The Saint's Blog devoted to news and rumors about The Saint and Leslie Charteris. Simon Templar, alias The Saint, was played by Roger Moore in the 1960's TV show featuring the Volvo 1800.
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Here's some truly disappointing news to start off the week. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Barry Levinson-directed revival of The Saint, which was set to star the perfectly-cast James Purefoy as Simon Templar, "didn't go forward." Apparently Purefoy is instead opting to star in a different show with a very similar premise, The Philanthropist. (It really could have been an ITC title in the late Sixties; I'm surprised they didn't think of it!) Says the trade, "Philanthropist centers on a renegade billionaire (Purefoy) who uses his wealth, connections and power to help people in need no matter the risks or costs." That's pretty much what Simon Templar does, the only real difference being that his wealth is ill-gained. The Reporter ends its report on The Philanthropist with this brief statement on The Saint: "Earlier this year, CAA-repped Purefoy was attached to The Saint, an independently produced two-hour backdoor pilot with Levinson on board to direct, but the project didn't go forward."
"Didn't go forward?" So what does that mean? Is the project dead? Will it still go forward in the future, but with another star? All LeslieCharteris.com (the premier site for Saintly information) can add at this point is that shooting on the pilot has been delayed until "at least August" because of a possible actors' strike. (Such a strike seems very unlikely at this point.)
Muddying the waters further is how incestuous this whole Saint/Purefoy/Philanthropist triangle really is. The original producers on The Philanthropist were Levinson and Tom Fontana, both of whom were also on The Saint! They've now been replaced, however, by Battlestar Gallactica and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys producer David Eick. So were Levinson and Fontana really developing such similar projects simultaneously? Or did The Saint somehow morph into The Philanthropist? That seems an unlikely scenario, given that the trade states The Philanthropist got a 13-episode order from NBC nearly a year ago. More likely, the shows aren't really as similar as they sound in loglines.
Whatever the tangled web behind the scenes, this story saddens me. As I was just saying earlier this month, I was really looking forward to this newest incarnation of The Saint--and primarily because of Purefoy's involvement. I hope that the matter is not yet said and done, and that we still might somehow see a James Purefoy Saint series sooner or later.
James Purefoy circles NBC series Network execs had been courting 'Rome' star By Nellie Andreeva July 21, 2008, 01:00 AM ET
NBC is closing in on its "Philanthropist," with Brit James Purefoy in negotiations to play the lead in the midseason drama series.
"Philanthropist," from UMS, centers on a renegade billionaire (Purefoy) who uses his wealth, connections and power to help people in need no matter the risks or costs.
NBC brass had courted Purefoy for some time, including flying the "Rome" star from the U.K. to Los Angeles for a meeting.
The casting of the lead comes nearly a year after NBC gave the project a 13-episode series order and three months after the network put it on its 2008-09 schedule.
It also follows the recent change at the helm of "Philanthropist," with David Eick taking over following the departure of original writer/executive producer Tom Fontana and exec producer Barry Levinson.
Peter Horton is set to direct the pilot for the series, which is slated to premiere in the Monday 10 p.m. slot in midseason.
Earlier this year, Purefoy, repped by CAA and Brillstein Entertainment Partners, was attached to "The Saint," an independently produced two-hour backdoor pilot with Levinson on board to direct, but the project didn't go forward.
Filming in Detroit on the $10 million television pilot “The Saint” has been delayed until at least August because of a possible actors strike, the show’s producer said.
“We’re just now awaiting some word on the disposition of the Screen Actors Guild negotiations and then will proceed most likely in mid or late August,” Bill Macdonald, senior producer at Saint Productions Inc. said in an e-mail to Crain’s Detroit Business.
The two-hour television pilot, a remake of a 1960s British mystery-spy thriller television series, was supposed to film in Detroit in May and June.
Talks between Hollywood studios and television networks and the 120,000-member Screen Actors Guild broke off Monday, hours before the union’s deal expired with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers. The dispute centers on new media and DVD payments for actors. No strike vote has been taken.
The pilot, originally meant for the TNT network, is being independently produced and shopped around.
