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The Saint

The Death Game

Season 5, Episode 17, Aired 1/20/67

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Simon tries to stop an alliance between a crime ring and psychology students who plan murders. '

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Roger Moore

Simon Templar
Ivor Dean

Inspector Teal
Karen Ford

The French Girl

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Repulsive entry to the series

1.0

"Abysmal"

By BikeDoc1, Jan 04, 2012 Report Abuse

Be forewarned - this episode is right up there with the sci-fi Saint stinkers.

Besides the fact that the sheer devilishness of "The Death Game" leads one to question how sick one must be in the mind to accept it as "entertainment" (though I must admit, the plot is more original than most of the Saint's spy-genre ripoffs), the set designers succeed in complimenting the appalling plot with endless, over-the-top macabre props and other such oddities. This is made even more stark by the utter complacency for which the faculty of the university has for the "game" to begin with (do remember that Templar is shot at with a gun - and nearly hit with an archer's bow - as part of the "game" during the pre-credits sequence).

If they were aiming for shock value (it's hard to doubt it), they certainly achieved it - but The Saint is not supposed to be a horror flick, nor a documentary of homicidal college students (once again, for entertainment!).

Granted, the story (and pacing) returns to something more inline with the usual Saint fare (complete with frivolous computers and the usual, tacky '60s technology, courtesy of the prop shop's Flashing Button department) once the plot moves to Switzerland, but that doesn't negate the repulsive concept from which the episode is based.

Not worth a second (or first) chance. Even "The Convenient Monster" - with it's apparent plot twist courtesy of the Loch Ness Monster - is more watchable than this piece of flaming rubbish.moreless

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