''The Diamond'' is a 1954 British

film noir Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American ' ...

crime film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

starring

Dennis O'Keefe Dennis O'Keefe (born Edward Vanes Flanagan, Jr., March 29, 1908 – August 31, 1968) was an American actor and writer. Early years Born in Fort Madison, Iowa, O'Keefe was the son of Edward Flanagan and Charlotte Flanagan, Irish vaudevill ...

, Margaret Sheridan and

Philip Friend Philip Wyndham Friend (20 February 1915 in Horsham, Sussex – 1 September 1987 in Chiddingfold, Surrey) was a British film and television actor. Career Britain Friend went to Bradfield College where he became interested in acting. He began ...

. It is based on the 1952 novel '' Rich Is the Treasure'' by

Maurice Procter Maurice Procter (4 February 1906 – 28 April 1973) was an English novelist. He was born in Nelson, Lancashire, England. Early life Maurice Procter was born in Nelson, Lancashire, on 4 February 1906. His parents were Rose Hannah and William ...

. It was released by

United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the studi ...

in both Britain and America where it was known as ''The Diamond Wizard''. It has the distinction of being Britain's first

3D film 3D films are motion pictures made to give an illusion of three-dimensional solidity, usually with the help of special glasses worn by viewers. They have existed in some form since 1915, but had been largely relegated to a niche in the motion pict ...

, though according to the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

, it was shown in 3D only once, on 13 September 2006 in Hollywood. Despite the 2006 showing the film was listed on the

BFI 75 Most Wanted The BFI 75 Most Wanted is a list compiled in 2010 by the British Film Institute of the most sought-after British feature films not held in the BFI National Archive, and classified as "missing, believed lost". The films chosen range from quota qu ...

list of lost films. The 2D film, however, is not lost and can be viewed on

Amazon Prime Amazon Prime is a paid subscription service from Amazon which is available in various countries and gives users access to additional services otherwise unavailable or available at a premium to other Amazon customers. Services include same, one- ...

while the restored 3D version was released on Blu-Ray November 2022.

Production

It was shot at

Walton Studios Walton Studios, previously named Hepworth Studios and Nettlefold Studios, was a film production studio in Walton-on-Thames in Surrey, England.location filming In geography, location or place are used to denote a region (point, line, or area) on Earth's surface or elsewhere. The term ''location'' generally implies a higher degree of certainty than ''place'', the latter often indicating an entity with an ...

taking place around London. The film's sets were designed by the

art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...

Denis Wreford. It was produced by the

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

British company Gibraltar Films for release by

. It was O'Keefe's second role in a British film having starred in another crime-thriller '' The Fake'' the previous year. It seems unclear who directed ''The Diamond''. According to the

website the British release credited British B-picture veteran

Montgomery Tully Montgomery Tully (6 May 190410 October 1988) was an Irish film director and writer. Film career Born in Dublin, Tully studied at the University of London, and originally entered the film industry as a director of documentaries. Later, Tully wo ...

as director, while the US release credited the film's American star, Dennis O'Keefe. However, the US print viewed by the reviewer of the

American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures The ''AFI Catalog of Feature Films'', also known as the ''AFI Catalog'', is an ongoing project by the American Film Institute (AFI) to catalog all commercially-made and theatrically exhibited American motion pictures from the birth of cinema in ...

credits Tully while a

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

video with the opening credits of a print bearing the British release title credits O'Keefe.

Plot

After a gang pulls off a heist to acquire freshly minted dollars, American Treasury Agent Joe Dennison pursues their trail to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. With the assistance of a

Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's 32 boroughs, but not the City of London, the square mile that forms London's ...

detective, he attempts to break a racket involving the production of

synthetic diamond Lab-grown diamond (LGD; also called laboratory-grown, laboratory-created, man-made, artisan-created, artificial, synthetic, or cultured diamond) is diamond that is produced in a controlled technological process (in contrast to naturally formed ...