Filming was earmarked for Detroit to take advantage of the state’s new 42 percent rebate, which pays back 42 cents on every dollar spent in the state on approved productions.
Darryn Welch, CEO and producer of Berlin-based production and financing company Instinctive Film, which is also involved in “The Saint” pilot, declined comment. A call to Nehst Studios in New York City, another production and film finance company, was not returned.
Grace & Wild HD Studios in Farmington Hills was bidding against Hollywood on the film processing work for pilot. Such work typically costs $120,000 to $150,000, Ginny Hart, vice president of sales at Grace & Wild, previously told Crain’s. The studio has the state’s only film lab.
Hart couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday. It’s unclear if the studio won the film processing job.
“James Bond” actor Roger Moore played the lead character, Simon Templar, in the 1960s British television series and is among the producers involved in the remake. A 1997 feature film of the same name starred Val Kilmer.
The new proposed series is set to star British actor James Purefoy, probably best known for his role as Mark Antony in HBO’s “Rome.”
Macdonald and writer Jorge Zamacona aligned with Moore and his son, Geoffrey, in 2004 to form Templar Entertainment Group, aimed at getting a new “Saint” series on television, according to the Web site and blog www.saint.org, which is devoted to the show, movies and novels by “Saint” creator Leslie Charteris.
Lots of comments and thoughts are coming in on the recent posting with details of the plot synopsis of the upcoming James Purefoy TV show of The Saint. Let us all know what you think! Speak Up!
It's really a homicidal saintly reunion. Jay Tobias is production manager on The Saint. His resume includes stints as director on Homicide: Life on the Street, first assistant director on Spenser: For Hire, first assistant director on Law & Order SVU and location manager on Porkys II. Ah well, we all have to start somewhere...
Irene Burns is post-production manager on The Saint. Her resume includes stints as post production supervisor on Oz and a long stint in the same role on Homicide: Life on the Street.
Jim Finnerty is line producer on The Saint. He was coexecutive producer and unit production manager on Homicide: Life on the Street.
And don't forget three of the principal producers, Jorge Zamacona, Barry Levinson and Tom Fontana also worked on Homicide.
So Leslie Charteris' 100th birthday came and went without too much fanfare. Now, on the occasion of Ian Fleming's 100th birthday, in an attempt to bring James Bond back to his roots, The Fleming Estate has commissioned Devil May Care, a new 007 adventure by literary novelist Sebastian Faulks "writing as Ian Fleming."
This new James Bond novel was published on Wednesday, the 100th anniversary of the birth of his creator, Ian Fleming, and as befits the British fictional superspy, the plot was kept top secret -- although its publisher said it is a return to the original Bond, after so many adaptations of the character on film.
"Devil May Care" was penned by the award-winning British novelist Sebastian Faulks at the request of the late author's family.
"The new novel is in the spirit of the original and very funny," said Faulks, whose favorite screen Bond was Sean Connery.
Faulks reportedly read many of the early Fleming novels in order to capture the spirit of James Bond, and write in the same manner and style as the original books. Early reports are that he has done just that, and we hope that the same treatment is given to The Saint!
Devil May Care is available in all these versions:
The official website of Leslie Charteris (www.lesliecharteris.com) tells us that The Saint was represented at Cannes recently by Arsenal Pictures -- who had some rather nice teaser artwork and the following synopsis to promote the upcoming TV show starring James Purefoy:
Simon Templar is part of a secret organization known as 'Knights of the Templar'. He's responsible for enforcing the group's code of ethics against the criminal underground of the world. Those familiar with 'Knights' know Simon Templar by one name: The Saint. His current assignment has him in Montenegro, rescuing captive children from being sold on the black market. When the operation is finished, Templar discovers that one of the children is missing. An orphan once himself, he vows to rescue the lost boy, no matter what the cost. Waiting for him in Paris is Patricia Holm, an intelligence specialist and Templar's lover. She has information that a crooked businessman named Carger is responsible for the children's abductions; however, the Knights learn that Carger is now into much bigger things. The Saint is ordered to find Carger and steal a treasured relic that, if made public, could ignite a spectacular holy war. When he discovers Carger has also been keeping the missing orphan as his own son, Templar must decide between his own personal convictions and his duties as The Saint.
