Directed by:
William DieterleCinematography:
Charles LangComposer:
Franz WaxmanCast:
Burt Lancaster, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Peter Lorre, Corinne Calvet, Sam Jaffe, John Bromfield, Mike Mazurki, Edmund Breon, Kenner G. Kemp, Ida Moore (more)Plots(1)
Producer Hal Wallis evidently hoped to recapture the magic of his earlier Casablanca with 1949's Rope of Sand. To that end, he hired three of Casablanca's supporting players: Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, and Peter Lorre. This time, Henreid is the villain, a sadistic police inspector named Paul Vogel. Stationed somewhere in Africa, Vogel hopes to find a legendary lost diamond field. His principal rival in this endeavor is jewel thief Mike Davis (Burt Lancaster), who continues bouncing back from every death trap lain for him by the ill-tempered Vogel. The scenes in which Davis is subjected to various physical tortures is pretty raw for a 1940s film. Claude Rains co-stars as a diamond syndicate head misleadingly named Toady, while Peter Lorre does his shifty-mercenary act. Billed ninth as the nominal heroine is Hal Wallis' latest discovery, French actress/singer Corinne Calvet. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Cast
Burt Lancaster
USA
Best movies:
Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
The Life of Verdi (1982) (series)
1900 (1976)
Paul Henreid
Austria-Hungary
Best movies:
Song of Love (1947)
Casablanca (1942)
Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)
Claude Rains
UK
Best movies:
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Casablanca (1942)
Peter Lorre
Austria-Hungary
Best movies:
M (1931)
Casablanca (1942)
Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
Corinne Calvet
France
Best movies:
Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man (1962)
The Far Country (1954)
Rope of Sand (1949)
Sam Jaffe
USA
Best movies:
Ben-Hur (1959)
The Spies (1957)
Lost Horizon (1937)
John Bromfield
USA
Best movies:
Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)
The Cimarron Kid (1952)
The Furies (1950)
Mike Mazurki
Austria-Hungary
Best movies:
Some Like It Hot (1959)
The Thin Man Goes Home (1945)
Gentleman Jim (1942)
Edmund Breon
UK
Best movies:
Gaslight (1944)
The White Cliffs of Dover (1944)
Juve vs. Fantômas (1913)
Kenner G. Kemp
USA
Best movies:
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Limelight (1952)
Ida Moore
USA
Best movies:
The Country Girl (1954)
To Each His Own (1946)
Johnny Belinda (1948)
Rodd Redwing
USA
Best movies:
The Ten Commandments (1956)
Objective, Burma! (1945)
Key Largo (1948)
George Magrill
Best movies:
The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima (1952)
Double Indemnity (1944)
Love Crazy (1941)
Nestor Paiva
USA
Best movies:
The Song of Bernadette (1943)
The Sea Hawk (1940)
Midnight (1939)
Harry Wilson
UK
Best movies:
Some Like It Hot (1959)
The Great Dictator (1940)
Modern Times (1936)
Blackie Whiteford
USA
Best movies:
The People Against O'Hara (1951)
King Kong (1933)
Captain Blood (1935)
Eric Wilton
UK
Best movies:
Limelight (1952)
Gaslight (1944)
After the Thin Man (1936)
Leslie Denison
UK
Best movies:
Song of Love (1947)
To Be or Not to Be (1942)
The Court Jester (1955)
Darby Jones
USA
Best movies:
A Day at the Races (1937)
Zombies on Broadway (1945)
Tarzan Escapes (1936)
Martin Wilkins
USA
Best movies:
They Won't Believe Me (1947)
Romance on the High Seas (1948)
Zombies on Broadway (1945)