I've been re-visiting several "quota quickies" recently, those American company films made in England starring British actors and actresses. Basically made as an agreement to allow American film companies to make films in England when American films not only flooded the market, but basically for English speaking peoples all over the world WERE the films they watched, this taking the British market not to second place, but basically off the map. This was now a way to keep the British busy in the film market. The films were about 50 to 75 minutes in length, most just a couple of minutes short of an hour, shot on miniscule budgets, but many of them really taut and rapidly moving mysteries and droll comedies - British humor and soft murder mysteries that certainly held the attention. They still do!
I watched "The Villiers Diamond" (1938) for the first time, having found it on YouTube in a fairly good print. The sound needed to be put up a tad, but otherwise it was really fun, the print okay. About a just released prisoner who goes to a "respected" man's house, demands his share from the sale of the diamond, discovers that the man couldn't sell it - is having a difficult time finding any fence or buyer. The man's niece comes to live with him after being away for two years in a boarding school somewhere. Wants to know that her ten thousand pounds in savings is still there. Her uncle says, "Yes", of course, though the money's long gone. She also wants to marry a man who her uncle says she's too young to marry. Anyway, all end up in the man's house, along with a Captain Dawson and another lady. I'll leave the machinations of the plot alone because it gets going and quickly turns into an interesting situation on all sides. Who's a crook and who's not a crook. One of those. The ending has a very interesting surprise twist. A nice 50 minutes of quick fun. It's a decent cast, too. Evelyn Ankers in an early rôle. Edward Ashley as Captain Dawson. Others include Frank Birch, Liam Gaffney, Julie Suedo (very nice looking), Leslie Harcourt, and a couple of others.