Cast

as Joe Dennison * Margaret Sheridan as Marline Miller *

as Inspector McClaren *

Alan Wheatley Alan Wheatley (19 April 1907 – 30 August 1991) was an English actor. He was a well known stage actor in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, appeared in forty films between 1931 and 1965 and was a frequent broadcaster on radio from the 1930s to the ...

as Thompson Blake *

Francis de Wolff Francis Marie de Wolff (7 January 191318 April 1984) was an English character actor. Large, bearded, and beetle-browed, he was often cast as villains in both film and television. Life and career Born in Essex, he made his film debut in ''Flame ...

as Yeo *

Eric Berry James Eric Berry (born December 29, 1988) is an American former football safety who played in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Tennessee Volunteers, where he was a two-time unanimous All-American and recog ...

as Hunziger * Michael Balfour as Hoxie *

Gudrun Ure Gudrun Ure (born 12 March 1926) is a Scottish actress, most famous for her portrayal of the title character in '' Super Gran''. Biography Ure was born in Campsie, Stirlingshire. She starred in Orson Welles' 1951 stage production of ''Othel ...

as Sergeant Smith *

Paul Hardtmuth Paul Hardtmuth (2 July 18885 January 1962) was a British actor. He made his film debut in Germany in 1917, and appeared in and co-wrote the film ''Um der Liebe Willen'' in 1920. He was born in 1888 in Berlin, and died on 5 January 1962 in Hamp ...

as Dr. Eric Miller *

Colin Tapley Colin Edward Livingstone Tapley (7 May 1909 – 1 December 1995) was a New Zealand actor in both American and British films. Born in New Zealand, he served in the Royal Air Force and an expedition to Antarctica before winning a Paramount Pictur ...

as Sir Stafford Beach *

Donald Gray Donald Gray (born Eldred Owermann Tidbury, 3 March 1914 – 7 April 1978) was a South African actor, well known for his starring role in the British TV series '' Mark Saber'', for providing the voices of Colonel White, Captain Black and the M ...

as Commander Gilles *

Cyril Chamberlain Cyril Chamberlain (8 March 1909 – 5 December 1974) was an English film and television actor. He appeared in a number of the early ''Carry On'', ''Doctor'' and ''St. Trinian's'' films. Chamberlain was born on 8 March 1909 in London and died ...

as Castle *Seymour Green as Lascelles *

Betty McDowall Betty McDowall (1924 – 1993) was an Australian stage, film and television actress. She was born in Sydney, New South Wales in 1924. Her television appearances include episodes of ''Z-Cars'', ''The Saint'' and ''The Prisoner''. On stage, sh ...

as Police Sgt. Graves *

Alastair Hunter Alistair is a masculine given name. It is an Anglicised form of the Scottish Gaelic ''Alasdair''. The latter is most likely a Scottish Gaelic variant of the Norman French Alexandre (given name), Alexandre or Latin Alexander, which was incorporated ...

as Dr. Cully * Paul Carpenter as Mickey Sweeney * Philip Lennard as Police Sgt. Hunter * Victor Wood as Sam, Fingerprint Technician *

Molly Weir Mary Weir (17 March 1910 – 28 November 2004), known as Molly Weir, was a Scottish actress. She appeared as the character Hazel the McWitch in the BBC TV series '' Rentaghost''. She was the sister of naturalist and broadcaster Tom Weir. B ...

as Mrs. Sayer * Gordon McLeod as Paul Hawkins *

Arthur Mullard Arthur Ernest Mullard (né Mullord; 19 September 1910His obituary in ''The Times'' gives his date of birth as 10 November 1910 but conflicts with the birthdate given in his death registration. His year of birth appears as 1908, 1910, 1912 and 1 ...

as Police Informer *

Wensley Pithey Wensley Ivan William Frederick Pithey (21 June 1914 – 10 November 1993) was a South African character actor who had a long stage and film career in Britain. Biography Pithey was born in Cape Town, South Africa. A graduate of the Univers ...

as Police Sergeant

References

External links

British Film Institute 75 Most Wanted entry
with extensive notes * * *
''The Diamond''
at the BFI Database 1954 films 1954 3D films Film noir British 3D films British crime films 1954 crime films British black-and-white films Films based on British novels Films directed by Montgomery Tully Films set in London Films set in Minneapolis Films shot in London Films shot at Nettlefold Studios United Artists films 1950s lost films 1950s English-language films 1950s British films {{1950s-crime-film-stub