite obviously phony backgrounds, there are occasional sequences shot on location in Cornwall, where we get an authentic impression of what British seaside life was like during the middle of World War II. There are some notable performances from Wylie Watson as Horace, the Saint's faithful butler with a penchant for listening to gangster thrillers on the radio. When he is drawn into the action he takes every opportunity to assume the tough-guy role, pointing his loaded pistol at the villains. The eponymous Tiger/ Tidemarsh (Clifford Evans) comes across as a very clever mastermind - on the one hand he is more than willing to look after Pat Holm (Jean Gillie) and ensure that she comes to no harm; on the other hand he shows his true nature while trying to deal with his gang. The members of said gang are cleverly delineated, ranging from crooked financier Lionel Bentley (Dennis Arundell), whose facial expressions seldom change, even when he is holding the Saint at gunpoint; to Bittle (Charles Victor), a tough-guy with an accent combining South African clipped vowels and a Chicago twang. Needless to say they are outwitted at the end, leaving the Saint to walk off into the sunset with Pat on his arm, but one has to admire their ambition.

The overwhelming reason why anyone would be anxious to catch "The Saint Meets the Tiger" is the bright, charismatic, lively and super lovely Jean Gillie. Here delightfully animated Gillie not only has a lead role that is right up her alley but a photographer in Australian-born Robert Krasker who really knew how to present her super-attractively. The rest of the players – including the rather dull Hugh Sinclair as "The Saint" – in this otherwise rather routine if reasonably pacey entry, don't make anything like the same impression – aside from Charles Victor who registers strongly in a very small role. The direction by the always competent Paul L. Stein would certainly win no awards here. As said, it's competent but routine, serviceable but unexciting. I'd normally give a movie like this one, a seven, but Miss Gillie turns into a top-drawer eight! Available (coupled with "The Saint's Vacation") on an excellent Warner Archive DVD.

When you deposit a body on Simon Templar's doorstep what else can you expect but that the Saint will get involved. But on which side of the law?In an opening that was taken from The Maltese Falcon when Captain Jacoby arrives on Sam Spade's door dying and with the falcon, Simon TEmplar has a similar experience and before long is involved in exposing a smuggling racket. He's got competition though, another master criminal called the Tiger, identity unknown, is also cutting himself in on the plans. We're not sure who's with who except that Scotland Yard has an undercover man as well.This is the second of two films that Hugh Sinclair starred in as Simon Templar over in Great Britain. This one's not as good as the first though Sinclair makes one breezy Saint. The story line is kind of muddled though that could be bad editing.For fans of the series only.

Altogether not too bad a Saint entry, the big problems being it was low budget and the annoying decomposition of the film when the '50's TV dupe was made. Unfortunately this can give you the feeling that by mistake you're watching Dick Barton, another (ultra) cheapo British sleuth series I like. I take it the original is lost? To make up for it they did their British best with some atmospheric sets, nice Templar repartee and a competent story.I haven't seen this film for over 20 years now or read Meet the Tiger for over 30 but it seemed familiar ie faithful to Charteris's first Saint story written in 1929. I can't remember Inspector Teal in it however but all of the stalwart British cast work well together in an effective potboiler. The incidence of a man murdered on the Saint's doorstep leads him and valet (Mr Memory from the 39 Steps) - and Teal - to a nest of savage gold smugglers in a quaint English seaside town. There's a pretty frank love interest and many twists and turns and multiple plot lines going on to keep you guessing how it will all turn out, although if you know your Saint you know the ultimate outcome with the opening titles. Hugh Sinclair was not my idea of Simon Templar - he was chunkily adequate - but at this distance I wish he'd gone on to make a dozen or so more I'd yet to see!So, imho well worth watching for fans and completists alike, especially if you can get over the bad condition of the print.