The Villiers Diamond

"Barker" (Leslie Harcourt) arrives, uninvited, at the home of the wealthy "Wade" (Frank Birch). Unexpectedly, he is allowed in and soon we learn that both were in cahoots to fence the eponymous jewel. It's not proving the easiest to sell on, and the former man wants his cash so decides he is going t ... o remain as the butler until a solution is found. That might just come in the form of "Joan" (Evelyn Ankers). She is the niece of "Wade" and is about to wed. Snag? Well he is her guardian and the conservator of her £10,000 fortune. She gets that when she marries - except, well, that cash has long gone the way of the dodo. How to save the day? The two crooks concoct a plan to stage a burglary and claim the insurance - but they are not the only crooks under his roof! The thing about this film is that, saving for the last five minutes of hectic activity, very little actually happens. It's very wordy, there are far too many characters to clutter things up and though there is a tiny twist at the denouement, the whole thing is just a bit so what? It's watchable enough, but I very much doubt you will ever remember it. read more