The Peterville Diamond

Kudos to writers Gordon Wellesley and Brock Williams for supplying director Walter Forde with an unusually good comic screenplay. Yes, that's right -- I liked it. It reminded me of the Mozartean comic operas that go round and round in circles like a dog chasing its tail. After awhile you simply can't keep up with the implications of each of the plot's many twists and turns. But that's the verdict of the lazy spoon-fed audiences of today. The sharper audiences of Mozart's time had no trouble keeping up. What a refreshing bit of fun it was! The suave robber (in this case played scintillatingly by Oliver Wakefield) may be the cliché of clichés, but it's always a good time. The married woman (Anne Crawford) who gets caught up in the intrigue and displays second thoughts about her husband (the character goes back at least as far as Mrs. Ford in Shakespeare's "Merry Wives of Windsor") is here bestowed a decently delicious amount of ambiguity. Only the husband (Donald Stewart) seems a bit wooden. And the second tier characters are also as masterfully drawn as many in Shakespeare.

There are more famous Hollywood comedies of this type that get far more attention and aren't half as good as this little gem. My humble suggestion: Sit back and enjoy it!

"The Peterville Diamond" from 1942 is a pretty good British film with people not terribly well known on this side of the pond but nevertheless quite good. I would have liked to have seen this with spiffier production values and stars a la MGM. It's the kind of story that needs some gloss.

The plot concerns a bored, wealthy woman who feels ignored by her husband. To spice things up, she has a woman friend call her, and in the presence of her butler, she arranges a tryst at a jewelry store. The butler dutifully tells the husband. While everyone is at the store, it's robbed by one of those gentleman robbers they used to have in the '30s, a Raffles type. He later shows up at a dinner party hosted by the woman and her husband, and now he's a baron. It takes off from there, with confusion over a case containing either jewels or papers which leads to car chases.

I'm sure it's not a long film but due to the thinness of the plot, it felt like it went on too long. Nevertheless, parts of it are fun.

I rather enjoyed this movie. At first I balked at watching it because my screen guide described it as being "lackluster". Lackluster my nose! Nothing could be further from the truth. It's not lackluster at all. It's full of charm and wit and wacky moments. Some people complain that it's not very funny. Well, it's not supposed to be the Marx Brothers, folks. It's a caper movie with comedic elements mixed in along the way. And as such it's quite good.

I have to mention how beautifully lighted this movie is. It's delicious to look at. It was clearly lighted by an expert.

I'm not going to go over the plot, I detest doing that in my reviews. Impressions are what I like to give. And my overall impression of this movie was quite good. I might even add it into my collection. I might indeed.

TCM is currently showing a slew of "forgotten" Teddington Studios films (which repeat next Monday), and this one is a template for any intrigue comedy. Black and white never look better in such low-budget parameters.

Who will hook up with whom? Who will be arrested? What will become of the diamonds and other stones (they call them "rocks" for Americanism)?

One note: the absurdly large corsages worn by the women at the lapel is a trend I should like to see reappear.

Jewel thieves and a laconic damsel entwine. The film is never dull, and very fast paced. O, that films today would learn from such minor gems! I am enjoying this feature and look forward to other Teddington productions via Warner Bros.

When teri doesn't get much attention from her hard working husband, she decides to get him to pay more attention. Somehow. But when they are caught up in a robbery at the jewelry store, things get complicated. And they keep bumping into the thieves. Mistaken identities. Of people. And briefcases. And the president is coming for dinner! The first half of this just drags, but about halfway through, things pick right up. The farce gets a little more exciting with the thief and the chief of police in the same house. Stick with it... it gets so much better! Directed by walter forde. Based on the play from 1932, which had already been filmed as "jewel robbery". Anne crawford (plays teri) died so young at 35. This was the final film for oliver wakefield (the baron); he died young at 47. Donald stewart (mortimer) died at 55. Kind of a cursed cast.