We are very hopeful that The Saint will be available on Amazon Unboxed, iTunes, and other various online viewing services. In April, Media Guardian reported that ITV plans "to make a range of classic programmes" available through iTunes at prices from £1.89 per episode, and scheduled for later this year is The Saint. Presumably the Roger Moore version, but we'll see.
In the meantime, we can still watch Sherlock Holmes!
Well, we thought that headline would get your attention. Okay, so the real point of this story is that James Purefoy was at the Sex in the City movie premiere looking very much like Simon Templar in a tuxedo. Does he look like The Saint now?
"Sex and the City," the movie, premiered in London Monday night, May 14th, it opens in America on May 30.
James Purefoy will play The Saint in a new TV pilot that is in the works for 2008.
The Saint, starring Simon Dutton is finally coming to DVD. The 1989 Saint series has never been available on DVD before, and Unbrella will be publishing all six episodes in Region 2 format.
THE SAINT - WITH SIMON DUTTON 1989 TV 566 Mins - TBC RRP: AUS $39.99
Suave, chivalrous & Utterly Heroic!
In 1989 the cult British spy series, The Saint, was again welcomed back to TV in six feature-length episodes staring Simon Dutton as Simon Templar-aka The Saint. In a role immortalised by Roger Moore in the 60s, Dutton plays the suave, debonair super sleuth who is adored by women, feared by his adversaries and remains a constant thorn in the side of police forces everywhere.
An Australian/British co-production from 1989, this was the final remake of the cult British spy series originally starring Roger Moore - Ian Ogilvy starred in the 70s vehicle, The Return of the Saint. The entire series on 3 Discs - six, 2 hour movie versions of the hugely popular British TV series
Well, we've recently found out where The Saint's Jaguar XJ-S from The Return of the Saint ended up. Now this begs the question, where is The Saint's BMW motorcycle, ST2?
Ian Ogilvy, who played Simon Templar in The Return of The Saint, was responsible for this addition to The Saint's collection of vehicles. Ogilvy http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifowned his first motorcycle at the age of sixteen, and has been a avid enthusiast ever since. Ogilvy was quoted in 1978 as saying, "It was my idea that Simon Templar should have a motorcycle as well as a car. After all, there are times when it can be more useful for him than a car. And with with all the appeals for people to cut down on petrol consumption, it's now completely acceptable."
Well, Ogilvy was quite pleased when Executive Producer Robert S. Baker agreed and delivered the newest and fastest 1,000cc BMW available.
So, what happened to the BMW? We think it was a model year 1977 BMW R100RS painted in Silver Blue Code 530. Perhaps Ogilvy ended up with it, as the word is that one of the reasons he suggested a motorcycle is that he had just recently sold his own and needed a new one!
We have an update on the actual XJ-S that Jaguar supplied to the Return of the Saint television series. It is alive and well, and roaming the British countryside.
Here are a few more notes from the current owner:
No, the car is not for sale at this time. He has thought about it from time to time, and at this point wants to keep it.
The car was featured in Classic Cars magazine sometime around 2003/2004, with photos taken outside The Saint's house in Eaton Mews.
The car has not been shown in public for a long time, and there are some plans shaping up for a few UK car shows in 2008.
The car is owned by a private individual, so make the most of any public showings.
The condition is mechanically sound, with the full restoration still in process. The car needs a bit more daily driving to identify any flaws in the drive-train.
It will be repainted at some point to get a better finish on it -- the car wants stripping to bare metal and repainting.
The interior is in excellent condition and will be kept original.
The Saint's Jaguar is quicker than most old XJS's and hit 133mph on a private track recently with more to offer. It handles well and doesn't roll as much as normal XJS's.
It has a little Saint stickman on the bonnet that obviously wasn't in the series. People do stop and ask about the car.
The car came with a big info folder with pics/receipts for work done etc and a certificate from Jaguar confirming it was the main car used.
Check out The Saint's Jaguar page for further updated information and some new pictures from 2008.
