User Reviews

A very interesting episode about corruption in the eastern countries. A parallel with Ms Imelda Marcos is undeniable. However this episode was produced in 1964 and Ms Marcos was not in powwer before 1965.

On a very interesting note, at one point the Saint is reading a french paperback called 'Le Rempart des Béguines", from french author Françoise Mallet-Joris. This book published in 1951describes the romantic adventures between two ladies and involves bi-sexuality and homosexuality.This is very interesting given the fact that in the early sixties these subjects were usually not seen on the public screen or in TV episodes . Also, This book has been the subject of a movie see: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069173/

It could be argued that this situation was known to Roger Moore himself or maybe someone on the set wanted to make a personal inside joke to the french audience. We will never know for sure,

Oh yes, there is a statement about pearls dissolving in wine... This is not true. Pearls will dissolve slowly in acetic (More than 72 hours) acid or completely in hydrochloric acid (48 hours). If it dissolve completely in wine, it would be a very bad wine.

When Jeannine throws the soup ladle at Simon, it sticks in the door! Was this a "happy accident" or a special effect that actually worked?

Jeannine (Sylvia Syms) is a personal assistant to Madam Chen. She is the wife of a far east leader who has arrived in Paris for some diplomatic talks.

Madam Chen has bought with her a valuable pearl necklace and a bad temper. The press question her about the human rights in her country.

Meanwhile some robbers are interested in stealing the pearls. The police keep a close eye on Simon Templar, they think the Saint will be tempted.

Instead he has his suspicious eye on Jeannine. He knows she is a crook and a smart con woman.

Jeannine has plans to make a copy of the pearl necklace from a jeweller in Montmartre and switch them.

A decent crime caper with a political subtext that chimes with Roger Moore's later humanitarian work. Someone from Madam Chen's country also wants the necklace to use the proceeds help his people who are being oppressed by the regime.

The red wine switcheroo is hard to take seriously.

JEANNINE is a pretty interesting episode of the show with an Oriental feel, which is unusual. Jacqueline Chan plays a high-class tourist whose expensive string of pearls leads to the usual robbery, murder and twists galore. Sylvia Sims is the main guest actress in this one and does well in a multi-layered role, while Roger Moore of course makes the whole thing look charming and effortless. Also of interest is an early sympathetic turn from Ric Young, later a mainstay of Hollywood in his baddie roles playing Triads and the like. This is one of those episodes that keeps adding fresh twists right till the climax.

Paris. Several parties are after a diplomat's famous string of pearls. Including the Saint? The gendarmes think so, and are having him tailed. And they aren't the only ones.

Most if the time when either Anette Andre or Syvia Syms are in the cast it means something special. This isn't an exceptional episode, but Syms livens every scene she's in and she and Roger Moore have exceptional chemistry.

Syms plays a disreputable relic of Simon's past now working for the diplomat, and who also has her eyes on the necklace.

The diplomat's abrasive nature keeps this from becoming one of the great episodes; but Syms makes this episode unmissable.