The Fiction Makers

[dremble wedge]

A two-part episode of The Saint that was released in cinemas starring the great Roger Moore and Sylvia Syms and directed by Roy Ward Baker.



It's on ITV 4 at 1800hrs this evening.

[bertie]

I saw this advertised and will certainly watch it. Has anybody seen it before and feel able to give any recommendation. In any event I will watch it for nostaglia's sake.

[Lord Brett]

name='bertie']I saw this advertised and will certainly watch it. Has anybody seen it before and feel able to give any recommendation. In any event I will watch it for nostaglia's sake.

I think it's quite a nice Saint story, a bit more fanciful and Avengers-ish than the norm for this series.



Interestngly, it seems to be the only Saint story which ITC only hold a 16mm copy of (unless you've seen the Umbrella or DDHD Saint box sets and can tell me different).

[destructive dandy]

name='bertie']I saw this advertised and will certainly watch it. Has anybody seen it before and feel able to give any recommendation. In any event I will watch it for nostaglia's sake.

Definately more of The Avengers slant as the other poster suggested, but certainly great fun.

I prefer Vendetta For The Saint

[batman]

When I was last in Paris ... about 7 yrs ago ... the hotel I stayed in only had a TV in the bar. Most of the other guests were French and German. I was having a drink in there and the TV began showing Vendetta For The Saint ... the bar, which was fairly quiet, became a buzz of excitement as most of the guests began crowding the TV to watch the film. Mr Templar appeared to be very popular that night!



I like that film a lot ... it benefits from being a Charteris original and in having Ian Hendry as the villain. The Maltese locations do a great job of standing in for Sicily and all that chasing around is quite exciting. IMHO is is one of Rog's top performances as 'The Saint'.



I agree with m'lord that The Fiction Makers is more like an Avengers episode, but it is great fun.



Bats.

[julian_craster]

Interesting....very Bond like (with all the lasers and stuff ! )



And the (extended) credits and the music were different to the usual SAINT episodes.... But - was THE FICTION MAKERS ever screened in UK cinemas ?



I don't remember it being so screened, and wouldn't industry/union agreements prevent TV episodes being screened as a cinema feature ? (though this did happen in the 1950s, with some of episodes DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS PRESENTS....)





It was also nice to see Frank Maher again.....

[ddock54]

The Musics brilliant ,when is somebody going to get Edwin Astleys full scores released ?,i may have to get Jools Holland on the case...

[julian_craster]

Perhaps Edwin Astley's son, THE WHO's Pete Townshend (who must be worth a pound or two) might be able to assist financially in getting his dad's music out on CD .......

[batman]

name='julian_craster']Interesting....very Bond like (with all the lasers and stuff ! )



And the (extended) credits and the music were different to the usual SAINT episodes.... But - was THE FICTION MAKERS ever screened in UK cinemas ?



I don't remember it being so screened, and wouldn't industry/union agreements prevent TV episodes being screened as a cinema feature ? (though this did happen in the 1950s, with some of episodes DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS PRESENTS....)





It was also nice to see Frank Maher again.....

Both The Fiction Makers and Vendetta For The Saint were released to cinemas in Europe and I think Australia. I am not sure about the US. I really like the opening credits for TFM they are very 'Pink Panther' like and the music is suitably droll. The theme music for VFTS is IMHO awful though.



Bats.

[ddock54]

name='julian_craster']Perhaps Edwin Astley's son, THE WHO's Pete Townshend (who must be worth a pound or two) might be able to assist financially in getting his dad's music out on CD .......

Son in law ,I think.....

[stevie boy]

name='batman']When I was last in Paris ... about 7 yrs ago ... the hotel I stayed in only had a TV in the bar. Most of the other guests were French and German. I was having a drink in there and the TV began showing Vendetta For The Saint ... the bar, which was fairly quiet, became a buzz of excitement as most of the guests began crowding the TV to watch the film. Mr Templar appeared to be very popular that night!



I like that film a lot ... it benefits from being a Charteris original and in having Ian Hendry as the villain. The Maltese locations do a great job of standing in for Sicily and all that chasing around is quite exciting. IMHO is is one of Rog's top performances as 'The Saint'.



