The Unkind Philanthropist

The Saint goes for a break in Puerto Rico where he meets Miss Tristan Brown who is decidedly unimpressed with his charms. She represents a New York based charitable organisation that distributes money to local organisations and philanthropists.

Elmer Quire (Charles Farrell) is one in Puerto Rico, the locals regard him as a great man but he is a fraud. Juan Gamma (David Graham) is a farmer who borrowed money from him and now he is at risk of losing it as he cannot pay the loan back. Quire has sent some heavies to beat him up.

Lucky for Juan, Simon Templar is passing by. He then poses as Tristan Brown (luckily she has a male name) to con Quire.

Actually it is a nice episode about how poor uneducated farmers are fleeced by wealthy Americans posing to be helping those in need.

The plot works well but suddenly Simon Templar leaves Juan on his own. Surely he would have thought that once Quire realises that he has been conned. He will go after Juan.

Where there flaws in this episode? Yes, my lady.

After watching this episode, I immediately thought of giving 8 stars. It certainly merits it: the script is fun and exciting, the actors are up to their crafts.....all in all, a very enjoyable episode!

But I just had to add an extra star for the sizzling (at times negative; at times positive) relationship between Roger Moore and Sarah Brackett. It was delightful, and stayed that way from beginning to end!

THE UNKIND PHILANTHROPIST is an episode of THE SAINT with one of the more exotic settings: this time a farm in Puerto Rico, where a farmer is being menaced by the kind of landowner that pops up as villain in many a western. Of course, Templar just happens to be on the scene to beat up the hired thugs and generally make himself a nuisance, but the plot is complicated by the arrival of a supposed philanthropist who turns out to have some ulterior motives. Well, there's some flying sparks between Moore and the female lead and a handful of fights, but otherwise this studio-bound story is oddly inert.