Bad blood and testosterone sizzle between revenge-minded Burt Lancaster and sadistic mining foreman Paul Henreid in this powerhouse entertainment from the Hal Wallis unit @ Paramount, with director William Dieterle ladling on a level of violence all but unheard of at the time. Set in the diamond dunes of Angola’s desert, the wide terrain is controlled back in the city by Claude Rains, and on-site by a shockingly vicious Henreid. (You’ll wince.) Past history brings Lancaster back on the scene to grab a cache of ‘rocks’ he left buried in the sand, helped by local scavenger Peter Lorre and by Corinne Calvet’s iniquitous escort. Or could she be making a play for Henreid & the diamonds, hidden at a location not even Henreid’s torture could force Burt to reveal. Maybe a lady’s charm could get him to talk. With many a plot twist to get thru before the tale is told (too many?), and with story hooks unexpectedly lifted out of Puccini/Sardou’s TOSCA*, we get to our destination after a few broken bones, dead bodies and a bag of cold, hard diamonds for remembrance.
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: *It's Calvet/Lancaster/Henreid in as Tosca/Cavaradossi/Scarpia, except for a final twist that sees Calvet & Lancaster swap function so that she takes on Cavaradossi action while Burt goes all in as Tosca! And that cache of diamonds hidden in the desert sand? A stand-in for Angelotti, TOSCA’s on-the-run revolutionary. Vissi d’arte, baby.
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