Today, May 12th, would have been Leslie Charteris' 101st birthday. Charteris was born in Singapore on May 12, 1907 as Leslie Charles Bowyer Yin.
Charteris was born to a Chinese father and an English mother. His father was a physician who claimed to be able to trace his lineage back to the emperors of the Shang Dynasty. Charteris became interested in writing at an early age, at one point creating his own magazine with articles, short stories, poetry, editorials, serials, and even a comic strip.
2008 is shaping up to be a great year for Leslie Charteris. Eighty years ago Charteris wrote and published the first of many stories about Simon Templar, alias The Saint. The Saint has appeared in various media, and it seems that this 80th anniversary of his creation is the one that people are latching on to -- rather than last year's centenary of the author, which pretty much everyone missed anyway.
The 80th anniversay plans include a new 2-hour TV pilot starring James Purefoy, re-releases of Charteris' books, some new audio CDs, and additional DVD releases around the world.
Watch this space. As things are confirmed, you'll learn more about them by checking the news blog on www.saint.org and www.lesliecharteris.com!
Production: The Saint (Television) Location: Detroit Employer: NEHST Duration: May-June 2008, starts May 2008 SAG artist contracts
Director: Barry Levinson. THE SAINT - SHOOTING IN DETROIT - CASTING IMMEDIATELY on www.screentest.biz
The Saint – TV pilot directed by Barry Levinson - a remake of the famous Roger Moore TV series, produced by NEHST Studios. Principal photography will be in Detroit from May through June, with international scenes shot in Budapest. The Saint will be played by James Purefoy recently starring in HBO’s “Rome”.
We are looking for local talent for a variety of speaking roles. The casting process is happening right now. The shooting schedule is tight, so do not delay and visit : www.screentest.biz
Look in Casting Call, screen right, under “TV Series.” And sign up now.
Apply to: FRAN
Breakdowns:
1. Male / 41-50 yrs. / Any Ethnicity. Claude Eustace Teal An inspector at INTERPOL. Lean, strong, “a man of no vices”. A brilliant tactician. American. Happily Married. SERIES REGULAR
2. Female / Any yrs. / Latin American. Patricia Holm age range 20-40 yrs old Striking, Tall, lean, maddeningly sexy, dirty blonde, extremely fashionable (very New York). Has an exotic accent - “hazy mix of Spanish, Creole, and Dutch”. Her relationship with Templar is unique and can often lead her into the path of danger. SERIES REGULAR
3. Male / 31-40 yrs. / Middle Eastern. Baldwin Aleppo Handsome. Middle Eastern. Mystical. Has a long history with Templar that has formed a friendship that is often fraught with conflict. SERIES REGULAR
4. Male / 61+ yrs. / Any Ethnicity. Jerome Creedy 60’s, the director of INTERPOL. Toupeed. Bureaucratic, a pain in the ass. A bad temper. RECURRING
5. Male / 51-60 yrs. / Any Ethnicity. Hollis McCarthy Lantern-jawed, square, “not to be messed with”. Ex-military. Dark-souled. Spiritual. RECURRING
6. Male / 51-60 yrs. / Any Ethnicity. Delano Carger Pale, poisonous, deluded, brilliant, charming, self-righteous. Short but lethal, i.e. Napoleonic Complex. President of Apollyon Antiques. Manages the human trafficking of children displaced from the Tsunami and other disasters. GUEST STAR
7. Female / 18-24 yrs. / Any Ethnicity. Emma Carger’s assistant. Young, petite. Horribly abused and embarrassed by the unspeakable treatment she faces from Carger.
8. Male / 31-40 yrs. / Any Ethnicity. Jasper Wells Lean, imposing, a stone-cold killer. Works for Delano Carger. Sells children into slavery and sex-slavery for Carger.
9. Female / 25-30 yrs. / Any Ethnicity. Lydia Carger 20 years younger than her husband, Delano Carger. Very attractive AGE 20-29 years old
10. Female / 31-40 yrs. / Black - African. Agent Lena Owensby African-English. Very Pretty. Speaks before she thinks
11. Female / 25-30 yrs. / Any Ethnicity. Siri AGE 20-29 YRS OLD Green eyes, beautiful. Stoic and anguished over the kidnapping of her son.
