Rope of Sand (1949)

Rope of Sand (1949), directed by William Dieterle.

We know what happens to those who try to steal diamonds from a South African mining preserve. Burt Lancaster has returned to face sadistic commandant Paul Henreid and his dapper boss Claude Rains. Will he get away with the stones this time, and what about the new French cutie? Trust her or not?

I had been wanting to see this tough guy desert noir for a long time but it is a let-down. It's brutal enough but the characters are all stock types and the plot just trundles along without much involvement by the viewer. You get the feeling the actors are competently professional, but otherwise not caring that much.

They reassemble some of the Casablanca (1942) gang: Claude Rains, Paul Henreid, Peter Lorre, and we also have Mike Mazurki and Sam Jaffe.

Loud, distracting Franz Waxman score. Costumes by Edith Head.

Olive Films Blu-ray, and as always with this label there are no subtitles, which I could have used in this case. "Introducing" Corinne Calvet: she was particularly hard to understand at times.