The Great Diamond Robbery (1954)

User Rating:

5.3/10   

Director:

Robert Z. Leonard

Writers:

Martin Rackin (writer)
László Vadnay (writer)

Release Date:

29 January 1954 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime

Plot:

Ambrose C. Park (Red Skelton), left on a park bench as an infant with an impulsive need to find his parents...

Plot Keywords:

Diamond | Robbery | Jewel Thief

Cast

Red Skelton	...	Ambrose C. 'Central' Park
Cara Williams	...	Maggie Drumman
James Whitmore	...	Mr. Remlick, Lawyer
Kurt Kasznar	...	Uncle Tony Medeli
Dorothy Stickney	...	Emily Drumman
George Mathews	...	Duke Fargoh
Reginald Owen	...	Bainbridge Gibbons
Harry Bellaver	...	Uncle Herb
Connie Gilchrist	...	Cafe Blonde
Steven Geray	...	Van Goosen
Sig Arno	...	Mr. Sahutsky

Runtime:

70 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Australia:G | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #16528)

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

This was Skelton's last film for MGM. He had been under contract with the studio since 1940.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the end credits of the movie 'Kurt Kaszar' is listed as playing "Louie". However the character's name is actually Tony.

A Film That Disappeared

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This was a nice film - an average comic adventure story and nothing more. At the time it was made it's star, Red Skelton was really concentrating on his very successful comedy variety show on television that would last until the 1970s. He still would make movies, but they were no longer an absolute necessity. Skelton was one of the first stars in Hollywood that realized that far from being a useful stop-gap for periods that you were not making films or on stage, television had a logic and rhythm of it's own that when studied and applied was just as good as the other mediums. He must have realized this from his years working on the similar, but somewhat limited medium of radio.

So this film, while amusing, would probably have been as good with anyone else playing Ambrose C. Park (the "C" is for "Central" - Ambrose was abandoned in Central Park) than Skelton. For example Danny Kaye might have tried it out and done well (possibly a musical number would have been added). But this means that the normal stunts and sight gags associated with Skelton's best films were not involved in this one (except one memorable last one that I will always recall fondly).

Interestingly enough, THE GREAT DIAMOND ROBBERY is very rarely shown on television anymore. I saw it in the early 1960s, when both Skelton and Cara Williams were prominent television stars. But memories of their work is not pushed these days (surprisingly so with Skelton, who left a surprisingly sturdy body of film work). So if you catch a chance to see it, watch it...you may not have a second chance quickly afterward.

Ambrose, a foundling, wants to find his real parents. He happens to be in an unusual profession - he is a highly skilled jewelry cutter. His second fondest wish is to tackle a peculiarly difficult jewel that has just been found. Potentially it is one of the great jewels, like the Culinor or the Hope Diamond, but it has to be cut just so to split in half. Otherwise it may as well be used in a road bed with gravel. So his bosses are arguing with him that he is not ready to do the diamond properly (despite his showing them charts he has drawn after studying it and it's flaws).

Ambrose is still searching for his parents, and while doing so meets an attorney Mr. Remlick (James Whitmore, in an early performance). Remlick is also interested in this diamond. He happens to be working with some thieves who want to steal it. So Remlick finds Ambrose fascinating as both searcher and as diamond cutter. Remlick and his backers led by Uncle Tony (Kurt Kazner) "help" Ambrose find his "mother" Mrs. Drumman (Dorothy Stickney) and his "sister" Maggie (Cara Williams). He is very happy about this situation, except he and Maggie find themselves looking at each other in non-sibling terms. That is becoming uncomfortable for both of them.

The rest of the film follows the way the gang manipulate Ambrose into taking the jewel home to cut, to show his bosses off. Of course, once that is done - what to do with Ambrose? Grim as it sounds, the film is amusing. But it had few of the typical bits that Skelton movies had, especially those he did with Buster Keaton. The one exception is the conclusion which I would like to think that Keaton had something to do with, for it's logic, and it's sweet symmetry.

SO SPOILER COMING UP (sorry!):

Ambrose does show up his bosses. His careful study of the stone enabled him to know exactly where the right spot to hit it was. So there are now two halves of the stone, perfectly cut, each about the size of a trimmed half of a fat pear. But Louis and his gang (who have been chasing Ambrose and Maggie) are pounding on the door of the room that he used to cut the stone. They have to hide the jewel or these thugs will take it.

Then we see the police arrive and arrest Louis and his thugs, and Ambrose lets them in. He and Maggie are glad to be rescued and explained they protected the stone. How? Well there was no place to hide it in that room, so each of them swallowed half the stone! Really? they are asked. Yes says Ambrose, and then his face shows a growing agony in his intestines, mirrored by a similar one in Maggie's. They are rushed to a hospital and taken into surgery on parallel gurneys. We see them coming out of their anesthetic fog at the same time, and both are presented with a look at their temporary "twin" babies! Sweet little ending that.