The Saint Lies in Wait

The Saint Lies in Wait
Directed byChristian-Jaque
Written byHenri Jeanson
Jean Ferry
Christian-Jaque
Marcel Julian
Based onLe Saint prend l'affût
by Leslie Charteris
Produced byJean-Paul Guibert
StarringJean Marais
Jess Hahn
Jean Yanne
CinematographyPierre Petit
Edited byJacques Desagneaux
Music byGérard Calvi
Production
companies
Intermondia Films
T.C. Productions
Société Nouvelle de Cinématographie
Medusa Distribuzione
Distributed bySociété Nouvelle de Cinématographie
Medusa Distribuzione
Release date
  • 26 October 1966 (1966-10-26) (France)
Running time
90 minutes
CountriesFrance
Italy
LanguageFrench
Box office1,329,177 admissions (France)[1]

The Saint Lies in Wait (French: Le Saint prend l'affût, Italian: Il santo prende la mira) is a 1966 French-Italian comedy crime film directed by Christian-Jaque and starring Jean Marais, Jess Hahn and Jean Yanne.[2] [3] It is an adaptation of a french only SimonTemplar novel Le Saint prend l'affût (1960), credited to Leslie Charteris, but in fact ghostwritten.[4] It was shot at the Billancourt Studios in Paris. The film's sets were designed by the art director Jean Mandaroux.[5] At the time the British television series The Saint starring Roger Moore was at the height of its popularity.

Synopsis

Simon Templar is staying at a Scottish castle with his friend Hoppy Uniatz, but is called into action when another friend Oscar Chartier involves him in a complex scheme to steal secret documents. His adventures take him to Paris and Sicily and he becomes the protector of Oscar's daughter Sophie.

Cast

Production

The film was known under the title The Saint Lies in Wait (USA), Il santo prende la mira (Italy), Der Lord mit der MP (West Germany), As Aventuras de o Santo (Portugal).[6]

During the making of the film, the stunt arranger Gil(bert-Yves) Delamare was killed doubling for Marais.[7] A doyen of French stunt drivers, Delamare[8] was skidding a Renault Floride S convertible for a twilight scene on a new patch of freeway when its back axle snapped rolling him and his passengers into a barrier. He was mortally injured when he struck his head on the windscreen.[9] The stunt passengers were thrown clear and survived.

References

  1. ^ "Box Office Figures for Jean Marais films". Box Office Story.
  2. ^ Travers, James (2017-07-27). "Review of the film Le Saint prend l'affût (1966)". frenchfilms.org. Retrieved 2021-05-28.
  3. ^ Curti p.220
  4. ^ Goble p.938
  5. ^ https://www.unifrance.org/film/3901/le-saint-prend-l-affut
  6. ^ Le Saint prend l'affût at IMDb
  7. ^ "Remembering Gil Delamare". .Westerns...All'Italiana!. 1924-10-14. Retrieved 2021-05-28.
  8. ^ Baxter, John (1974). Stunt: the Story of the Great Movie Stunt Men, p. 245.
  9. ^ Illustrated Weekly of Pakistan, vol. 12~25, 1967, p. 33.

Bibliography

  • Curti, Roberto. Riccardo Freda: The Life and Works of a Born Filmmaker. McFarland, 2017.
  • Goble, Alan. The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film. Walter de Gruyter, 1999.