''Diamond City'' is a 1949

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by David MacDonald and starring David Farrar,

Honor Blackman Honor Blackman (22 August 1925 – 5 April 2020) was an English actress, known for the roles of Cathy Gale in '' The Avengers''Aaker, Everett (2006). ''Encyclopedia of Early Television Crime Fighters''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 58. (1962 ...

Diana Dors Diana Dors (born Diana Mary Fluck; 23 October 19314 May 1984) was an English actress and singer. Dors came to public notice as a blonde bombshell, much in the style of Americans Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield and Mamie Van Doren. Dors was p ...

and

Niall MacGinnis Patrick Niall MacGinnis (29 March 1913 – 6 January 1977) was an Irish actor who made around 80 screen appearances. Early life MacGinnis was born in Dublin in 1913.

Plot

In 1870s South Africa, Englishman

Stafford Parker Stafford Parker was a British artist, miner and the only President of the small and short-lived "Diggers Republic" on the diamond fields of southern Africa. Griqualand West and President of the Diggers Republic Originally an auctioneer and arti ...

tries to persuade Boer leader Jan Bloem to hand over control of a potential diamond field. This upsets Bloem's nephew Piet Quieman and businessman Muller; Muller has made his fortune through selling cheap rum to black workers. New arrivals come to Hopetown: a missionary, Hart, and his daughter Mary, and David Raymond. A diamond is found on Bloem's territory. Parker persuades Bloem that he can maintain law and order and Bloem picks Parker over Piet and Muller. Parker and a number of people from Hopetown set up a new establishment at Klipdrift. Muller tries to cause trouble but Parker beats him in a fight. Klipdrift becomes a thriving town. David Raymond suspects Muller is buying diamonds directly from the natives, going around Parker's arrangement with Bloem. Eventually Parker confronts Muller who denies it. Parker calls for a rule book to be drawn up and grows closer to Mary which causes saloon keeper Dora to be jealous. Parker helps declare the first Diggers' Republic. Muller organises resistance but Parker defeats him. Parker realises that Mary has fallen for David. The diamond fields are annexed by Britain. Parker leaves to seek gold in some nearby mountains, leaving Dora.

Cast

* David Farrar as

as Mary Hart *

as Dora *

Niall MacGinnis Patrick Niall MacGinnis (29 March 1913 – 6 January 1977) was an Irish actor who made around 80 screen appearances. Early life MacGinnis was born in Dublin in 1913.

as Muller * Andrew Crawford as David Raymond *

Mervyn Johns Mervyn Johns (born David Mervyn John; 18 February 18996 September 1992) was a Welsh stage, film and television character actor who became a star of British films during the Second World War. Johns was known for his "mostly mild-mannered, lugubri ...

as Hart *

Phyllis Monkman Phyllis Monkman (8 January 1892 – 2 December 1976) was a British stage and film actress.Moore p.56 She was married to the entertainer Laddie Cliff. In the early years of her career, she was often partnered on stage by Jack Buchanan and appeare ...

as Ma Bracken * Hal Osmond as Brandy Bill * Bill Owen as Pinto * Philo Hauser as Piet Quieman * John Blythe as Izzy Cohen *

Dennis Vance Dennis Vance (18 March 1924 – 6 October 1983) was a British television producer, director, and occasional actor. Born in Birkenhead, Cheshire, he began his career as an actor in the late 1940s, appearing in small film parts, such as Poet's ...

as John Albert Rogers * Norris Smith as Jan Bloem *

John Salew John Rylett Salew (1902 (some sources state 1 January 1897)14 September 1961) was an English stage film and TV actor. Salew made the transition from stage to films in 1939, and according to Allmovie, "the manpower shortage during WWII enabled ...

as Dr. Woods * Tony Quinn as Vanderbyl *

Ronald Adam General Sir Ronald Forbes Adam, 2nd Baronet, (30 October 1885 – 26 December 1982) was a senior British Army officer. He had an important influence on the conduct of the British Army during the Second World War as a result of his long tenure ...

as Robert Southey * Arthur Lane as Timothy Maxie *

Julian Somers John Julian Somers (12 November 1903 – 11 November 1976), known as Julian Somers, was a prolific English stage and screen actor. Career By 1934, Somers was appearing in rep at Croydon. In 1937, he was on stage in Jeffrey Dell's play ''Night Al ...

as van Niekerk

Production

Development

The movie was based on the true story of

who was elected president of the Diamond Diggers Republic in 1871. It was announced in 1945 as ''Digger's Rest'' and was to star Stewart Granger from director

Leslie Arliss Leslie Arliss (6 October 1901, London – 30 December 1987, Jersey, Channel Islands) was an English screenwriter and director. He is best known for his work on the Gainsborough melodramas directing films such as ''The Man in Grey'' and ''The Wi ...

