"The Saint" The Queen's Ransom (1966)

Director:

Roy Ward Baker

Writers:

Leigh Vance (screenplay)
Leslie Charteris (novels)

TV Series:

"The Saint" (1962)

Original Air Date:

30 September 1966 (Season 5, Episode 1)

Genre:

Action | Crime

Plot:

Whilst in Monte Carlo the Saint saves the life of Fallouda, the ex-king of Fedyra. Fallouda tells him...

Plot Keywords:

Camera Shot Of Feet | Foot Closeup | Female Bare Foot | Female Stockinged Foot | Playing Footsie

Cast

Roger Moore	...	Simon Templar
Dawn Addams	...	Queen Adana
George Pastell	...	King Fallouda
Nora Nicholson	...	Hortense
Catherine Feller	...	Michele
Stanley Meadows	...	Georges
Gary Hope	...	Major Aboukir
Patrick Westwood	...	Saleb
Peter Madden	...	Farid
Neville Becker	...	Mahmoud
John Woodvine	...	Pilot
Larry Taylor	...	Mustafa
John Forbes-Robertson	...	Claude
John Serret	...	Bank Manager (as Jean Serret)
Andre Charisse	...	First Gendarme (as Andre Charise)

Trivia:

This was the first televised episode of the series not based on any of the Leslie Charteris stories or novels. It was also the first color episode to be shown.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In the scene where Simon and Queen Adana stay at the country inn, the two gas pumps in front of the garage are lined up too close to the garage door opening. In another overhead shot (with Mustafa in frame), the pumps are not only misaligned but are positioned directly in front of the garage door opening, obviously giving away that they are in fact movable props.

A Candidate for best Saint episode

This episode will have you watching it over & over again on DVD. Tautly directed by Roy Baker("A Night to Remember" about the Titanic) this episode could've easily been turned into a feature film. Beautiful Dawn Addams is the female guest star this time as Queen Adana. She & Simon(Roger Moore) are on the run escorting valuable jewels back to her husband, a deposed king. She & Simon have a visual & verbal dual of wits as they fly, rail & steal cars around France all while trying to elude Arab despots. They make a comically interesting pair while repeatedly avoiding attempts on their lives. My absolute favorite line in the episode and perhaps in all television, comes from veteran actress Nora Nickelson who masquerades as a sweet old lady while actually being part of the Arab gang. She beautifully upstages Moore & Addams with her old lady sweetness. After nearly poisoning Simon & the Queen she is caught and Addams playfully asks Nora if she does crime often and Nora responds by saying: "My talent for intrigue almost exactly matches my contempt for politicians." Priceless bit of dialogue. All of the Saint episodes are decent, the ones that have been put on discs. One might ask why didn't A&E market the whole library from 1962-69 going in chronological order year by year. Makes sense to me. But this particular episode, Queen's Ransom, is a gem. You can't go wrong watching it.