Can anyone post or post a link to the differences between the above box sets?

Hi manfromjapan,
Welcome to SimplyMoore!  :smt001

I am not certain 100% about the differences between the two sets, but from what I keep hearing from everyone involved with The Saint, the Australian DVD sets (i.e. Umbrella) are the best available as far as extras are concerned.

I believe the second set you mentioned, the soon to be released Saint DVD set in R2 is going to have all of the black and white shows. There's a little more info on this thread:

simplymoore-about86.html

I emailed a friend who is more qualified to give you a better answer, hope hopefully he'll be able to shed better light on it soon.

In the mean time, these are the specials you get on the Umbrella set 1 (which includes the first 12 black and white episodes):

Roger Moore Introduction

Original Itc. Publicity Booklet Re-print Insert

Roger Moore Interview

Vintage 1963 Roger Moore Interview

Production Notes

Cast & Crew Profiles

Extensive Image Galleries

Original Itc. Press book (text feature)

Isolated Music & Effects Tracks

In the interests of fairness I must confess to being biased on this subject, for you can find my name in the credits of the Network sets.

And since Network's B&W set is due in the shops this Monday--and my sets came today--you should note that on their B&W box set they have the following extras:

• The Saint Steps In... To Television: An exclusive new documentary about how Simon Templar came to the small screen. Featuring contributions from Roger Moore, Robert S Baker, Johnny Goodman, Roy Ward Baker, Ken Baker, Patricia Charteris and Caron Gardner.
• Commentaries on four episodes
• Alternative (&^% sequence
• French main (&^%
• End (&^% background
• The Latin Touch trailer material (mute)
• Diverse textless material (mute)
• Episodic image gallerys
• Generic image gallery
• three booklets (two episode guides and the Leslie Charteris short story The Talented Husband)

On the color set they have the following:

* The Saint Steps In... To Colour - an exclusive documentary, narrated by Ian Ogilvy, on the making of the colour shows featuring contributions from Roger Moore, Robert S Baker, Johnny Goodman, Roy Ward Baker, Peter Manley, Malcolm Christopher, Caron Gardner, Alexandra Bastedo, Stuart Damon and Alvin Rakoff
* episodic versions of Vendetta for the Saint and The Fiction Makers – not seen in this format since their original transmission run and transferred from the original film elements exclusively for this set
* the movie versions of Vendetta for the Saint and The Fiction Makers
* trailers for all of the colour episodes
* commentaries on four shows
* three booklets including episodes guides, original PR for the movies and the exclusive publication of the Leslie Charteris short story The Saint and the Uncritical Publisher, which has never previously seen print in the UK
* The Saint at the Wheel - an exhaustive PDF essay on the cars used by the Saint
* Approximately forty minutes of Edwin Astley's outstanding incidental music for the series
* further image galleries, including a number of behind the scenes stills, for both two-part shows
* foreign (&^%
* ad bumpers
* textless material

When it comes to making a choice I think it depends on your location and budget. I've heard numerous horror stories about customs charges on the Aussie sets when importing them into the UK, yet Network's recommended pricing ain't cheap either.

I have some of the Umbrella sets and both the Network sets. if I had to offer an opinion, based solely on extras, then I personally would go for the Network sets, not because of the brilliant script they used for the documentary, but for Ian Ogilvy's voice over. He steals the show with tongue firmly in cheek--it is quite simply superb, particularly on the color documentary.

But that of course is just my opinion. You might like to note that the cheapest place I've found for Network's color set is The Saint Club, who are selling them to UK Saints for £64.99 including postage and packing.

Hoppy