the saint strikes back is a 1939 american crime film directed by john farrow. it marks the second cinematic incarnation of the antihero crimefighting character simon templar, alias "the saint". george sanders replaced louis hayward, who had played the saint in "the saint in new york". the movie was produced by rko and also featured wendy barrie as female gang leader val travers. barrie would appear in two more saint films, playing different roles each time, though not in the next film in the series, "the saint in london". this was the second of eight films in rko's film series about the saint.