The Saint's Double Trouble (1940)

Very Cool!!!

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Fourth film in the Saint series from RKO has George Sanders playing dual roles: Simon Templar and his evil doppelganger, Duke! The Saint has 48 hours to prove it was Duke and not he that committed a murder. Guess what? He'll only need 47. This is a good entry in the series with Sanders having fun playing bad. It's very amusing to hear him say things like "You mugs," even if he makes little effort to hide his accent. Bela Lugosi is also in this but, unfortunately, he's not given much to do. He's just an associate of the evil double. Still it's cool seeing Lugosi playing in a non-horror role with an actor you don't normally see him with. Pretty Helene Reynolds is the obligatory would-be love interest. The camera is in love with her. After being absent in the last film, Jonathan Hale returns as the likable police inspector frenemy of the Saint. The rest of the cast includes Donald MacBride, Byron Foulger, Thomas W. Ross, John F. Hamilton, and Elliott Sullivan. Those last two play the evil double's henchman. They have some funny lines.An enjoyable movie, mostly due to Sanders. The story isn't much to get excited about. It's never really explained why Saint has a double or what led Duke to know about him in the first place. Also, the Saint not seeming upset about the killing of the kindly old man who was a friend of his didn't sit right with me. Oh, and how cool is it that apparently back in the old days a guy could mail a mummy to another guy halfway around the world. And we think we have progress!

I generally enjoy watching these old films with George Sanders because he was such a super-smoothie that one never tires of seeing him glide through a film with the effortless ease of a champion ice skater, carrying the very concept of urbanity to undreamt-of extremes. But sometimes the stories are just too silly! Of all the 'Saint' series where he plays Simon Templar the detective (the character invented by Leslie Charteris), this must be the weakest and most pathetic. (It is the fourth in a series of nine.) No efforts whatsoever were made to make the film even remotely believable, and the age level of the viewer must have been calculated to be about six, since after that even a child would refuse to believe this ludicrous story. Essentially, we are meant to believe that George Sanders has a lookalike (hence the 'double trouble' of the title, i.e., he has a double and that is trouble). The only difference between them is that they wear different suits. Otherwise they look and talk exactly alike. And there is not even the pretext that they are related. One is good and one is bad. Well, it's as simple as that really. It is sad to see Bela Lugosi here relegated to the status of a bit player. The pretty girl in the film is 23 year-old Helene Whitney, in one of only two credited roles which she played in films; she retired the same year, married, or died, one doesn't know which. What happens to people who disappear from the screen? Do they go to some celluloid paradise? If so, they will leave this silly film behind, that's for sure.

I'm seeing some complaints about this movie that I don't think are warranted. Plenty of movies use the "exact double" angle...most don't pull it off very well. I think that this one did.Sanders delivers a subtle performance as the Saint's double; then, as the Saint, he lets the personality of the Saint out. It is very effective. The movie doesn't have the clichés one tends to see in this type of movie. Sanders not only outsmarts the bad guy, but he gets his revenge as well.Bela Lugosi is in this movie. Unfortunately, his role could've been played by any competent actor.This is a short, fun little movie. If you've got an hour and are in the mood for an enjoyable black and white, with a suave hero and a few thrills, this is your movie...

Snappy mystery with perhaps a far-fetched premise but George Sanders at his suave and wry best. George Sanders is ahead of the police all of the way and he again manipulates them into succeeded despite their best efforts. The Saint, remarks Professor Horatio Bitts, "has never been convicted of a crime, has he?" OK, perhaps it is a bit much that we all have a double that so resembles us that even our most close confidants would not recognize us. OK, so from time to time it is difficult to tell on a black on white screen whether George is playing the Saint or his look-alike jewel thief "Boss Duke Bates." OK, so what does the "ST" ring really have to do with anything and which character had it in his possession? But consider that in this entry into the series, we have George Sanders cross-dressing and leaping fearlessly on the back of moving vehicles from which he is poised to save a damsel in distress! Not the greatest film, but certainly not the worst of the Saint lot if you include the group done with Sanders brother. The Saint's Double Trouble is better than most of the one hour produced for TV mysteries that we are subjected to today. Jonathan Hale is perfect as Inspector Fernack and Donald MacBride does yeoman service as the Philadelphia police chief of detectives. Bela Lugosi must have needed the work. One of two of Helene Whitney's credited films. Her most memorable line is the closing line of the film: "Long live the Saint."