12. Male / 0-5 yrs. / Any Ethnicity. Paolo Siri’s green-eyed boy. 3-5 years old.
The Moves are a collection of the subtle things that people do to signal tremendous wealth and power without having to say anything overtly. How many of these moves does The Saint have, and are there any additional moves that should be added?
This article from the Daily Mail crossed our desks today:
James Purefoy bulks up - and grows his hair - to play The Saint By BAZ BAMIGBOYE, 24th April 2008
Saintly: James Purefoy will be growing his hair long for the role of Simon Templar.
James Purefoy, who received a scar or two while filming his last movie, is busy getting into shape — and growing his hair — to play The Saint.
The two-hour TV film will shoot in New York and Leslie Charteris's hero has been updated to contemporary times.
But Roger Moore, who played The Saint in the Sixties, will be keeping an eye on the proceedings, because he and his son Geoffrey are among the team of four producers who picked up the rights to produce new TV versions of Charteris's tales.
Purefoy's Simon Templar will still be smartly attired and cool, but he'll have more of a kick-ass attitude.
'He gets more into the thick of the fighting,' someone close to the project told me.
If the pilot works, Purefoy will sign on to do more.
He has just finished playing comicbook hero Solomon Kane and received some cuts and bruises doing fight scenes. He had his hair cut off to play Kane, but needs his mane again for his turn as Templar.
"The Saint" is marching back to television via a contemporary take on the Leslie Charteris' books, with James Purefoy in talks to topline as the debonair international thief Simon Templar.
Producers Barry Levinson and Tom Fontana, writer Jorge Zamacona, feature producer Bill Macdonald, Roger Moore -- who played Templar in the 1960s British series -- and his son Geoffrey Moore are all involved in the project.
Levinson is set to direct the two-hour TV movie/backdoor pilot, which will be produced independently and then shopped to the networks.The project is backed by Nehst Studios, a financing, production and distribution company that recently partnered with Lexicon Filmed Entertainment to share $250 million from private-equity sources to finance features, TV series and Web series.
Macdonald has been associated with "Saint" on and off for 17 years. In 1991, he acquired the rights to the books for producer Robert Evans. The two went on to produce the 1997 feature starring Val Kilmer as the dapper adventurer.
In 2004, Macdonald teamed with Zamacona and Roger and Geoffrey Moore to bring the "Saint" franchise to television. The four formed Templar Entertainment Group, through which they acquired the TV rights to Charteris' novels.The new "Saint" series was created by Zamacona, who penned the pilot script, and Macdonald.
The project was originally set up at TNT, which announced it as part of its 2007 development slate last March.TNT later passed on it, and the rights reverted to the producers. Macdonald and Zamacona might have gone the traditional route -- trying to find a new network home for the show -- if it hadn't been for the writers strike.With development activity in Hollywood screeching to a halt and Macdonald and Zamacona joining the picket lines, the producers began to mull producing the pilot and the potential series independently and seeking a network partner later.
They were well into raising financing for the project when the strike ended. "The strike changed our strategy because no one knew how long it was going to be, but producing the project independently gives us a lot more creative freedom," Macdonald said.During the strike, Zamacona approached Levinson and Fontana, who had given him his first writing job on "Homicide: Life on the Street." The two came on board to executive produce "Saint" with Macdonald, Zamacona and Geoffrey Moore, and Levinson agreed to direct.
"One of the things we lost a little bit of in the movie but want to bring to the TV series is that Simon Templar is very funny character with great lines and situation humor, and I don't think there is anybody better than Levinson to tackle that," Macdonald said.
The producers then went after Purefoy, who recently starred on the HBO/BBC series "Rome," which was co-created and executive produced by Macdonald.Casting is under way for the other key parts in the pilot: Inspector Claud Eustace Teal, the Interpol agent in charge of tracking Templar; Templar's romantic interest/assistant, Patricia Holm; and his enemy-turned-partner in crime, Baldwin Aleppo.
Filming on the two-hour telefilm, whose script was reworked after the strike, is expected to begin in April in Budapest, Hungary, New York and Puerto Rico.The project is funded for seasons to come, Nehst founder and chairman Larry Meistrich said.