I agree with m'lord that The Fiction Makers is more like an Avengers episode, but it is great fun.



Bats.

Hi Bats



I have the first two series of the Saint in B & W

I believe that there was a 3rd series in B &W BUT you can only buy that

with the first two, any ideas how I can get the third set, someone on here I suppose >???

[mariocki]

Why don't you go for the Australian Umbrella set? I got all the individual series, B&W and colour, from them. They're Region 0 or R2+R4 so there's no compatibility issues. Very good sets too.

[bertie]

Despite my interest in this, I have just tried to watch it and have found that I mucked up the recording. Can anyone help with a copy please?

[batman]

name='stevie boy']Hi Bats



I have the first two series of the Saint in B & W

I believe that there was a 3rd series in B &W BUT you can only buy that

with the first two, any ideas how I can get the third set, someone on here I suppose >???

I have that problem too. Mrs Bat bought me the first two but the third one is only available in the Network set (along with the first two).



I'm with mariocki, and am considering buying the third series from Umbrella. They have their own website but you can get them via ebay.



The Umbrella sets I have are all pretty good.



Bats.

[mariocki]

I used DevotedDVD to import mine who've got a sale on at the moment so set 3 can be had for £16:80 plus about £6:50 postage. I've never been clobbered for import duty using them but I've heard that a couple of people have. Still works out cheaper than buying the Network set again though



Saint, The - Set 3 (6 DVD Set) DVD : DeVoteD DVD - Australia

[batman]

name='mariocki']I used DevotedDVD to import mine who've got a sale on at the moment so set 3 can be had for £16:80 plus about £6:50 postage. I've never been clobbered for import duty using them but I've heard that a couple of people have. Still works out cheaper than buying the Network set again though



Saint, The - Set 3 (6 DVD Set) DVD : DeVoteD DVD - Australia

Again I am with mariocki. I recently bought the Umbrella set of Callan Series 4 from DevotedDVD and found them to be efficient, friendly and very helpful. No import charge for me either.



Bats.

[stevie boy]

name='mariocki']I used DevotedDVD to import mine who've got a sale on at the moment so set 3 can be had for £16:80 plus about £6:50 postage. I've never been clobbered for import duty using them but I've heard that a couple of people have. Still works out cheaper than buying the Network set again though



Saint, The - Set 3 (6 DVD Set) DVD : DeVoteD DVD - Australia

thanks to Mariocki & Bats, i will look into this.

[Lord Brett]

name='batman']

I like that film a lot ... it benefits from being a Charteris original and in having Ian Hendry as the villain. The Maltese locations do a great job of standing in for Sicily and all that chasing around is quite exciting. IMHO is is one of Rog's top performances as 'The Saint'.





Bats.

It turns out that Vendetta for the Saint was actually written by renowned Science Fiction author Harry Harrison, who took his name off the book when Charteris made changes to his original manuscript. Most of the Saint books from the sixties were produced in this way, written by a third party then amended by Leslie Charteris, but in the other cases the writer is credited in the book (but not on the cover) and in LC's forward.

[batman]

name='Lord Brett']It turns out that Vendetta for the Saint was actually written by renowned Science Fiction author Harry Harrison, who took his name off the book when Charteris made changes to his original manuscript. Most of the Saint books from the sixties were produced in this way, written by a third party then amended by Leslie Charteris, but in the other cases the writer is credited in the book (but not on the cover) and in LC's forward.

Cheers M'lord .... I knew Charteris didn't write many of the later stories, mainly acting as a kind of editor, but I thought that VFTS was one of his due to lack of author credit for the 'ghost'. He was a strange one ol' Leslie, the account of his dealings with RKO over the 'Saint' film series in the book 'The Detective In Hollywood' is hilarious!



Bats.

[batman]

name='batman']Both The Fiction Makers and Vendetta For The Saint were released to cinemas in Europe and I think Australia. I am not sure about the US. I really like the opening credits for TFM they are very 'Pink Panther' like and the music is suitably droll. The theme music for VFTS is IMHO awful though.



Bats.

A poster for VFTS.



Bats.