May 24, 2023
The Saint: The Man Who Liked Lions (5.8, ITC, 1966)
"As an enemy, Mr. Templar, I trust you'll prove an exciting opponent."
"I generally do."
#the saint#the man who liked lions#1966#itc#leslie charteris#harry w. junkin#douglas enefer#jeremy summers#roger moore#peter wyngarde#suzanne lloyd#michael wynne#jeremy young#michael forrest#ed bishop#peter elliott#nike arrighi#robert russell#steven scott#phyllis montefiore#we open on Simon at the colosseum musing on the gladiators of old‚ in a cold open that's disconcertingly similar to that of 1.2 The Latin#Touch; and sure enough‚ Simon has a comic taxi driver assistant‚ only sadly it isn't old friend Marco (Warren Mitchell presumably less#easily booked now that Alf Garnett was a running success). we do get Ed Bishop tho! alas he doesn't make it through the titles.. Suzanne#Lloyd makes her 4th Saint appearance in an impressively expensive looking episode that is nevertheless slightly unhinged#i do feel like‚ after a few fairly standard adventures‚ this fifth series has just rocketed into madness now; first Nessie‚ now a Roman#emperor wannabe (a delightfully OTT Peter Wyngarde‚ who rather improbably complains about the effeminate men of today.. ahem.. and has a#scene where he's massaged by a very muscular and mostly nude man.. someone on the production team was doing him favours..)#the set dressing and costuming for the roman party finále is all very impressive and surely left overs from another production (altho the#series certainly wasn't a cheap one to produce). i had wondered if they were leftovers from Cleopatra‚ which had originally shot in England#before relocating‚ but that would have been Pinewood not Elstree. regardless this is a handsome if silly episode