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After a test that almost costs Simon Templar a.k.a. The Saint (Ian Ogilvy) his life, Buckingham (Moray Watson) of MI5 sends him and a team of three - Dame Edith (Mona Bruce), her second in command Wilcox (Maurice Roëves) and hitman Algemon (Richard Wyler) - to Albania to free counter terrorist expert Selma Morell (Judy Geeson), who has fallen into the hands of the communists. Now the other three are only to bring him to the Albanian coast by boat, once on land, Templar's to team up with local agents Vlora (Olga Karlatos) and Noli (Carlos de Carvalho), and the three of them soon make up a plan to spring Selma from the fortress she's held at, enter the place by service truck and then ... pretty much wing it - which proves to be incredibly easy, as the guards guarding her seem to be completely incompetent. But once she's sprung, Selma's pretty unhappy she's been saved as she claims she's defected on her own free will - and during their escape she ultimately lures Templar into a trap - only to later make good another escape attempt. But when almost to safety she begs Templar to leave her behind as she tries to infiltrates the Albanians as a double agent, and that she didn't let Templar save her is just the last piece in the puzzle she needed to convince them she's really on their side. So rather empty handed, Templar walks into a trap set up by Wilcox, who's actually working for the Albanians - but in the end, everything ends happily for Simon Templar of course ...

The first episode of Return of the Saint is of course somewhat charming seeing from a nostalgic point of view, but what's somewhat disappointing is that it does less play like a The Saint and more like a James Bond story, what's with its exotic locale and espionage and counter espionage angle. And Ian Ogilvy while is charming enough to fill the role, the character (at least in this episode) is left completely bland, an apparently infallible hero with no backstory let alone and depth. Of course, at least there's plenty of action in this one, and it's competently but together by Jeremy Summers, a movie and TV veteran who has also directed several of the Roger Moore Saints, there's just not much beyond the mere surface here.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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