The Adventurers (1951 film)
| The Adventurers | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Original British 1-sheet poster | |
| Directed by | David MacDonald |
| Written by | Robert Westerby |
| Produced by | Aubrey Baring Maxwell Setton |
| Starring | Dennis Price Jack Hawkins Siobhan McKenna |
| Cinematography | Oswald Morris |
| Edited by | Vladimir Sagovsky |
| Music by | Cedric Thorpe Davie |
Production company | Mayflower Pictures Corporation |
| Distributed by | General Film Distributors (UK) |
Release date | 7 March 1951 (London) (UK) |
Running time | 86 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
The Adventurers is a 1951 British adventure film directed by David MacDonald and starring Jack Hawkins, Peter Hammond and Dennis Price.[1] In the wake of the Boer War several men journey into the South African veldt in search of diamonds. The film was cut by 12 minutes for its U.S. release, and was twice retitled, as Fortune in Diamonds and '' The Great Adventure.[2]
Plot
As the Boer War finalizes a South African soldier hides a cache of diamonds he finds on a body. He returns to the town he left three years earlier where his girl has married a disgraced English officer. Needing funds to get back to pick up the diamonds the Boer enlists the help of a fellow soldier as well as the Englishman and a local hotel keeper.[3]
Cast
- Jack Hawkins – Pieter Brandt
- Peter Hammond – Hendrik van Thaal
- Dennis Price – Clive Hunter
- Grégoire Aslan – Dominic
- Charles Paton – Barman
- Siobhan McKenna – Anne Hunter
- Bernard Lee – O'Connell
- Ronald Adam – Van Thaal
- Martin Boddey – Chief Engineer
- Philip Ray – Man in Restaurant
- Walter Horsbrugh – Man in Restaurant
- Cyril Chamberlain – Waiter
Release
The film was originally known as The South Africa Story. It had its world premiere aboard the Queen Mary liner.[4]
Critical reception
Allmovie noted "an African variation of Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The Adventurers is buoyed by an unusually vicious performance by Jack Hawkins" ;[5] while the Radio Times wrote, "this could have been quite stirring if it hadn't been morbidly under-directed at a snail's pace by David MacDonald" ;[2] and TV Guide found that, despite its borrowings from Sierra Madre and from von Stroheim's Greed, "it is nevertheless an often-gripping film."[6]
References
- ^ "The Adventurers". BFI.
- ^ a b Tony Sloman. "The Adventurers". RadioTimes.
- ^ Perkins, Jeremy. "The Adventurers (1951)". Retrieved 1 July 2013.
- ^ "Germans to see Australian film". The Mail. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 19 May 1951. p. 11 Supplement: SUNDAY MAGAZINE. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
- ^ "Fortune in Diamonds (1951) – Trailers, Reviews, Synopsis, Showtimes and Cast – AllMovie". AllMovie.
- ^ "The Adventurers". TV Guide.
External links
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- 1951 films
- British films
- British historical films
- 1950s historical films
- 1950s adventure films
- Films directed by David MacDonald (director)
- English-language films
- Films shot at Pinewood Studios
- Films set in 1902
- Films set in South Africa
- Treasure hunt films
- Lippert Pictures films
- 1950s British film stubs
- Adventure film stubs