The Great Diamond Robbery (1954)

(On Cable TV, November 2022) There isn’t much worth highlighting in The Great Diamond Robbery except, perhaps, that it’s the last of Red Skelton’s MGM films. The story is a blend of diamond trade comedy, criminal capers, romances and abandoned-child tropes. Skelton is subdued here—still in his usual mode, but a bit older (hence less able to play young clueless romantic lead), a bit less invested in the manic energy of it. Biographers will note that he was in the process of transitioning to a long-running TV show at the time—and his kind of comedy was clearly, perhaps belatedly, hitting its expiration date in the movie world. The film meanders in between too many subplots, finding its way too late in its mere 70 minutes. Cara Williams looks nice as the love interest, but much of the rest of the production feels like the contractual obligation that it was, with MGM eagerly shoving him out the door even as Skelton was eyeing greener pastures. Despite a title that promises much, you can classify The Great Diamond Robbery as “interesting” for Skelton completists, while being bland and featureless for anyone else.