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 β 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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I'm fascinated by the changing dialogue styles visible in old movies on Retroflix.
Richard Burton at his best.
Great performances by Henreid,, Rains, and Lorre more than compensate for an absurd story and Lancaster's scene-chewing.
I read that Boo Berry's outfit was based on Peter Lorre's from this movie, but now that I've seen it, I think it was more than just the outfit! Toady floats into every scene, often appearing out of nowhere, and vanishes as quickly as he came! He's like a ghostly little marshmallow. Thanks for posting this!
That. Is. A. Masterpiece. Picture. Brilliant π πππππ π―π’π₯π«π― π£π―π£π―π£ π thanks. Dk. ππ
Makes me wonder if Rick's from Casablanca sets were used in this movie…???
13.00…Zulu warrior…changed slightly this song became an RAF night-out standard. With the changed lyrics it could actually go on all night; and into the next day!
… sometimes, an act of stupidity has to go on, for miles and miles, until it reaches it's logical end. Unfortunately for America, that act is Don Trump.
… sometimes, an act of stupidity has to go on, mile by mile, until it reaches it's logical end. Unfortunately for America, that act is Don Trump!
Very interesting movie with so many excellent actors! Especially enjoyed Paul Henreid cast against type as the cruel commandant. He somehow manages to make Vogel sympathetic at times.
The weak link is Calvet–she is very attractive but her voice is just irritating.
Burt and claude are always worth a watch……
Crappy, boring movie–Burt Lancaster hated it and you will too
Peter Lorre, Paul Heinreid, Burt Lancaster only one missing Sydney Greensteet. Great movie
…FORGOT to include the SCEENPLAY!
WONDERFUL film! Many, many avenues of excellent film making ; from cast scenography, directing og Edith Head!
Corrine Calvertβ€β€β€β€β€β€
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Un beau film avec un burt lancaster grandiose β€en plus avec un grand cΕur a la fin quand il partage les perles sa m a vraiment Γ©mue π’π’πmerci pour celui qui a mis le film sur le site β€β€β€
Great movie.
CLAUDE RAINS IS SO HOT
Cool Luscombe airplane at 20:00 min. π
the whole time I watched this I thought, this is Casablanca the do-over but Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman were busy with other things
Where was Nick Cravat?
Like the classic "The Heart Of Darkness", written about the brutal Belgian colonization in Congo, is there any similiar tale written for the South African greed for gold and diamonds?
Please do you have the informer 1935
good title. it draws the viewer in without giving too much away.
Early Lancaster is always worth a viewing. It's easy to see how and why he became an A-list star right out of the box. An interesting if leisurely tale of belated revenge.
It's always interesting to come across a noir that's not in your usual dense, urban setting… the desert scenery of this movie was a very unique and refreshing change of pace!
The cinematography of this film was very nice; I was especially impressed with the roaming camera that follows the voting box as it gets passed around, pans across the desert mounds as the actors traverse across, and meanders through the party room as if searching for someone.
Quite a story! Too bad the ending is so ridiculous. No sane man would ever want to walk away with a traitor!
another movie i like better than casablanca.
I have always appreciated my Diamonds and other Gems for what they are- wonders that Man has craved forever. The corruption in Diamond Mining has always been a well-concealed fact, with most stones being ripped from the Earth by endless men who never even owned one. DeBeers and his marketing gave us junk like the 'rule' where a man was expected to spend no less than 3 mos. of his salary on an engagement ring, which most women were happy to enforce. People died for these wonders, and I appreciate that, too.
40:07 Davis finds out the Commandant was using an altered deck of cards. That's why he pocketed them. I think he will use them against the Commandant later on.