Sunday Times (Perth, WA : 1902 - 1954), Sunday 2 October 1949, page 2


Film Gossip From London And Hollywood

CHALLENGE TO EUREKA BY

OLD RIVAL

* * -lt

From

Dick Kisch

London, Sot-: Long-standing rivalry between 2 British film producers came to a head last week with the showing of Diamond City.

With this film Bank's No. 1 producer, Sydney Box, hopes to secure points off Sir Michael Balcon, of Ealing Studios.

Box planned Diamond City as a deliberate counterblast to Eating's Eureka Stockade.

He put his best director Dave McDonald, on it, grab-bed one of Britain's most popular actors, David Farrar to give it star value.

Box went to town to show that if Ealing could make only a ponderous semi-docu-mentary out of Australia's famous incident, he could make rip-snorting western entertainment out of a dubious little-known incident of the South African diamond fields in the We when a bunch of prospectors formed lan abortive "diggers' repub-

lic."

He started Diamond City after a series of more or less petty incidents which in

I eluded a refusal to release

I some actors to play in Eureka.!

There was also at least one) ¡example of technician-grab-bing from Ealing.

Last week, with the first public showing of Diamond City, it was possible to judge whether Box had put any-thing over Balcon.

As popular entertainment Diamond City is a flashy, tinsellated period piece which probably scores a few points from Eureka in its melodra-matic build-up.

But if "incidentals" like photography, technical direc-tion, historical accuracy, and balanced character motiva-tion are taken into account, it has no more claim to being a serious film than any B grade western.

. Betty Hutton's two children posed no problem as they visited their mother on the Red Hot and Blue set, on a Hollywood lot. Betty amuses one-year-old Candy, while director John Farrow's camera finder holds the attention

of Lindsay Diane, two. Their father is Ted Briskin.