The Saint S01E02: The Latin Touch (1962) in Color — Starring Roger Moore & Robert Easton

The Saint S01E02: The Latin Touch (1962) — Buy This Classic in Color

First broadcast on 11 October 1962, “The Latin Touch” is the second episode of the first season of The Saint, the British adventure-crime series produced by ITC. It was directed by John Gilling and stars Roger Moore as Simon Templar, the charming modern-day Robin Hood, alongside guest players Robert Easton, Alexander Knox, Warren Mitchell and Doris Nolan. The hook is simple and irresistible: a holiday in Rome turns into a kidnapping plot when a young woman is snatched from under Templar’s nose. This episode of The Saint has been professionally colorized from its original black-and-white broadcast masters, so you can now watch it in color exactly as the costumes, cars and Roman locations deserve. Own this classic movie in color as a DRM-free MP4 digital download for just €15.00.

Plot Summary

Simon Templar is enjoying a relaxed stay in Rome, the kind of sunlit holiday that suits a man with no fixed address and a taste for good company. At the airport he crosses paths with a nervous young Englishwoman, and the encounter is brief enough that he thinks nothing more of it. That changes quickly. Within hours he learns that the woman has vanished, and the people around her are behaving as though she never existed at all.

Templar begins asking the obvious questions, and the obvious questions are exactly what somebody does not want asked. He finds that the young woman was travelling with a companion who is now nowhere to be found, and that the hotel staff and officials he approaches are either genuinely ignorant or carefully coached. The more he pushes, the more the story changes shape beneath him.

The trail leads him into the world of Rome’s wealthy expatriates and the smooth, well-dressed men who move among them. A figure with money and connections makes it clear that Templar’s curiosity is unwelcome, and the warnings escalate from polite to physical. Templar, being Templar, treats the warnings as confirmation that he is on the right track.

What he uncovers is a scheme built on a simple, ugly premise: that a person can be made to disappear if enough people are paid to say she was never there. The kidnappers have planned for the police, for the press and for the family, but they have not planned for a stranger with a talent for inserting himself where he is not wanted. The episode tightens into a race to find the woman before the trail is deliberately erased for good.

The final act turns on a single question that has been hiding in plain sight since the airport: why was this particular young woman taken, and who benefits if she is never found? The answer is the one Templar has been circling from the beginning.

Cast & Crew

Director: John Gilling
Stars: Roger Moore, Robert Easton, Alexander Knox, Warren Mitchell, Doris Nolan, Bill Nagy, Peter Illing, Marie Burke, Suzan Farmer, Carole Simpson

Why Buy This Classic in Color?

The colorization of “The Latin Touch” does something that the original black-and-white broadcast could not: it restores the warmth of the episode’s Roman setting. The sunlit exteriors, the pale stone facades, the chrome and paintwork of early-1960s cars and the period-accurate tailoring all read differently once colourised, and the result is a travelogue quality that sits neatly alongside the suspense. Costume detail benefits most of all — the sharp suits, the light summer dresses and the hotel interiors gain a texture that monochrome flattens into grey. The restoration also separates foreground from background more cleanly, which helps the episode’s dialogue-driven scenes play with greater clarity on modern screens. None of this distracts from the performances; Roger Moore’s easy, amused authority as Simon Templar is the engine of the episode, and the colorized image simply lets you see the world he moves through rather than only the shadows of it. For viewers who grew up with The Saint in black and white, this is a genuinely new way to watch a familiar favourite. Buy it now for €15.00 and start watching with an instant DRM-free MP4 download.

Historical Significance

The Saint ran on ITC from 1962 to 1969 and became one of the most widely exported British television series of its era, sold to networks around the world and turning Roger Moore into an international star. Moore’s Simon Templar — suave, unflappable, faintly amused by danger — defined the template for the gentleman-adventurer hero that British television would return to for decades. Created from Leslie Charteris’s long-running stories, the series was built for the new appetite for filmed adventure drama that ITC specialised in, and its success helped establish the company as a powerhouse of international television distribution.

“The Latin Touch” sits at the very start of that run, the second episode broadcast, and it shows the format settling into place: a Continental location, a guest cast of recognisable character players, and a mystery that gives the leading man room to charm his way through it. John Gilling, who directed this episode, was a prolific British filmmaker of the period with a long list of credits across crime, adventure and horror, and his efficient, unfussy direction keeps the episode moving. The guest cast is a reminder of the depth of British and American acting talent that passed through ITC productions in the 1960s, with Alexander Knox and Warren Mitchell among the familiar faces here.

For a series that has been watched in syndication for more than sixty years, colorization is a way of bringing “The Latin Touch” to audiences who have never seen it at all, and of giving long-time fans a fresh look at an episode they thought they knew.

Technical Details

• Format: MP4 / MKV digital download
• Resolution: Standard Definition
• Colorized: Professionally colorized from original black and white
• Audio: English original mono
• Runtime: 49 minutes
• DRM-free: Yes — watch on any device
• Instant download: Available immediately after purchase
• Price: €15.00 (token, rendered by the site)

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Movie-Specific Questions

Q: Who plays Simon Templar in “The Latin Touch”?
A: Roger Moore stars as Simon Templar. This is the second episode of the first season of The Saint, and Moore would go on to play the role across the entire run of the series from 1962 to 1969.

Q: Was “The Latin Touch” originally broadcast in colour?
A: No. The episode was broadcast in black and white in 1962. This page offers a later professional colorized restoration, not a studio colour release, so the colour you see here is a modern addition to the original monochrome material.

Q: Who directed this episode of The Saint?
A: John Gilling directed “The Latin Touch”. Gilling was a prolific British director of the period with credits across crime, adventure and horror films, and he keeps this episode’s Roman setting and dialogue scenes moving at a brisk pace.

Digital Download Questions

Q: What format is the download?
A: The film is delivered as MP4 and MKV files that play on virtually any device.
Q: Is there DRM on the file?
A: No. The download is completely DRM-free so you can watch it on any device without restrictions.
Q: How quickly can I watch after purchase?
A: Your download link is available instantly after payment, so you can start watching within minutes.

Related Colorized Classics

• The Saint S01E09: The Effete Angler (1962)
• The Law and the Lady (1951)
• Erotikon (1930)
• The Girl of the Golden West (1938)
• Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)