I am guessing that Paramount did not have the rights to The Saint character in the United States, and when they released this French import (as Dance of Death), all the Saintly accoutrements had to be removed. Even the character’s name is no longer Simon Templar, but Stuart Thomson – and he is no longer a criminal. Instead he is a ‘world famous private detective’. These changes, as small as they may seem, change the whole tone of the film.
I can't really know how Simon Dutton felt about his stint as the Saint, but to my mind, he was in someways better off than some of the previous actors who played the character. Rather than being studio bound, Dutton got to travel all over the world to make this series -- France for The Blue Dulac, Australia for Fear in Fun Park and Germany for this installment, Wrong Number. But by the same token, Dutton didn't have the safety net of a Saintly seasoned and consistent crew working on each of the movies. Each country seemed to supply its own director, crew and supporting actors, which means the series is wildly uneven. But this is a good entry in the series -- possibly the best, and Dutton gives another likable performance.
The Saint in Manhattan is a Saint for the Magnum PI generation. Actually, its probably a few years too late for Magnum, but this pilot episode for a proposed new series has the same smirk and high living like Magnum, and added to that, Clarke has a moustache of Tom Selleck proportions. Clarke cops a bit of flack for keeping the 'mo', but the Saint has had a moustache before. As always, though, in this day and age, any actor who takes on the role of the Saint is compared to Roger Moore, who was clean shaven. I must admit I like Andrew Clarke as an actor and he has been in some good productions – ANZACS springs to mind. But in the work I have seen he has always played a pretty down to earth Australian, so seeing him as a wealthy, womanising high roller, was a stretch for me. And maybe because I know him from his other work, I found his accent flittered between a fake Etonian and his natural Australian accent, which I found quite disconcerting.
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