The Saint (TV Series) The Imprudent Politician (1964) User Reviews

The Imprudent Politician

[Prismark10 · 7/10 · 11 April 2023]

The Imprudent Politician is Christopher Waites (Anthony Bate) a minister for the treasury department.

He is facing demands for blackmail for the sum of £1 million. Not because he is a married man having an affair with a young woman. It is because he gave her a letter with market sensitive financial information. She made money on the stock exchange from it.

The blackmailers tell Waites that he will not need to pay the money over. They just want to catch sight of a letter he will receive in advance. That too contains market sensitive material. Enough for the blackmailers to make a killing in the markets.

The courier who brings the letter to Waites is killed while Waites held a party for some assorted guests. The Saint who was invited found the dead man.

Eventually Waites asks for the Saint's help.

A pretty muscular adventure. Simon Templar gets involved in several fights. There is also political intrigue and a mystery to solve.

Templar quickly figures out that Waites girlfriend was involved with the blackmailers. It was the reason why she never got rid off the letter. Templar is convinced that someone close to Waites is directing the blackmailers.

A compelling little political thriller.

[jamesraeburn2003 · 24 October 2018]

A prominent Member of Parliament and Minister for International Trade, Christopher Waites (Anthony Bate), had an affair with a beautiful young woman called Denise Grant (Justine Lord). During the course of their relationship, Waites wrote her a letter disclosing privileged information as to how she could make a killing on the stock market. As the minister prepares to introduce a bill on import tariffs in the House of Commons, he is approached by Tim Burton (Jeremy Burnham) and Alex Morgan (Mike Pratt) who produce the potentially damaging letter. It is blackmail but they are not interested in money. They want to know the contents of the bill before it is read in parliament so they can make a fortune. Waites confides in his wife Janet (Jennifer Wright) and tells her that he intends to go public and resign from his government, but she won't hear of it because if his career is ruined so is her own future. She calls in Simon Templar (Roger Moore), who happens to be a friend of the family, and asks him to track down the blackmailers. He is invited to their country home where he investigates their guests, Janet's sister, Helen (Jean Marsh), her drunken, dissipated and twisted husband Colin Philips (Michael Gough), a writer of mathematical textbooks, Mr Anthony (John Bryans) and the artist Spencer Vallance (Maxwell Shaw). That evening the courier delivering Waites' speech to the house is murdered meaning that someone in the house must be part of the gang and tipped their accomplice or accomplices off. Meanwhile, Janet has forgiven her husband for his affair with Denise, but she pays her a visit and is threatened into getting the speech from her husband's safe and handing it over to the gang. By now, Templar has found out about Denise and only narrowly avoids being killed by Burton and Morgan. But can Templar defeat the blackmailers and how will it turn out for Waites, 'The Imprudent Politician', his career and family?

A compelling little political thriller featuring a convincing performance from Anthony Bate as the fading politician who through his carelessness leapt out of the frying pan and into the fire when he gave privileged information away to his mistress so she could clean up on the stock market. But he didn't bank on her being an agent for a criminal gang who was sizing him up as a potentially lucrative blackmail victim. Yet, the most ruthless character of all is the politician's wife, Janet (Jennifer Wright), who is clearly the one who pushed hard and connived to get him to where he is; a prominent government frontbencher who is tipped as a possible future Prime Minister. As an old friend of the family, Simon Templar is shocked to discover this side to a woman he has known for a long time; a person motivated solely by ambition, power and self-interest who, it seems, only wants to rescue her husband for the sake of her own future. Nevertheless, Simon agrees to track down the ruthless blackmailers and killers; but he makes it clear that he could not care less about Waites' and Janet's futures and is only concerned with bringing the criminals to justice. There is a powerful scene at the climax in the House of Commons where Waites rises at the dispatch box with everybody expecting him to introduce his long awaited bill. Yet, he shocks his friends and colleagues by announcing his resignation from the government. Simon turns to Janet, who is horrified that she and her husband's days of glory at the top level of politics is over, and says "I can help a man win a fight against a blackmailer but not against his own conscience." Roger Moore really gave his many outings as Simon Templar far more depth and feeling for character than I was expecting when I first started to watch this series as a youngster. Aside from Bate and Wright, Moore gets top notch support from the entire cast with Michael Gough of exceptional note as the politician's wayward brother-in-law. Look out for Mike Pratt (Randall and Hopkirk Deceased) and Jeremy Burnham, an actor-writer who wrote several episodes of The Avengers, too as two heavies. The efficient direction is by John Moxey and the attractive settings are atmospherically captured in b/w by Lionel Banes.

All-Star Saint

[aramis-112-804880 · 9/10 · 7 August 2022]

"The Saint" often featured players familiar to American viewers from other popular British shows or (more rarely) rising international stars. This episode has several familiar faces, some established.

We'll start with the politician in the title, Anthony Bate. Best known these days for "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy." His brother-in-law is played by Michael Gough, familiar from "Man in a White Suit" or "Batman," depending in your taste. Gough was an established movie star.

Then there's lovely Justine Lord, "The Girl Who Was Death" from "The Prisoner." Also in small parts are Jean Marsh, not yet of "Upstairs, Downstairs." And a rising Moray Watson ("Dr. Who," "Campion" and "The Pallisers.") Watson's kindly but befuddled establishment-type persona is not yet with us and he's unfortunately not here for long.

And don't forget one on the biggest movie stars of the 1970s, Roger Moore.

The story is unusual. The imprudent politician is being blackmailed for insider trading. The villains want to see an advance copy of a speech he's preparing that may affect stock shares so they can make a killing on the market, rather than shaking him down for personal money. Quite enjoyable, both intelligent and action-packed. Though there's quite a bit of meaningless driving around to pad the story out.

One of those rare who-done-it episodes.

And it keeps us guessing to the end, who's behind the muscle.

Not one of Templar's finest adventures

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 14 May 2023]

THE IMPRUDENT POLITICIAN is one of the lesser episodes of the show, saddled as it is with a blackmail plot that doesn't really go anywhere. Templar is called into help when a leading British politician is the subject of the plot by the usual criminal gang filled with roughs and familiar faces. This time the supporting cast includes future RANDALL AND HOPKIRK (DECEASED) actor Mike Pratt alongside screen favourite Michael Gough, although the latter gets very little screen time. There are a few fun fight scenes, but mostly this is slow and talky and the cast feel like they'd prefer to be somewhere else.