The Devil Diamond (1937)

Best movie ever!

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

This film often made very little sense and it made me wonder if perhaps the studio let children or lemurs. The film begins with some businessmen discussing a so-called 'Devil Diamond'--a supposedly cursed large diamond. In order to be able to sell it, they decide to secretly cut it into smaller diamonds. So far, so good. However, they are going to mail it (uninsured even) to a retired diamond cutter and have him do the work. Considering the stone was nearly the size of a doorknob, it was simply insane to imagine anyone handling it in such a cavalier manner.The scene switches to a group of crooks. They have found out about the plan and are going to the town where the diamond is being sent, as they want to steal the stone. However, and here's where it gets goofy, they create a cover story about why they are in this small town--they are there to train a young and relatively dim boxer (Frankie Darro). The only trouble is, Darro looks about as menacing as a jelly donut and the 'trainers' seem to care less about his workout regimen. To make it worse, a couple of the dumb crooks keep picking fights with Darro--making anyone with half a brain to assume they have no interest in training the guy. And, in the process, they are about as incognito as a group of strippers at a Baptist convention! Staying in the diamond cutters home are not just these guys, but a secret agent for the diamond industry (handsome Kane Richmond). Can Richmond thwart these no-goodnicks? And, for that matter, can stupid Frankie Darro figure out that he is NOT in training?! In recent months, I've seen quite a few of Darro's films--mostly ones he co-starred with Mantan Moreland. The sum total of these films sure make me wonder why Darro was a star--even for a tiny independent studio. He just came off as a bit annoying and completely lacked charisma. If I had been in charge of the production, I would have just focused on Richmond--he at least looked and sounded like a leading man. And, while I was at it, I would have tried to find a competent writer or two! Oh, and I would have found some way to make at least a single moment in this film interesting!

Kane Richmond and Frankie Darro were a screen team and they seemed to have a rapport together. Richmond was the romantic lead and Darro had the interesting role which was central to the action.When the Van Groode Jewellry Company purchase the Jarvis Diamond, also known as the Devil Diamond - they decide to get the diamond cut up to lessen the curse that is upon it. One of the jewelers' has gambling debts so he hires a thug to steal it. Frankie Darro plays Lee, a messenger boy with a good right hook. The gang of crooks plan to train Lee for a fight - but only as a front for their real operation - diamond stealing!!!Dorothy and her father, who has been given the job of cutting the diamond, run the rooming house where the thugs are holed up. Gerry (Kane Richmond) comes to the boarding house, outwardly studying the life of Joaquin Murietta but really he is a special agent for the Jewellers' Association, and is hired to see that the diamond isn't stolen. Fern Emmett - a Margaret Hamilton look alike, plays a mysterious lodger, Mrs. Wallace, whose daughter is very keen on Lee.Lee is getting frustrated. He doesn't think they care about his fighting future and confides his cares to Gerry. Frankie Darro has a couple of nifty fight scenes and considering he does his own stunts, makes them doubly impressive. A mysterious assailant is getting rid of the jewelers - one is shot on the highway and then Dorothy's father is kidnapped. Gerry is around to save the day and get the girl and Lee has to be content with Mrs. Wallace's pesky daughter.It's Okay.

Kane Richmond and Frankie Darro star in this crime story about the plot to steal a famous cursed diamond before its cut.The plot has gangsters using the notion of training Frankie for a fight as a cover to wait for the diamonds in the boarding house run by the man who's going to cut the diamond. Kane shows up, nominally to research the life of a local figure, however he's really a special agent sent by the jewelers association to keep the diamond safe. Most of the movie is Frankie battling his handlers who are waiting for word the diamond is coming their way and the romantic entanglements of Kane and Frankie.This is enjoyable romp, seemingly aimed more at the family or juvenile audience than a regular picture, this is a good way to spend an afternoon at the movies. Another film that won't win any awards this movie gets points for its humor and its mostly less than serious attitude. (If I must say something bad its that the acting of the woman Kane Richmond falls for is fair at best)

Devil's Diamond is one heck of a curio of a movie, that leaves everything dangling and nothing resolved. After a "cursed" diamond is shipped off by a jewelry company to get cut by a master cutter, a cunning employee of the company gathers a bunch of bad guys together to snap up the diamonds once they're cut. Bur wait a sec, how are they going to act natural at the hostel where the cutter is? Thanks to a sharp-fisted delivery boy, they create a front that they're training the kid to box, and that will keep everyone fooled! When they get there, there's another suspicious chap who is also looking at the diamond. Is it another bad guy? We're led to BELIEVE that, but of course it isn't, because after all, we need a hero for the story! So yes, it DOES turn out (DUH!) he's only keeping an eye out on the diamond, and starts getting suspicious about the gang hanging out. The boxer-in-training gets suspicious too, not when he's tiredly fighting off some girly amour that keeps pawing him. The end I won't spoil for you, but this left me with my shoulders shrugging, as it really didn't achieve anything. Didn't leave me rooting for the main characters, nuttin.