The Diamond Wizard aka The Diamond is a 1954 British film noir crime film starring Dennis O’Keefe, Margaret Sheridan and Philip Friend. It is based on the 1952 novel Rich Is the Treasure by Maurice Procter. There seems to be an issue as to who directed The Diamond Wizard. According to the British Film Institute website Montgomery Tully is listed as the director, while the United States release and on the Kino Lorber Blu-ray has the film’s star Dennis O’Keefe listed as director. This is known for being Britain’s first 3-D film and was considered a lost movie until recently.
The Diamond Wizard has American Treasury Agent Joe Dennison (screen legend Dennis O’Keefe, Raw Deal, Woman on the Run) in London tracking down a gang who stole a million dollars from the United States Treasury vault, where he assists a Scotland Yard Inspector McClaren (Phillip Friend, The Bells Go Down, The Son of Robin Hood) to find atomic scientist Dr. Eric Miller (Paul Hardtmuth, The Curse of Frankenstein, The Gamma People) who has gone missing. Both the stolen missing and missing scientist somehow intertwine with Dr. Miller’s daughter (Margaret Sheridan, The Thing from Another World, I, the Jury)and her special diamond. It turns out that the gang are making synthetic diamonds and need Dr. Miller’s help to create them!
After Kino Lorber announced The Diamond Wizard was going to a receive a Blu-ray release, I immediately did some research on the film and was hooked instantly. I couldn’t wait for this movie to be released and now it is proudly in my collection!
The film did not disappoint and thoroughly enjoyed it due to the story, fine acting, suspense and fantastic science-fictionesque ending which in some ways reminded me of Kiss Me Deadly.
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.66:1, in both 3-D and 2-D, the long-lost film The Diamond Wizard, after being announced a year ago, finally arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber, much to the delight of classic film fans. The Diamond Wizard has been fully restored by 3-D Archive, LLC and you get two 3-D viewing options, 3-D polarized and 3-D anaglyphic (red/cyan). The 2-D option appears after you select 3-D polarized with the remote. You can also find the extras on there as well. 3-D glasses are also included with the release. I am basically just going to discuss the 2-D version since I don’t have a 3-D television. I can tell you that since all these versions are on just one dual-layered disc, the image quality is still excellent, maybe due to it being a short film under ninety minutes. Some scenes look fabulous, with a clean, clear, often polished looking picture with rich textures shown throughout. There are some other parts of the film where the picture can look a bit soft. The black levels looked fine, and the greyscale was well-balanced and overall, it is a stable image. Film grain maintains the film looking as organic and film-like as possible. No DNR appears to have been applied.
The Diamond Wizard’s audio, a DTS-HD Master 2.0 track, boasts clear dialogue, and a rip-roaring musical score by Matyas Seiber that sounds perfectly fine. Background noises, and action sounds such as gunshots also come in perfectly and all blend in just fine. Some minor hissing was detected but it wasn’t too terribly distracting, as the dialogue remained clear. Other age-old ammonifies such as crackling, and popping were not detected. English subtitles are available for this offering.
The release also has a nice batch of extras. There is an “Audio Commentary” track with Mike Ballew which lasts for nearly twelve minutes, so it’s not really a feature length commentary track, but it is referred to as an audio commentary on the release. You can listen to the track on either the 2-D or 3-D versions of the film.
Another extra, called Restoring The Diamond Wizard in 3-Dimensions can be viewed also in 2-D or 3-D. The feature discusses the restoration process which was managed by 3-D wizard Robert Furmanek.
The 2-D version has an alternate opening credits scene and a theatrical trailer to round out the extras.
A lot of time and care was given to releasing The Diamond Wizard and it has paid off. The film is a must for classic movie fans that enjoy crime drama noirs! The audio and video quality for the release are as good as we might get for the foreseeable future accompanied by a handful of cool extras make this a highly recommended Blu-ray release! It was more than worth the wait!
The Diamond Wizard
Director- Montgomery Tully , Dennis O’Keefe
Cast- Dennis O’Keefe, Margaret Sheridan
Country of Origin- UK
Distributor – Kino Lorber
Number of Discs – 1
Reviewed by – David Steigman
Date –11/24/2022