The Saint, Set 4

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"Well, well, of all people to be rescued by--Simon Templar." From Berlin to Nice, our man Simon is always in the wrong place at the right time to get involved in "a bit of adventure." This two-disc set contains seven episodes presented in the order they were first broadcast in 1966 and '67. These entertaining adventures are "more cloak than dagger," but do have some vicariously nasty, Bond-type thrills. Roger Moore is ideally cast as the unflappable Simon, the original international man of mystery created by Leslie Charteris. Whether foiling a counterfeit operation ("The Counterfeit Countess") or masterminding the escape of a Russian ("When Spring Is Sprung"), Simon accepts each "extraordinary proposition" with omb. This collection also includes "Simon and Delilah," in which a "consistently nasty" screen siren is kipped. Lois Maxwell, best known to 007 fans as Miss Moneypenny, costars as the publicist. Speaking of James Bond, there's a nifty little Goldfinger joke in "The Island of Chance," in which the body count rises as an increasingly desperate scientist races to complete a serum that would end all illness. The cold war heats up in "The Gadget Lover," in which the Russians appear to have embarked on a "death campaign" using explosion-filled gadgets. "A Double in Diamonds" involves the theft of a priceless necklace. Which is real, and which is the fake? Only Simon may know for sure. Like "The Death Game" in Set 3, "The Power Artists" is bizarre enough to be an Avengers episode. It marks the return of criminal mastermind Adolf Vogler (see "The Death Game" in Set 3) and also includes some hysterical hippie caricatures. Appearing with greater frequency in these episodes is Ivor Dean as the Saint's long-suffering nemesis, Chief Inspector Claude Eustace Teale ("the pride of Scotland Yard") who reluctantly relies on the Saint's cunning to solve these complex capers. --Donald Liebenson