The Peterville Diamond

Teri Mortimer (Anne Crawford) is tired of being neglected by her rich businessman husband Charlie (Donald Stewart). She feigns interest in the expensive Peterville Diamond, but he just writes a big check to keep her quiet. A jewel thief duo comes into the store and robs the place. Of course, they steal the Peterville Diamond. The diamond passes from one hand to another. Teri enjoyed her time with the suave thief Baron Redburn (Oliver Wakefield) and the attention of Charlie's new jealousy.

This is set up for a fun love triangle. It's a fun meet-cute with Teri and the thief. The constant double-dealing tries to be screwball fun, but it just muddies the waters. I want more time for Teri to banter with Redburn. I don't know if they could ever stay together especially considering the times. Maybe if Charlie is only a boyfriend.

This was a mildly enjoyable film, but despite Teddington Studio trying hard to make a nice little farce, the human often seemed a tad forced and not especially funny. Not a bad film, though not one that you'll long remember.

The film begins with a ridiculous plot device--a man and woman are on their honeymoon and the man is so busy with his business that he actually brings along his secretary and works the entire time! This is funny but also so ridiculous because it was completely impossible unless you just assume the man was gay. The understandably angry wife is beside herself and decides to try and make her indifferent husband jealous. However, despite having a good plan, her plan goes awry when a real stranger (in the form of a gentleman bandit) comes into her life for real. This bandit was by far the best aspect of the film--as he was quite charming and funny despite being a crook! After they meet during a robbery, the film slows down and becomes a tad tedious--especially during a dinner party when the stolen jewels keep getting lost and switched. This got old quickly and I found myself getting bored and wanting the film to wrap up quickly. Too bad the momentum was lost and it all ended up so mediocre--the film had some promise.

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.