"We are committed to financing the pilot and deficiting the potential series," he said.Added CEO Ari Friedman, "I think it's a really good time for a project like this, and we are confident we can find a home for it."The two-hour movie/backdoor pilot model was used successfully to launch an updated version of another classic action-adventure series, "Knight Rider," which is expected to be picked up to series by NBC after the movie scored big ratings last month."Saint" was packaged by CAA. Levinson is repped by ICM.
Roger Moore starred on, produced and directed several episodes of the original British "Saint," which ran on ITV from 1962-69 and in syndication in the U.S. from 1963-66 and as a summer series on NBC from 1967-69.
In the past 10 years, there have been two attempts by broadcast networks to remake the series. In 2000, UPN teamed with director John McTiernan and ATG, while ABC took a stab at the franchise in 2004 with writer Stephen Nathan and "American Idol" producer FremantleMedia North America, which owned the rights at the time.
One of the most famous television cars is The Saint's Volvo P1800, and Val Kilmer drove a Volvo C70 in the 1993 movie of The Saint. Well, we now hear that Val Kilmer will be the new voice of K.I.T.T. on Knight Rider -- another famous television car to rival the Volvo!
Keeping it in the family, the new K.I.T.T. is a Ford Mustang, and as you know, Ford owns Volvo.
Oooh, K.I.T.T. voice draaama! Friend of the world’s beaches and former Batman and Real Genius, Val Kilmer, has signed on to voice the smooth-computin’ automobile in the latest TV-reboot of Knight Rider for NBC and Universal. Will Kilmer’s K.I.T.T. (Knight Industries Three Thousand) do a passable Elvis impersonation and fire a laser that pops a billion golden kernals? I don’t know wise guy, but I do know that actor Will Arnett (Arrested Development) is right bummed right now. Arnett had already finished recording all of his voice work for the rebooted show, which premieres in just two weeks, see? And before you swipe Kilmer’s jolly hand away as it attempts to steal Arnett’s gooey, delicious voice of K.I.T.T., know this: it isn’t Kilmer’s fault, see?
In one of the silliest signs of a world run amok in corporate Brawndo tie-ins, Arnett has done commercial voice work in the past for General Motors, and K.I.T.T., see, is a Ford Mustang. Kablowski! That invisible line in the industrial sandbox? Well, Arnett just crossed it. But he still had time to jump back over said line, cover his tracks and allow Kilmer to swing in using a vine made from his absolutely batshit resume to save the day and grab a nice payday (PayDay?).
This two-hour movie event, based on the iconic 1980's hit television series, stars Justin Bruening ("All My Children"), Deanna Russo ("The Young and the Restless"), Sydney Tamiia Poitier ("Veronica Mars," "Grindhouse") and Bruce Davison ("Breach," "Close To Home"). In addition, David Hasselhoff (NBC's "America's Got Talent") -- who starred in the popular lead role as Michael Knight for four seasons during the original series' run -- returns as the same character during a special guest-star appearance.
As the original story resumes, the new KITT (Knight Industries Three Thousand) is absolutely the coolest car ever created: its supercomputer capable of hacking almost any system; its weapons systems efficient; and its body -- thanks to its creator's work and nanotechnology -- is capable of actually shifting shape and color. Plus, its artificial intelligence makes it the ideal good cop partner: logical, precise and possessing infinite knowledge. It is the ultimate car -- and someone will be willing to do anything to obtain it.
The three cars featured in the series include the KITT Hero -- a Ford Mustang Shelby GT500KR that is playing the part of the everyday Hero car with 540 horsepower; the KITT Attack -- a super high-speed version of the Ford Mustang Shelby GT500KR Hero car that transforms into Attack mode with the help of air-ride technology and specialized body parts -- and a KITT Remote, which is a driverless Ford Mustang Shelby GT500KR version of the Hero vehicle.
Sarah Graiman is a 24-year old Ph.D candidate at Stanford University, following in her genius father Charles' (Davison) footsteps. But when men attempt to abduct her, Sarah receives a mysterious call from KITT warning her that he's a creation of Charles, who also invented the first KITT 25 years ago -- and that her father is in serious danger.
