O Caçador de Diamantes

In the early 1950s, Hollywood tried to compete with television's small, b&w screens by offering a number of Technicolored adventure movies filled with glamorous stars and exotic backgrounds. It was a Golden Age for movies about pirates, the French Foreign Legion, Arabian nights, jungle safaris, lost cities of gold, etc. "The Diamond Queen" fits neatly into this category but it's a minor effort and, not surprisingly, has largely been forgotten.

A bigger budget would have helped. The movie begins in the France of Louis XIV but all we see there is one mundane set showing a jeweler's workshop. The transition to India is largely conveyed by a stock-shot of a sailing ship at sea. Aside from a few more stock-shots of monkeys and other wildlife, India consists of nothing more than a few sets which seem to be left-overs from other movies.

As for the cast, neither Fernando Lamas nor Gilbert Roland seem to have a drop of French blood in them, and trying to pass Arlene Dahl off as the "Queen of Nepal" is downright laughable. However, a much bigger problem is the script. It lacks the snappy dialog which can enliven this sort of thing and its plotting seems tired and perfunctory. One never gets a sense that its two heroes might be in serious danger. When they're thrown into the Mogul's dungeon, for example, the tortures to which they're subjected seem no worse than a frat-house hazing, though the sight of a sweaty Lamas stripped to the waist and in bondage is one of the movie's few highlights. Also, the romance between Lamas and Dahl never strikes any sparks, which makes the closing scene of the ship returning to France with its starry-eyed lovers seem both flat and implausible.

At a brisk 80 minutes, however, the movie never sinks to boredom, though it never comes close to enthralling, either.

This is one of those movies that I didn't know existed until I picked up a VHS copy on a market stall recently.

It is about two men who are sent to India to search for a particular type of diamond. While in India, they meet Queen Maya and end up in all sorts of adventures. They get captured by some natives and, not surprisingly, one of the men falls in love with Queen Maya. They escape the natives at the end, after some fighting.

The movie is shot nicely in colour and has some scenic locations.

The cast includes Fermando Lamas and Jay Novelle, who were to be reunited in the 1960 version of The Lost World, Arlene Dahl (Journey To the Centre of the Earth) and Gilbert Roland.

Though not brilliant, I rather enjoyed watching this movie and is a good way to spend 80 minutes one evening.

Rating: 3 stars out of 5.

John Brahm made a handful of the best films in Hollywood. ' The Lodger, ' ' Hangover Square ' and ' The Locket. ' After this dreadfully badly made film he made ' The Mad Magician ' made in 3-D and touted as a good follow up to the much better ' House of Wax ' not directed by him but by Andre de Toth. So what went wrong? It is sad to see good directors go astray like this. The film begins in Paris and a jewel made for for a King is ruined and Fernando Lamas has to go in search of another. Most of the reviewers have told the details of the story but I want to concentrate on the tawdry sets and the appalling acting. Lamas goes to India and saves a certain Queen there to both fall in love with and to get him a more precious gem. The version I saw had bad colour but it certainly could not be better even if it was restored. Gilbert Roland accompanies Lamas to see he gets another diamond and he seems to laugh his way through the film. Avoid as it is truly a very bad film without one redeeming feature. The sets fall apart as you watch the film.

This is a pretty inert India-set costumer of the watch-where-you're-poking-that-sword-or-you'll-knock-the-set-over variety. Given the title, there is no notable coruscation besides the Technicolour, which is gorgeous and illuminates Eugene Lourie's surroundings to excellent effect (he'd just production-designed Renoir's 'The River' and was about to embark on 'The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms). Lamas tried as he might but was never able to break Hollywood's market for even the B-costumer rogue (even John Derek managed more tried-and-tested prolificy); and Dahl's sireny is less than compensatory enough to inspire bravado in the climactic duel between her 2 potential suitors.

Update - the print shown on More4 in the UK in November 2006 is terrible, and will not reflect the technical qualities mentioned above.

This preposterous bit of period hokum is a major disappointment even to those like myself who love nearly everything swashbuckling. The color is nice but neither Lamas nor Roland are convincing as Frenchman sailing half way around the world to India to find a diamond worthy of the crown of France. After a suspiciously rapid transit (via lines on a map) the two arrive in India and are almost immediately involved in the local power struggles when they meet a rani (Dahl) traveling on her way to her intended bridegroom in another kingdom. The only thing Indian about Arlene Dahl is her last name. In return for her hand in marriage, the new queen is guaranteed the return of the precious diamond eye of her home goddess, stolen long ago. The plot is (appropriately) far-fetched and the acting is pedestrian at best. Will these two boring characters manage to glom onto the diamond and return to France in time to have it set for the coronation? Will you even care if they do?