The Peterville Diamond (1942)

Director:

Walter Forde

Writers:

Ladislas Fodor (play)
Gordon Wellesley (writer)

Release Date:

11 January 1943 (UK)

Plot:

The ignored wife of an industrialist hatches a plot to make him pay more attention to her.

Plot Keywords:

Diamonds Stolen | Diamond Ring | Train | Car Chase | Briefcase

Cast

Anne Crawford	...	Teri Mortimer
Donald Stewart	...	Charles Mortimer
Renee Houston	...	Lady Margaret
Oliver Wakefield	...	Baron Redburn
Charles Heslop	...	Dilfallow
William Hartnell	...	Joseph (as Bill Hartnell)
Felix Aylmer	...	President
Charles Victor	...	Dan
Joss Ambler	...	Police Chief
Paul Sheridan	...	Luis
Jeremy Hawk	...	Pierre
Julian Somers	...	Andre
Rosamund Greenwood	...	Miss Geach
Billy Holland	...	First Detective Inspector
Noel Dainton	...	Second Detective Inspector

Runtime:

UK:85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Filming Locations:

Warner Brothers First National Studios, Teddington Studios, Teddington, Middlesex, England, UK

Company:

Warner Brothers-First National Productions

Trivia:

This film had its U. S. television premiere on Turner Classic Movies on 17 September 2007 during TCM's festival of films made by Warner Brothers at Teddington Studios in the UK.

Movie Connections:

Remake of Jewel Robbery (1932)

A Classic Comedy with Deep Roots

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!