Sarah and KITT track down her best friend from childhood, Mike Tracer (Bruening), a 23-year-old ex-Army Ranger, whom Sarah hasn't seen since he left home at 18. Having served in Iraq, Mike is now jaded and lost and initially resistant. Eventually he agrees to help Sarah and the two set out to discover who's behind the attempt to procure KITT and find Charles. Along the way, Carrie Rivai (Poitier) plays the agile yet tough FBI agent who has a long-standing friendship with Charles and Sarah. Due to those ties, she is brought into the mix to help in the search.
Credits: Dave Bartis ("Heist") and Doug Liman ("Mr. & Mrs. Smith") serve as executive producers. David Andron is supervising producer and writer. Steve Shill ("Dexter" "The Tudors"), also a co-producer, directs the two-hour movie from Universal Media Studios and Dutch Oven Productions.
The Saint’s Second Front is the name of a lost, unpublished short story that Leslie Charteris wrote in the summer of 1941. While the title for this story is unconfirmed, a novella called The Saint’s Second Front is referred to in some correspondence between Leslie Charteris and his agents Willis Wing and Virginia Russell around this time. Since The Saint’s Second Front is otherwise unknown, and it makes sense from a plot perspective, this name is probably correct.
This lost story is often referred to as The Saint at Pearl Harbor, but that is not an accurate title. Other suggestions have been The Saint and The Surprise Attack, Surprise The Saint, or even just Surprise Attack!
Many of the Saint stories written by Leslie Charteris have been proven to be quite prophetic of things to come. None as much so as one particular story that was never published at all.
It is fairly certain that it was Cosmopolitan who turned this story down for reasons of, "we do not think this is the time to publish anything which might aggravate the tensions with our Japanese friends.”
In the introduction of the May 1957 issue of The Saint Detective Magazine, Charteris wrote:
A while after that I tried to get ahead of the game by writing Prelude For War when Hitler was still only a rather funny little man making raucous noises that scared relatively few people. Being obviously incurable, after that war was solidly started, I wrote a book in which the Saint averted a fair facsimile of Pearl Harbor, except that the attack was to be on California instead of Oahu. That is the only story I have written since becoming a professional which never got published: nobody would touch it, because it was too preposterous, and might even offend our good friends, the Japs. This was in the summer of ‘41. But perhaps I was lucky that time, after all. As a period piece, today, it might have seemed a bit silly.
Eight years later in Instead of The Saint—IV, published in the January 1965 issue of The Saint Mystery Magazine, Charteris again mentioned his great unpublished story of 1941:
The only story I have failed to sell since I became what is called “established” dealt elaborately and ingeniously with a Japanese plot for a sneak attack on the United States; it was completed in the summer of 1941, and the only error in my crystal ball was that the attack was organized for the coast of Southern California instead of Pearl Harbor, and was planned as part of an immediate invasion, in which I was smarter than the Japanese High Command. It was killed by the national magazine I wrote it for because “we do not think this is the time to publish anything which might aggravate the tensions with our Japanese friends”. And now, of course, unlike other prophetic stories which I first brought out when they were prophetic, there would be no point in publishing it.
Unfortunately it looks like the story has been lost forever as Paul M. James writes in a letter to Dan Bodenheimer, December 21, 1990:
That “Pearl Harbor” Saint story is a sad one (especially for me). Some years ago, L.C. [Leslie Charteris] told me he did not keep a copy after it was turned down. Then, just recently, Ellen Nehr (who is writing that Crime Club book [History of the Crime Club]) wrote me that all Doubleday records prior to the early 1950s were trashed by some idiots when Doubleday sent its old (before early 1954) records to a warehouse. What a catastrophe! I recently wrote L.C. that I had always hoped to find that Saint “Pearl Harbor” manuscript. But it now looks like it is gone for good.
And more than 50 years later, this story is still missing. It is one of the Saint's own enduring mysteries. If anyone knows of a way to track this story down, I'm sure all the Saint fans would be very interested in reading this long-lost and prophetic story about The Saint.
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