Rope of Sand (1949)

A Masterpiece!

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

A man (Burt Lancaster) abused by a sadistic mining company cop (Paul Henreid) before he could tell where on their desert property he had found diamonds decides to steal them instead.Glenn Erickson reflected on the background of the film and how it was received when first released, "Although William Dieterle's direction is capable, the script works too hard to introduce an overly familiar collection of stock thriller types ... Critics generally liked Lancaster's performance, even if they slighted the work of Claude Rains and Peter Lorre and saved the bulk of their praise for Paul Henried's nasty villain." Indeed, those who watch the film for Lorre may be disappointed on little screen time he receives.Reflecting decades later, Burt Lancaster singled this out as his least favorite film. That was due to personal reasons, however, so may not necessarily reflect whether this was (in his opinion) his worst performance.

Burt Lancaster returns to Angola after a two year absence. It seems he had previously wandered onto property owned by a diamond mining concern and when the boss (Paul Henreid) learns that Lancaster found diamonds, he beats him within an inch of his life--but learns nothing. Now Lancaster is back....and there is a lot of talking and posturing before much of anything happens.A bunch of the reviewers seemed to like this film, but I couldn't help thinking it could have been a lot better. After all, with Burt Lancaster, Claude Rains, Peter Lorre and Paul Henreid, I expected a lot. In addition, while the story had a lot of action and violence, it seemed amazingly uninvolving. I attribute much of this to the character played by Lancaster. He was full of needless macho posturing--and none of it really made any sense. Think about it---after nearly getting killed two years earlier for wandering into an Angolan diamond company's property, he now returns and makes sure EVERYONE sees him--especially the guy responsible for maiming him! What idiot would just waltz back in such a hostile and dangerous place?!?! Later, when he and the baddie have their big showdown, Lancaster holds a loaded .45 on Henreid--and empties the gun so they can fistfight like real men! And, oops...Henreid is able to get away!! Talk about great planning and needless macho heroics! Plus, it seemed weird seeing Henreid playing a guy who can beat up Lancaster in a fight!! As a result, the film has some mildly interesting scenes but it never makes a lot of sense.By the way, if you wonder why Lorre is in the film, I have no idea either--and I saw this film! It's the case of a good actor with nothing particular to do and no apparent motivation just aimlessly bouncing about in a movie.

I have watched this movie twice and have been waiting for a DVD to be released for quite a while. You would think a film with Burt Lancaster, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Peter Lorre and Sam Jaffe would get some attention but, I don't believe this was ever available on VHS, either. Puzzling.It's a good film and worth watching. The first time I saw this it reminded me a bit of Casablanca or To Have And Have Not. Oh, not in that class of those films but just being a solid foreign adventure tale with American and English actors in an exotic setting. On the second viewing, I found the film lagged in a few spots, but it's still a very good movie. Lancaster is excellent as the good guy after diamonds in North Africa while Henreid is the sadistic bad guy and Raines is back somewhere in the middle as he was in Casablanca. Lorre and Jaffe are almost always fun to watch, too.Calvert was a French actress and may not be that familiar to English-speaking audiences. Sometimes her accent is hard to decipher. I didn't find her appealing but I also wasn't as annoyed with her as others seem to be, either. I do agree there should have been a better female lead in here.The film offers some good action and some nice black-and-white photography, especially with the nighttime desert scenes, which I really enjoyed. Hopefully, someone will do the right thing and make this available on DVD.

The cast makes this one worth watching: Burt Lancaster, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains (at his silkiest), Peter Lorre, Sam Jaffe. The character Corinne Calvet plays is a screenwriter's dream since she's likely to spark unexpected changes in each of the male characters, but as an earlier contributor pointed out, Calvet isn't up to the part. It's hard to believe that a man such as Burt Lancaster's character could become so smitten with her.The South Africa setting adds interest to the proceedings and the plot uncoils in skillful fashion until the last reel or so when the rush toward climax becomes somewhat delayed and diffused.Burt Lancaster's whipping at the hands of Paul Henreid no longer includes details mentioned in the book "Sadism in the Cinema," which implies that some footage has been cut from prints. Even in abbreviated form, however, the scene conveys the hint that the real emotional bond in the movie is not between Lancaster and Calvet but between Lancaster and Henreid. Henreid's brutally sublimated desire for Lancaster is certainly understandable since Burt never looked better than he does here.