The Saint's Double Trouble
The Saint's Double Trouble
NR | 26 January 1940 (USA)
The Saint's Double Trouble Trailers

Reformed jewel thief Simon Templar lands in hot water when a look-alike smuggles stolen goods out of Egypt.

Reviews
Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece
Console best movie i've ever seen.
Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.
Suman Roberson It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.
utgard14 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!
TheLittleSongbird While some are better than others, pretty much all of the Saint films starring George Sanders are watchable at least once, even the lesser efforts. 'The Saint's Double Trouble' is a contender for the weakest of the series, and somewhat of a let-down after one of the best of the series with 'The Saint Takes Over'.There are good things here. The sets are suitably atmospheric, it is one of the better looking films of the series and jauntily scored. The best thing about the film is Sanders, not just playing the title role but also his criminal double. He is super-suave, sophisticated and wonderfully caddish, while also giving a charming and humorous edge and delivering some cutting lines with aplomb.Jonathan Hale is also very good, while the ending is effective.On the other hand, the script is a complete mess and is enough to bring the film down more than one notch. It is just too underdeveloped and has too many loose ends, with a lot of corn and very little mystery. The story is also one of the series' least involving, it fails to maintain momentum and gets needlessly over-complicated with very few twists and turns.It is interesting for featuring Bela Lugosi, who tries to depart from his horror roles to prove that he could do more than that. However he makes very little impact in a role with nothing to it whatsoever, a real waste. The characters are just not interesting at all and sometimes confusingly written.In summary, a contender for weakest of the Saint films with Sanders. Sanders and Hale are fine but the script and story certainly aren't and bring the film down significantly. 5/10 Bethany Cox
masercot 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...
Jim Tritten 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."