The Villiers Diamond

An ex-con arrives at the home of wealthy businessman Silas Wade to collect a debt. Years before the thief stole the priceless Villiers Diamond for Wade. When the crook arrives at Wade's home, the businessman claims the diamond has not been sold and therefore the crook can't be paid off. Instead of leaving Wade's home, the thief decides to stick around by going undercover as a servant.

He's not the only one who is undercover, a variety of eccentrics arrive at Silas Wade's home, all hoping to get their hands on the famous jewel. Pretty Evelyn Ankers is on hand as a relative of Wade's. While top billed Edward Ashley is not who he is pretending to be.

"Barker" (Leslie Harcourt) arrives, uninvited, at the home of the wealthy "Wade" (Frank Birch). Unexpectedly, he is allowed in and soon we learn that both were in cahoots to fence the eponymous jewel. It's not proving the easiest to sell on, and the former man wants his cash so decides he is going to remain as the butler until a solution is found. That might just come in the form of "Joan" (Evelyn Ankers). She is the niece of "Wade" and is about to wed. Snag? Well he is her guardian and the conservator of her £10,000 fortune. She gets that when she marries - except, well, that cash has long gone the way of the dodo. How to save the day? The two crooks concoct a plan to stage a burglary and claim the insurance - but they are not the only crooks under his roof! The thing about this film is that, saving for the last five minutes of hectic activity, very little actually happens. It's very wordy, there are far too many characters to clutter things up and though there is a tiny twist at the denouement, the whole thing is just a bit so what? It's watchable enough, but I very much doubt you will ever remember it.

I've been re-visiting several "quota quickies" recently, those American company films made in England starring British actors and actresses. Basically made as an agreement to allow American film companies to make films in England when American films not only flooded the market, but basically for English speaking peoples all over the world WERE the films they watched, this taking the British market not to second place, but basically off the map. This was now a way to keep the British busy in the film market. The films were about 50 to 75 minutes in length, most just a couple of minutes short of an hour, shot on miniscule budgets, but many of them really taut and rapidly moving mysteries and droll comedies - British humor and soft murder mysteries that certainly held the attention. They still do!

I watched "The Villiers Diamond" (1938) for the first time, having found it on YouTube in a fairly good print. The sound needed to be put up a tad, but otherwise it was really fun, the print okay. About a just released prisoner who goes to a "respected" man's house, demands his share from the sale of the diamond, discovers that the man couldn't sell it - is having a difficult time finding any fence or buyer. The man's niece comes to live with him after being away for two years in a boarding school somewhere. Wants to know that her ten thousand pounds in savings is still there. Her uncle says, "Yes", of course, though the money's long gone. She also wants to marry a man who her uncle says she's too young to marry. Anyway, all end up in the man's house, along with a Captain Dawson and another lady. I'll leave the machinations of the plot alone because it gets going and quickly turns into an interesting situation on all sides. Who's a crook and who's not a crook. One of those. The ending has a very interesting surprise twist. A nice 50 minutes of quick fun. It's a decent cast, too. Evelyn Ankers in an early rôle. Edward Ashley as Captain Dawson. Others include Frank Birch, Liam Gaffney, Julie Suedo (very nice looking), Leslie Harcourt, and a couple of others.

"The Villiers Diamond" is a modestly enjoyable British mystery...and very typical for the genre. While it doesn't involve murder (and there were just too many of those films back in the day), it is still pretty ordinary as far as the writing and acting are concerned.

The story begins with Barker being released from prison after serving two years. He is suspected of having stolen the Villier Diamond....but police have been unable to prove it. But Barker DID steal it and his greed as well as his partner's greed might just be their undoing. There are not surprises here, though the film is entertaining and watchable. If you are interested in watching it, it's available for free download from archive.org.