In the early 1950s, Hollywood tried to compete with television's small, b&w screens by offering a number of Technicolored adventure movies filled with glamorous stars and exotic backgrounds. It was a Golden Age for movies about pirates, the French Foreign Legion, Arabian nights, jungle safaris, lost cities of gold, etc. "The Diamond Queen" fits neatly into this category but it's a minor effort and, not surprisingly, has largely been forgotten.
A bigger budget would have helped. The movie begins in the France of Louis XIV but all we see there is one mundane set showing a jeweler's workshop. The transition to India is largely conveyed by a stock-shot of a sailing ship at sea. Aside from a few more stock-shots of monkeys and other wildlife, India consists of nothing more than a few sets which seem to be left-overs from other movies.
As for the cast, neither Fernando Lamas nor Gilbert Roland seem to have a drop of French blood in them, and trying to pass Arlene Dahl off as the "Queen of Nepal" is downright laughable. However, a much bigger problem is the script. It lacks the snappy dialog which can enliven this sort of thing and its plotting seems tired and perfunctory. One never gets a sense that its two heroes might be in serious danger. When they're thrown into the Mogul's dungeon, for example, the tortures to which they're subjected seem no worse than a frat-house hazing, though the sight of a sweaty Lamas stripped to the waist and in bondage is one of the movie's few highlights. Also, the romance between Lamas and Dahl never strikes any sparks, which makes the closing scene of the ship returning to France with its starry-eyed lovers seem both flat and implausible.
At a brisk 80 minutes, however, the movie never sinks to boredom, though it never comes close to enthralling, either.
A bigger budget would have helped. The movie begins in the France of Louis XIV but all we see there is one mundane set showing a jeweler's workshop. The transition to India is largely conveyed by a stock-shot of a sailing ship at sea. Aside from a few more stock-shots of monkeys and other wildlife, India consists of nothing more than a few sets which seem to be left-overs from other movies.
As for the cast, neither Fernando Lamas nor Gilbert Roland seem to have a drop of French blood in them, and trying to pass Arlene Dahl off as the "Queen of Nepal" is downright laughable. However, a much bigger problem is the script. It lacks the snappy dialog which can enliven this sort of thing and its plotting seems tired and perfunctory. One never gets a sense that its two heroes might be in serious danger. When they're thrown into the Mogul's dungeon, for example, the tortures to which they're subjected seem no worse than a frat-house hazing, though the sight of a sweaty Lamas stripped to the waist and in bondage is one of the movie's few highlights. Also, the romance between Lamas and Dahl never strikes any sparks, which makes the closing scene of the ship returning to France with its starry-eyed lovers seem both flat and implausible.
At a brisk 80 minutes, however, the movie never sinks to boredom, though it never comes close to enthralling, either.
