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As New York City's overrun by criminals and the police seems to be powerless against the legal system that almost grants crime kingpins to be pardoned, Valcross (Frederick Burton), member of the Citizens Committee, makes an eccentric suggestion to fight crime with crime and hire Robin Hood-like gentleman hoodlum Simon Templar a.k.a, The Saint (Louis Hayward) to take out all the figureheads of the crime scene. And after following the Saint's trail halfway round the globe, Valcross manages to persuade him, too. And the Saint is quick in bringing justice to the town by shooting dead one of the kingpins, Irbell (Leter Dorr), just when he was to shoot inspector Fernack (Jonathan Hale), the cop on his case - and Fernack and the Saint become fast friends as a result. Next in line's gambling bigshot Maury Yule (Anthony Warde), who actually manages to lure Templar into a trap - but Templar turns the trap on him by killing him with a concealed knife, getting away with the help of gangster moll Fay (Kay Sutton), and even manages to save a kidnapping victim (Shirley Coates) in the process. The next on the Saint's list is Hutch (Sig Ruman), whose men capture Templar though and Hutch sends them over to New Jersey to execute him - but he's saved in the nick of time by Fay, who confesses her undying love to him - and Templar's pretty fond of her as well. At her apartment, too, the Saint is able to kill Hutch in a shoot-out ... which leaves only one man on Templar's list, the legendary Big Fellow, the puppetmaster behind everything, but only one person knows his identity - and fortunately that person's Fay, who has helped him build up his criminal organisation but now has no qualms about bringing him down. So she promises to point him out in a crowd the very next day ... and the Big Fellow turns out to be - none other than Valcross, the very man who got Templar to New York in the first place. And in a shoot-out with Templar both he and Fay are killed, while escorted by inspector Fernack the Saint leaves the country for more adventures elsewhere ...

So ok, one central plotpoint of this movie, by the way the first on-screen appearance of Leslie Charteris literary character The Saint, does not make sense, and that's why is Valcross bringing in the titular character when he's on top of the very crime pyramid The Saint's to topple? The other question is why is Fay swayed to The Saint's point of view quite so effortlessly when she has helped build the very crime empire he's taking down? So if you're looking for a cleverly conceived and structured crime story, you better look somewhere else - that said though, The Saint in New York is not at all a bad film: So ok, it's a B-movie, and not only from today's point of view the editing feels a little creaky at times, but Louis Hayward handles his role with charm and the right daredevil attitude, the plot is fast paced and contains enough chases and shoot-outs to keep one engaged, and the dialogue is snappy enough to further the plot and entertain at the same time. Sure, it's no masterpiece by any definition of the word, but quite enjoyable genre fare still.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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