The Saint with Vincent Price

The Saintliest of Them All

(5 stars)

Samskara

Leslie Charteris' character Simon Templar, The Saint, is one of the most durable creations in modern genre fiction. The hero of a series of novels and short stories, Simon has been portrayed in movies, two television series, comics books, comic strips, and had a mystery magazine as well. For those who know Simon best from the Roger Moore television series, or perhaps Val Kilmer's version in the most recent movie, it may be useful to go back to the roots of the character as Mr. Charteris created him. Perhaps the character was best summed up in the title "The Brighter Bucanneer". The real Saint was (and is) larger than life, swaggering and self confident. He had looks, wealth, and a clearly exaggerated sense of his own wit and abilities -- although his abilities were on a par with such comic book not-quite-super powered characters as BatMan and Captain America. In contrast to the Saint of the novels and stories, he has been portrayed most often as an almost run of the mill detective -- losing much of what made him unique. Roger Moore's Saint even drove a Volvo! These portrayals lacked the larger than life spirit that was The Saint. George Sanders, the best known movie Saint even seemed a bit melancholy. Of all the actors who played the role, only Mr. Price, with the voice of The Laughing Cavalier, was able to bring to life the true character that Mr. Charteris created. While the scripts have the same essential limitations as those of most radio mysteries, Mr. Price comes closer to offering the true Saint than any performer before or since. Again, this is radio, and the format doesn't allow The Saint to save the world, prevent wars, or defeat master criminals -- but it doesn't matter, because this Saint, with Vincent Price, is ther closest thing to the real Saint that you can hope to find.

The REAL Saint

(3 stars)

harron68

This portrayal is the closest to the real Price. He had great taste in art and food, but one person's admiration for high culture is another's dislike for a snob. Don't mistake me, it's a good, light-hearted series. It simply lacks much suspense with Vinny (he didn't mind the nickname) just too cool to be scared. I came to the character through the b&w TV series with suave Roger Moore, who seemed a better fit for charm and showing emotions. Price is a little stand-offish, simply too detached from the danger. Still, a good solid series for which I am grateful. Thanx.

@degemike

codefool

This is an archive, so it has duplicates and imperfect names. The reason there are duplicate shows is that this gives recordings of two separate broadcasts, so that it's possible to fix bad patches in one recording with good patches from another. If you have groomed these recordings, then you can upload them yourself and just note that it has been "groomed." I.e., "The Saint with Vincent Price (groomed)" Then, in your description, include the fact that you changed the names of the files and removed duplicates. In the case of duplicates, please choose the file with the better sound quality.

(4 stars)

Alan H.

An enjoyable lighter and slightly humorous twist on typical private investigator series but when you reach somewhere around the last third of the recording nearly every episode is duplicated so that you must skip every other episode. Then, when you reach the last 6.5hrs, or so, the background static becomes constantly intrusive. The two, combined, exceed my tolerance threshold, even when Vincent Price is involved. This still leaves a HUGE block of exceedingly enjoyable episodes, though.

Fakes! Who'd be daft enough to bother!

pegz

The last three recordings are actually from Radio 4 extra, and were first broadcast Christmas 2012/13. They have been doctored by mixing them with various snatches of other OTR programs in the background, and then the bitrate has been dropped and brought back up again in a rediculous attempt to make them sound old. 2 questions spring to mind. 1 - who would consider it worth doing such a stupid thing? and 2 - why do it so badly :~)

Great show although Vincent Price may have been miscast.

(3 stars)

Librarian_Craig

This is good radio show but it gives me mixed feelings. I am a fan of Vincent Price but I don't always like how he comes across in this series. I think he was going for suave and cavalier but sometimes he seems callous or even misogynistic. But the stories are interesting and the production values are excellent.

The Saint and Vincent Price

(3 stars)

JimboC

I wasn't sure what Vincent Price would be like as Simon Templar, but I have to say what a breath of fresh air it was to hear these wonderful stories. Price shows real genius and obvious joy in his performance. I have recommended this site to friends and family and know how much they will enjoy these classic shows.

One of my all time favorites

(5 stars)

Namakemono

The episodes with Vincent Price are great. The right mix of humor, detective work & sexual innuendo.