What did you like / dislike about The Saint episode "Sibao"? Share most memorable moments from the episode, its characters and actors.  :smt001

I've just been watching this episode, one of the earlier black and white ones.

The similarities with "Live and Let Die" really stand out. The story is set in Haiti, with a strong voodoo connection. First there is a dancer in a nightclub looking very much like Baron Samedi. Then an attractive young woman - Sibao who has supernatural powers  and tells Simon " I knew you were coming." Also at a ceremony being held right at the end of the story, there are the same kind of female dancers dressed in pretty much the same way as the movie!

Nevertheless, another cracking good story, where we see Simon being shot, and fall to the ground. Only things aren't quite what they seem.

This story was a LC original, wasn't it? I think I read it a long time ago. I don't believe I have this episode. Could you please post some captures from it?

Hi nelly_smith, I looked at the end credits and you're right, it is indeed based on an original story of Leslie Charteris - "The Questing Tycoon." I wonder if they stuck closely to the original story in the tv version?

I think the actress who played Sibao was very well matched with Roger, and got me wondering .... she would have made a fantastic Solitaire to Roger's Bond in LALD!

Yes, I'm working on some pics right now, and I'll post them very soon.

Here's a pic of the dancer in the nightclub, where Simon first meets Sibao. Look familiar?



Simon is invited to Sibao's wedding, after which her fiance will receive all her powers. He is a murderer wanted by the CIA for causing havoc wherever he goes.. and plans to travel to South America to cause even more mayhem. Sibao sends Simon a protective talisman which she tells him to wear around his neck. The fiance sits down to dinner with Simon, and afterwards tells him his wine is drugged. He had previously heard Simon tell Sibao what his real intentions were. In an earlier scene, he had arranged to kill an undercover CIA agent that Simon was with, and knew that he was being followed. Simon had promised to carry on the work, after the agent was killed.



The fiance taunts Simon by telling him he is going to kill him. Simon tries to fight him, but  it is no use, and is beaten. He tries to shoot him, but for some strange reason he is unable to pull the trigger.



The gun is taken off Simon, and is aimed  at a target very near him until the gun is aimed at him and he is shot.

Meanwhile Sibao is preparing for the ceremony with her father. (Looking a little like LALD set).She begs her father to stop the ceremony, as Simon told her her fiance is an evil man, and is only marrying her for her powers. He father refuses to listen. Then she shivers and knows that something has happened to Simon and heads off for her fiance's house. She revives Simon and tells him the bullet has hit the talisman and saved his life.









Simon and Sibao make their way back to the initiation ceremony where her fiance is about to receive his powers. They tell Sibao's father that her fiance is an evil man, and he denies it. So to settle who is telling the truth, they are both given a trial by snakes. Simon and the fiance both put their  hands into a basket of snakes. They bite the fiance which proves his guilt. As he is dying he grabs Sibao and holds a knife to her throat, but somehow something makes him drop the knife and he dies. Sibao's father shows Simon that inside the basket  instead of snakes there are only some ropes.



A great episode. very dramatic for Simon.

Thanks Amber!  :smt008

I don't remember LC's story exactly, but the talisman scene is very similar. Simon is shot by the baddie and the bullet hits the talisman and saves Simon's life. I also recall that in the original story the baddie turned people into zombies and made them work for him. And when the Saint discovered what was going on, the bad guy tried to kill Simon and turn him into one of the zombies. LOL, the story definitely had a sci-fi flair to it and could be placed into the same category as The House On Dragon Rock and The Man Who Gambled With Life. I take it, that they changed things up a little in that respect in the episode.  :smt003 Do you think they should have stuck with the original story to a T? I think it might have been interesting to see the Saint among zombies on screen. From what you have told me, it sounds like the writers decided to go with a more serious down to earth approach.

There was a zombie theme to this episode too.

Simon went back to the nightclub after meeting Sibao and witnessing her supernatural powers. He took with him the owner of a hotel he was staying at, and another guest who was forever drunk. While there Sibao's fiance recognised the "drunk" as a CIA agent who had been investigating him. His being drunk was just an act, but he was eventually thrown out of the nightclub by Simon for causing a disturbance. The fiance arranged with Sibao's brother to meddle with the drunks car, so his brakes would fail. In the meantime Sibao walked home with her brother unaware of what he'd done.

As they walked along a country lane, the agent's car was getting out of control, and he crashed into them both. He didn't stop. Simon and his friend were following closely behind his car and saw Sibao trying to get help for her brother. He was dead, and Sibao told Simon that before the night was ended the drunk would die.

Sibao's brother was carried into a room belonging to his father, who was a kind of high priest of voodoo. They told Simon that the brother would avenge his death. Simon tried to hurry back to the hotel and warn the drunk, but strangely his engine cut out on his car. Meanwhile as the people chanted over the dead body, suddenly he wasn't there anymore. The scene cut to the hotel room were the drunk was sleeping, he saw something coming towards him, screamed and then was killed. Meanwhile  at the house of his father, he was back where he was before, lying in state. Simon found the drunks body, with the same injuries that Sibao's brother had. He searched his belongings and only then discovered he was an agent. He rang someone he knew at The White House, who flew out to Haiti, asking Simon to carry on, as the agent had left off.

I liked this story, it had a certain "spookiness" about it, and was very well acted.