Review: Rope of Sand

Burt Lancaster stars as an American diamond hunter/guide in South Africa who has a grudge against Paul Henreid, from one of his previous trips to South Africa. Henreid represents the mining company, and is always on the lookout for people trying to smuggle diamonds out of the country. Henreid and mining company owner Claude Rains believes Lancaster is hiding diamonds, and while Henreid would prefer more torturous methods, the sly Rains (who dislikes Henreid, I might add) has a better idea and enlists the aid of Corrine Calvet and her feminine charms to coax the necessary information out of Lancaster. Calvet (whom Henreid has the hots for) naturally falls for the big American stud. Sam Jaffe plays a doctor friend of Lancaster’s, Mike Mazurki is briefly seen trying to smuggle diamonds in an open wound (!), and Peter Lorre plays a talkative barfly aptly named Toady who is forever sticking his nose in Lancaster’s business.

Star Burt Lancaster was apparently contractually obligated to appear in this 1949 “Casablanca” wannabe from director William Dieterle (“The Hunchback of Notre Dame”, “Salome”), and pretty much labelled it his worst film. I think the film is OK and would’ve been even better if Mr. Lancaster had bothered to look like he even slightly wanted to be there, even if he didn’t. Do your job, pal. For once, the enormously talented and charismatic Lancaster really does underwhelm here and because he’s the lead actor, it’s quite the problem, even if the woefully inept Corrine Calvet (a terrible actress) is probably the bigger problem.

I can kinda understand Lancaster’s reluctance to be here, given this is the sort of thing that should’ve starred Humphrey Bogart, and not just because it’s basically “Casablanca” in Seth Efrikkah (Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, and Peter Lorre turn up in both, of course). Like the earlier film, this is dressed-up B-movie material (albeit not remotely critically-praised), and composer Franz Waxman (“Suspicion”, “My Cousin Rachel”) and the outstanding supporting cast really do dress this one up. Waxman’s score is thunderously good stuff. Top cinematographer Charles B. Lang (“The Big Heat”, “Gunfight at the OK Corral”, “The Last Train From Gun Hill”) doesn’t get too many opportunities to show off, but when he does, the use of shadow is typically gorgeous. The film boasts some of cinema’s all-time greatest character actors. Peter Lorre and old pro Sam Jaffe steal their every scene (Lorre performing the impossible and making Lancaster practically invisible!), though they are unfortunately underused. This is really the Claude Rains and Paul Henreid show, the former is a truly brilliant character actor playing a character you never hate as much as you probably should, whilst Henreid essentially gets to play the villainous Conrad Veidt role from “Casablanca” and does it effortlessly well. Henreid really is versatile, when you consider his far more virtuous characterisation in “Casablanca”. Rains is pretty much playing the same likeable bad guy role he played in “Casablanca”, but the guy is so damn good at it that you don’t mind. I mean, he has more talent in a single arched eyebrow than a lot of actors have in the entirety of their being! So whenever these two great actors are on screen, you’re definitely invested, even if it’s nothing new plot-wise. They’re terrific, the film itself is just OK.

With two unimpressive leads and a familiar story, this one ends up just shy of the mark. The supporting cast are terrific for the most part, but this has been done before and better. Lancaster seems seriously uncomfortable in a role better suited to Bogey or Robert Taylor. He gets upstaged by practically everyone else in the cast. Worth a look, but a bit disappointing. The screenplay is by Walter Doniger (“Tokyo Joe”, “Desperate Search”) and John Paxton (“The Cobweb”, “On the Beach”).

Rating: C+