. "This Parker was a born fighter, a great, husky guy", said Arliss. "He'd knocked around in the States as a young man and was tremendously impressed by the sheriff system, as he'd seen it practiced in the West."

Patricia Roc Patricia Roc (born Felicia Miriam Ursula Herold; 7 June 1915 – 30 December 2003) was an English film actress, popular in the Gainsborough melodramas such as ''Madonna of the Seven Moons'' (1945) and '' The Wicked Lady'' (1945), though she only ...

was to play the Salvation Army girl with whom Parker falls in love. However Roc was named in a divorce case involving

Fay Compton Virginia Lilian Emmeline Compton-Mackenzie, (; 18 September 1894 – 12 December 1978), known professionally as Fay Compton, was an English actress. She appeared in several films, and made many broadcasts, but was best known for her stage per ...

and Gainsborough reportedly dropped her from the film as a result. Eventually the make starring role was given to David Farrar who had received acclaim for his performance in ''

Black Narcissus ''Black Narcissus'' is a 1947 British Psychological fiction, psychological drama film written, produced, and directed by Powell and Pressburger, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, and starring Deborah Kerr, Kathleen Byron, Sabu Dastagir, S ...

''. It was directed by David MacDonald, who had just directed ''

The Bad Lord Byron ''The Bad Lord Byron'' is a 1949 British historical drama film about the life of Lord Byron. It was directed by David MacDonald and starred Dennis Price as Byron with Mai Zetterling, Linden Travers and Joan Greenwood. Plot The film sees life ...

'' and ''

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus * lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo * es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón * pt, Cristóvão Colombo * ca, Cristòfor (or ) * la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...

'' for Gainsborough. Diana Dors played the role of the saloon keeper when

Jean Kent Jean Kent (born Joan Mildred Field; 29 June 1921 − 30 November 2013) was an English film and television actress. Biography Born Joan Mildred Field (sometimes incorrectly cited as Summerfield) in Brixton, London in 1921, the only child of va ...

was unavailable. It was Dors' biggest part to date. Dors says she was paid £30 under her contract to Rank and Farrar received £18,000 but she did not mind as it was "the biggest break of my career". The film was seen as an attempt by producer Sydney Box to compete with ''

Eureka Stockade The Eureka Rebellion was a series of events involving gold miners who revolted against the British administration of the colony of Victoria, Australia during the Victorian gold rush. It culminated in the Battle of the Eureka Stockade, which ...

'' (1949), another British film set and shot in a former colony.

Shooting

It combined location filming in the Kimberley region of South Africa with studio work at

Denham Studios Denham Film Studios was a British film production studio operating from 1936 to 1952, founded by Alexander Korda. Notable films made at Denham include ''Brief Encounter'' and David Lean's ''Great Expectations''. From the 1950s to the 1970s th ...

in England. MacDonald arrived in South Africa in November 1948 for location filming. This was meant to take 25 days but MacDonald finished it in 12, due to him using only local crew. Studio work began at Denham in January 1949. 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 ...

George Provis George Provis (1901–1989) was a British art director who worked on over a hundred films during a lengthy career. He began his career working on quota quickies during the 1930s. After the Second World War, Provis was appointed by Sydney Box to h ...

. Filming was held up when David Farrar fell ill. Bombardier Billy Wells taught Farrar how to box for the film.

Reception

The film's box office performance was poor. ''Filmink'' called it "a hilariously inept version of a fascinating true tale... with David Farrar as a gun-totin’ Stafford Parker, Diana Dors and Honor Blackman perfectly cast if just five years older, and extremely dodgy racial politics (if you wonder why Farrar didn’t become a star after ''Black Narcissus'', this film is part of the reason)." Other reviews were more positive. BFI's Screenonline notes that the film 'makes good use of avid Farrar'sparticular brand of sensual virility as Stafford Parker' and adds that 'Diana Dors makes the most of one of her biggest roles to date... She pulls this off with surprising conviction'.

References

External links

''Diamond City''
at BFI Screenonline
''Diamond City''
at

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

''Diamond City''
at

TCMDB Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of Atl ...

{{David MacDonald 1949 films 1940s adventure drama films 1940s historical films British historical films British adventure drama films British Western (genre) films 1940s English-language films Films directed by David MacDonald (director) Films set in South Africa British drama films British black-and-white films Films scored by Clifton Parker Films set in the 1870s Films shot at Denham Film Studios Gainsborough Pictures films 1949 drama films 1940s British films