Rope Of Sand (1949)
For the Jedi it is time to watch as well, so join me, Jedi Master Derk Popwalker, as I dive into a galaxy of Classic Movies or two in The Weekend Watch with DK Classics — a little corner of the cosmos where the popcorn is warm, the lightsabers are dimmed, and the fun begins.
Rope of Sand is a 1949 American adventure-suspense film noir directed by William Dieterle, produced by Hal Wallis, and starring Burt Lancaster and three stars from Wallis’s Casablanca – Paul Henreid, Claude Rains and Peter Lorre. The film introduces Corinne Calvet and features Sam Jaffe, John Bromfield, and Kenny Washington in supporting roles. The picture is set in South West Africa. Desert portions of the film were shot in Yuma, Arizona.
Plot
Hunting guide Mike Davis (Burt Lancaster) came across a cache of diamonds in a mining area, located in a remote region of South West Africa. He was caught by the mine’s police, but refused to reveal the diamonds’ location, even under torture at the hand of the diamond company’s security chief, Vogel (Paul Henreid). He left South Africa for some time.
Davis returns to get the diamonds, which he still expects will be at the spot where he found them. The mining company’s owner, Martingale (Claude Rains), tries to find out where the diamonds can be found by guile rather than force. He hires a beautiful prostitute, Suzanne Renaud (Corinne Calvet), to seduce Davis, and get him to reveal the secret location. Davis plans an illegal entry into the diamond mining area, to retrieve the diamonds, and plans to escape to Portuguese Angola. Meanwhile, Vogel is attracted to Suzanne, and offers to marry her; but Suzanne is attracted to Davis, who is more interested in his diamonds than Suzanne. Davis finds the diamonds; but Martingale threatens to kill Suzanne, unless Davis gives him the diamonds. Davis gives up the diamonds, and ends up leaving the country with Suzanne, discovering that he loves her more than the diamonds.
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