Is this murder mystery? Docudrama? Screwball comedy with a hint of romance? Frankly I'm not sure after making through this silly murder mystery with a hint of popular science and yes, a bit of romance. I've seen romantic screwball comedies before where the leads found themselves involved in murder, and often, unless it was Nick and Nora, it was a convoluted mess. In this case, there's too much of a mood swing, as every few minutes, there appears to be a switch in theme, in tempo, in structure.
O.K., I was fascinated to get a hint as how diamond mines are explored, from the separation of dirt and rock, good rocks from bad rocks, and how rocks with diamonds inside are discovered. But this flip floppy film goes all over the place in a fairly short time, giving me amusement every time that Elizabeth Patterson and Nigel Bruce come on screen, but rather uninterested in the romantic entanglements of George Brent and Isa Miranda. The fact that the very American Patterson is supposed to be the aunt of Miranda is totally far fetched, and in their scenes together, Patterson totally upstages the underwhelming Isa.
I also never quite believed that Miranda was on the total up and up, paused with the slimy John Loder. And then Cecil Kellaway shows up to add to the intrigue, but by this time, you've been distracted by all the silliness that jars you totally out of the story. Basically the type of film that Dietrich might have gotten away with, this lacks real spark and gives the character actors more to play off with their scene stealing charm than the lack of chemistry between the two leads. That's not to say that George Brent is out- shined here; he's just fine, but I really longed for more detail on the plot, to really understand what was behind the mystery, and mostly a leading lady who didn't seem to be a gorgeous block of ice melting in front of your eyes.
O.K., I was fascinated to get a hint as how diamond mines are explored, from the separation of dirt and rock, good rocks from bad rocks, and how rocks with diamonds inside are discovered. But this flip floppy film goes all over the place in a fairly short time, giving me amusement every time that Elizabeth Patterson and Nigel Bruce come on screen, but rather uninterested in the romantic entanglements of George Brent and Isa Miranda. The fact that the very American Patterson is supposed to be the aunt of Miranda is totally far fetched, and in their scenes together, Patterson totally upstages the underwhelming Isa.
I also never quite believed that Miranda was on the total up and up, paused with the slimy John Loder. And then Cecil Kellaway shows up to add to the intrigue, but by this time, you've been distracted by all the silliness that jars you totally out of the story. Basically the type of film that Dietrich might have gotten away with, this lacks real spark and gives the character actors more to play off with their scene stealing charm than the lack of chemistry between the two leads. That's not to say that George Brent is out- shined here; he's just fine, but I really longed for more detail on the plot, to really understand what was behind the mystery, and mostly a leading lady who didn't seem to be a gorgeous block of ice melting in front of your eyes.