The Great Diamond Robbery

In what clearly was a B picture and no frills other than the comic genius of Red Skelton MGM bid farewell to Skelton with The Great Diamond Robbery. I will say that MGM did give him a good supporting cast.

Red is a foundling who goes by the name of Ambrose C. Park, the "C" stands for Central. He was a baby taken in and raised by Reginald Owen and apprenticed in the jewelry trade. But he's Red Skelton and diamond cutter though he be Owen will not trust him in the cutting of a famous diamond in his possession.

But shyster lawyer James Whitmore gets a hold of the naive and unworldly Skelton who's not as bad as Peter Sellers in Being There, but close enough. He gets George Matthews, Dorothy Stickney, and Cara Williams to play his long lost parents and sister. Later on some higher up on the food chain crooks Kurt Kaszner and Harry Bellaver cut themselves in on the jewel caper they've planned which can be accomplished once they've conned Skelton into cutting the valuable diamond.

More pathos than some of Skelton's more outlandish physical comedy which can be found more on television in which he was spending more time is in The Great Diamond Robbery. Next to Skelton, the women in this film are the most memorable with Stickney especially funny as the old moll as the new Mom.

Skelton fans will appreciate this, but it's not one of his better films.

Diamond cutter assistant Ambrose C. Park (Red Skelton) is always looking for his parents who left him as a baby on a park bench. He places an ad on his every birthday. Corrupt lawyer Remlick (James Whitmore) decides to trick him out of his life savings of $8k by bringing him a fake family. Emmily Drummon (Dorothy Stickney) and Duke Fargoh (George Mathews) play his fake parents. Maggie Drummon (Cara Williams) plays his fake sister. Remlick gets overshadowed by other con men who are looking to steal a big diamond.

This seems to have good potential for comedy. It has Red Skelton and a slightly left-of-center premise. It's a little quirky, but not really funny. Park is a hopeful idiot and a clueless romantic. He's an amiable enough character. I like the guy. The material could be funny, but it's a fine light comedy crime thriller.

It's weird, but the full summary on this site for this film tells you exactly how the movie ends! Try NOT to read the summary!!!

Back in 1919, Ambrose Park (Red Skelton) was left on a bench in Central Park and his parents never returned--so he was raised in an orphanage. He is grown but has a compulsive need to find his parents and goes to the bench regularly...hoping they'll return. Some crooks learn about this and Ambrose's job as an assistant diamond cutter and they plan on exploiting it. They pose as his long-lost family and announce themselves to Ambrose. What he doesn't realize is that this is all a scheme to rob his boss of a super-valuable diamond and they'll then force Ambrose to cut it for them. Can Ambrose realize the ruse before it's too late?

While this is Skelton's last film for MGM (a studio he'd been with since 1940), this does not mean it's a bad one. On the contrary, too often Skelton was saddled with films that were jam-packed with song and dance numbers--something that was NOT his forte. He was a funny man...and here in "The Great Diamond Robbery" he's allowed to be funny...and is well supported with a funny supporting cast as his fake family. Well worth seeing and among Skelton's better films.

"Ambrose C. Park. That's the name they gave me. On account of that' s where they found me. Ambrose Central Park". Red Skelton tells us the premise of the film in another of his madcap capers, in his prime. The film opens with Ambrose in the park, hoping to meet up with the parents who had left him in there all those years ago. He meets up with a shady character who is determined to help him find his long lost parents, for a fee. His new lawyer "friend" Remlick (James Whitmore) quickly puts together a family for Park to meet, and then the adventure begins. Keep an eye out for Reginald Owen, who was in SO many films.. notably as the Admiral in Mary Poppins. It's entertaining, but Skelton plays it pretty serious in this one, for a change. Cara Williams plays his sister Maggie, with Dorothy Stickney as "Mom". Park also gets into scrapes with Maggie's boss, and his own boss at work. This is listed as a comedy, but while the script moves right along, there are many sad moments, and the actual comedy is pretty sparse. His big, happy "family" of small time hoods tries to talk him into doing some un-ethical things at work, and he has some un-expected help leading up to big finale. This was the last time Skelton worked with Director Robert Leonard, and in fact, Leonard only made a couple more films after this one. If you are not familiar with Leonard's stellar list of projects, check out his list of films at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Z._Leonard ; he made some real biggies, and was Oscar-nominated for the Great Ziegfeld and for The Divorcée. The Great Diamond Robbery isn't any Shakespeare piece, but historically, it's one of Skelton's films, and a whole lot easier to watch than a Shakespeare! Written by László Vadnay, who had also written Copacabana (Groucho and Carmen Miranda) and Tales of Manhattan (WC Fields).

This Film is for those who are 10 and older. I was hoping for a funnier Red Skelton film. Not to say that the film is not comical, I was just a little disappointed that it wasn't funnier. I really like Red Skelton and grew up watching his TV show. My dad turned it on when it was on TV and we watched it together. Red Skelton has a wonderful warm sense of humor that loving hearts will find enjoyable. His humor is never mean. The film is short and gets right to the point, which I like. The Great Diamond Robbery substitutes humor for suspense. Grab your popcorn bowls and enjoy the film. Because of its length, you will have the time for another film. I give this film four thumbs up.