The Four Diamonds

Christopher Millard created this beautifully written story in an effort to describe the four qualities that he believed a person would need to defeat cancer: Courage, Wisdom, Honesty, and Strength...the Four Diamonds. Unfortunately, Christopher lost his battle with cancer a few years after writing the story, but his spirit and captivating message lives on. This story led to Chris' parents, Charles & Irma Millard, to name the organization that would raise money for families who children have to deal with the disease, the "Four Diamonds Fund" which is located at the Penn State Children's Hospital. The story and the fund have become the basis for the world's largest student run philanthropy...the Penn State Dance Marathon. In it's 30 year history, THON (as it is affectionately called by the Penn State community) has raised over $30 million in an effort to "Conquer Pediatric Cancer". Over 10,000 students coming together and do what they can monetarily, spiritually, and physically to find a cure for cancer giving these "Four Diamonds" a face.

If such a story can inspire such an amazing event, it would be hard to believe it could not inspire a great movie.

This movie is perfect in every way i can think of. Great acting so the characters fell very real; great script, with very funny lines at times; great score; interesting story; and great morals presented in an interesting way. The story of Chris is a moving one, where, when he gets cancer, goes through tough times by losing his friends and the family starts to drift apart, while sir Millard wishes to gain his freedom and rid the land of an evil sorceress and become a knight by going on quests that teach him valuable lessons of life that everyone should possess: courage, wisdom, honesty, and strength. The scenes near the end, about memories of the family together, and Chris expressing his feeling of frustration and Dr. Burke trying to help are sad and moving.

an excellent film.

I was 15 when I saw The Four Diamonds, but I adored it. It made me laugh; it made me cry. It made me believe and hope and care. The movie presented a story that was at one time honest and blunt about the challenges of being a teenager with a critical illness, and at the same time beautiful with hope and inspiration and dreams. I always wanted to tape the movie, but I never did, and then it went off the air and I never saw it again. I have tried to track down a copy of it and I have tried to e-mail Disney in the hopes of getting it re-aired. It's a great movie and people deserve to see it again. People need to see it again. I need to see it again.

This movie was great and I loved it. I saw this movie back when I was 10 years old on Disney on the premiere showing in August 1995. It aired a few times after that and then it never aired again. This movie would be great for support groups dealing with cancer and other illnesses. I love Thomas Guiry's acting like 'The Sandlot'. I had tears in my eyes at the end of the film when I first saw it. I loved it how Chris Millard shared his feelings with his fantasy story and what he did while he was battling his cancer, tragically Chris Millard lost his battle with cancer in 1972 at the age of 14. The Disney Channel should air this wonderful, inspirational movie again.

I stumbled across this movie while looking through Thomas Guiry's filmography. I enjoyed his other earlier works and really wanted to see The Four Diamonds. After years of searching I'd almost given up hope of finding a source for it. Finally I found one. For those looking for it, contact The Four Diamond Fund at Penn State University. They have a few copies they will let people borrow. All they ask is that they be returned within two weeks.

It was worth the wait. Thomas did such a great job portraying Chris and Squire Millard. Between the fantasy world of Squire Millard and the real life of Chris Millard the movies was at times enjoyable to watch, at times painful to watch, with a little bit of everything else in between. This movie really deserves a DVD release.