Fric frac, rue des diams

I saw Harrowhouse on TV many years ago and loved it for it's period atmosphere, modest intrigue, topped off with a somewhat tongue-in-cheek narration by Grodin. Where the B-grade plot and action fell short, the dry humour of the narration supplied irony and maybe self-parody. Renting it on VHS many years later, it took some time to figure why it fell so flat - the VHS version had no narration, and presented as merely a sincere but inadequate attempt at thriller/drama genre.

I'd be curious to know which version each reviewer saw - the 'vanilla' but one-dimensional (original?) version, or the narrated and somewhat quirky TV version. I'm hoping that the narrated version eventually appears on DVD - it's on my list.

Charles Grodin, who co-wrote is almost always self-conscious, and it's self-consciousness that ultimately sinks this otherwise entertaining diamond heist caper. The excellent starring and supporting cast can't quite prevent the audience from being confused as to whether this is supposed to be a smart parody or a complicated thriller. The director was the excellent film editor of "Jazz On A Summer's Day", "Lilith", "The Miracle Worker", etc

"11 Harrowhouse" is a heist film from 1974 starring Charles Grodin, Candice Bergen, James Mason, John Gielgud, Trevor Howard, and the recently deceased Peter Vaughan.

I, unfortunately, saw a bad print of this which took away from my viewing. I love heist films, and the robbery of jewels here is clever and entertaining, as is the car chase toward the end.

Grodin is a diamond trader, Howard R. Chesser, though he is not a major player. The Diamond Exchange in London, address 11 Harrowhouse, monitors the control of diamonds, hoarding tons of them to keep the value high.

A multi-millionaire, Clyde Massey (Howard) wants a large diamond named after him and gives the million-pound deal to Chesser. Alas, when Chesser and Maren (Bergen) go to have the diamond cut, it's stolen from them.

Massey then blackmails him and orders him to steal the four tons of diamonds at the Exchange. With the daredevil Maren and an inside man (Mason), Chesser gets to work.

The film painstakingly shows the planning and execution of the heist, so the real excitement is the car chase that takes place.

Grodin has that wry way about him that worked for the character. Though I love Candice Bergen, I've never held her acting in high esteem - her metier turned out to be comedy. She's beautiful - it's not a great role. And you can't go wrong with people like Gielgud, Mason, and Howard, all of whom are terrific.

Clever heist film, attractive stars, and entertaining.

Considering the pedigree of the cast it's odd that this film didn't do better. There's much to recommend this story of a diamond broker being maneuvered into robbing a London diamond exchange of its inventory (a caper involving such tools as a desperate employee, a piece of chocolate cake and a cockroach). The dialogue is liberally peppered with Grodin's wry voice-over commentary, and this film is one of the few places where his style of humor actually manages to work. It's no Topkapi, but a pleasant way to waste some time. Considerably more light-hearted than the Gerald Browne book on which it was based.

I am biased- I love this movie.

In the theaters when I was a kid it was so much fun thanks to the added commentary over the movie by Charles Grodin. It was dry and hilarious and brought the story to life. Years later, on a video I found at a store the narration was gone and the movie seems flatter.

It is a diamond heist movie filled with unique characters and it has a lighter tone than the novel it was based on which was not only darker and tougher but had a very different ending.

The mostly English cast is great, Candice Bergen is gorgeous, Grodin seems like an odd choice but by the end turns out to have been right for it, Michael Lewis' score is wonderful, and I laughed a lot (as did the rest of the audience in 1974). On top of that the caper plot is very clever and overall I think it is worth your time- if you like such things.