THE LOADED TOURIST is another early Saint episode with an international slant. Simon Templar is travelling when he meets an Italian family on their way to America who are immediately beset by tragedy when the father is murdered. Templar takes it upon himself to track down the killer and uncovers a small conspiracy. This episode isn't quite as assured or exciting as the previous one, and it lacks the presence of the customary familiar faces, excluding a youthful Andrew Sachs in a single-scene appearance. However, it's never dull, and the murder plot is sufficient to sustain the running time.
4 Reviews
From Rome to Geneva
bensonmum221 May 2020
After unsuccessfully thwarting a murder, Simon agrees to help the victim's 16 year-old son, Alfredo, discover why his father was murdered and find those responsible. The trail leads to a stash of valuable jewelry and a surprise suspect.
Overall, The Loaded Tourist is a pretty standard episode. It's solid enough, but it's nowhere near as outstanding as some of the others. Once in Geneva, the episode moves at a good pace and held my interest throughout. Highlights include a con that Simon and Alfredo are able to pull on the killers. It's a treat watching as their plan unfolds. There are also a few plot twists near the end that really help make this one better than average. One of the weaker moments in The Loaded Tourist was, of all things, the murder scene. The staging of the murder and its aftermath (including the discovery of the missing briefcase) felt clumsy to me.
The supporting cast is a mixed bag in my eyes. Guy Deghy and Barbara Bates (what a tragic story) really stood out. Both are rock solid and work well with Moore. On the other end of the spectrum is Joseph Cuby as Alfredo. This kid got on my nerves right from the start. Sure, some of his suspicions were proven true, but did he have to be so whiny?
6/10
Overall, The Loaded Tourist is a pretty standard episode. It's solid enough, but it's nowhere near as outstanding as some of the others. Once in Geneva, the episode moves at a good pace and held my interest throughout. Highlights include a con that Simon and Alfredo are able to pull on the killers. It's a treat watching as their plan unfolds. There are also a few plot twists near the end that really help make this one better than average. One of the weaker moments in The Loaded Tourist was, of all things, the murder scene. The staging of the murder and its aftermath (including the discovery of the missing briefcase) felt clumsy to me.
The supporting cast is a mixed bag in my eyes. Guy Deghy and Barbara Bates (what a tragic story) really stood out. Both are rock solid and work well with Moore. On the other end of the spectrum is Joseph Cuby as Alfredo. This kid got on my nerves right from the start. Sure, some of his suspicions were proven true, but did he have to be so whiny?
6/10
Engaging episode
lucyrfisher17 April 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Barbara Bates plays an ageing woman in love with a toy boy - about ten years after she played the teenaged Phoebe (brilliantly) in All About Eve. The action takes place mainly in a hotel in Geneva, suggested by heavily carved wooden bedroom furniture.
Turns out Simon can speak Italian and does a passable Italian accent impersonating a jewellery smuggler. If I was smuggling diamonds through the Italian customs I wouldn't look nervously around.
Nobody can agree on the smuggler's name - it's variously Ravayna, Raveena and Ravenna. The last one is correct - like the place.
Hopefully at the end the boy can go back to Rome - perhaps he has some non-criminal aunts and uncles.
Turns out Simon can speak Italian and does a passable Italian accent impersonating a jewellery smuggler. If I was smuggling diamonds through the Italian customs I wouldn't look nervously around.
Nobody can agree on the smuggler's name - it's variously Ravayna, Raveena and Ravenna. The last one is correct - like the place.
Hopefully at the end the boy can go back to Rome - perhaps he has some non-criminal aunts and uncles.
The Loaded Tourist
Prismark1018 April 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Simon Templar is on a plane from Rome to Geneva. He is sitting next to an unhappy teenager, Alfredo Ravenna whose family is emigrating to New York.
Alfredo does not want to go but his father, Fillipo is starting a new life with his American stepmother Helen.
In Geneva Fillipo had a bit of business to do and is stabbed to death. The Saint decides to help out Alfredo. They find a case with valuable jewellery.
It seems Fillipo was on his way to sell the jewellery in order to have money for a new life in America. The jewellery was smuggled out of Italy where they had to declare it to customs.
Alfredo is convinced that his stepmother is behind the murder of his father. He is not wrong..
Helen has a younger lover and the plan was to steal the jewellery for themselves.
A competent but uninvolving story. There is a lot of stock footage and bad Italian accents.
I did wonder about The Saint's planned showdown with the baddie. He certainly placed himself at risk.
Alfredo does not want to go but his father, Fillipo is starting a new life with his American stepmother Helen.
In Geneva Fillipo had a bit of business to do and is stabbed to death. The Saint decides to help out Alfredo. They find a case with valuable jewellery.
It seems Fillipo was on his way to sell the jewellery in order to have money for a new life in America. The jewellery was smuggled out of Italy where they had to declare it to customs.
Alfredo is convinced that his stepmother is behind the murder of his father. He is not wrong..
Helen has a younger lover and the plan was to steal the jewellery for themselves.
A competent but uninvolving story. There is a lot of stock footage and bad Italian accents.
I did wonder about The Saint's planned showdown with the baddie. He certainly placed himself at risk.
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