THE DIAMOND WIZARD (1954)

A million dollars is stolen from the U.S. Treasury and a Federal agent on the case in Minneapolis is killed by two British men who are trying to sell synthetic diamonds as real ones. Scotland Yard is worried that a glut of the diamonds, which test as real, could destroy the South African economy. American Dennis O'Keefe, a friend of the dead agent, is called in to work with Scotland Yard on the case. The only clue they have is that one of the killers has eyes of two different colors. By coincidence, O'Keefe meets up with Margaret Sheridan, who is looking for her missing father, a scientist who worked on the H-bomb. It turns out that her dad's latest hobby is working with diamonds. Sure enough, her father is being held captive by crooks who are forcing him to create these new diamonds. The first half of this B-thriller, made in England and directed by leading man O'Keefe, is slow going—too many scenes of people standing around in offices exchanging information. But things pick up nicely in the last 20 minutes after Sheridan is abducted by the bad guys, and during a chase sequence, there's a well-shot scene on an escalator (pictured). A little more of that visual style would have been welcome. O'Keefe is a fine hero; the rest of the cast is rather colorless except for a nice turn by Alan Wheatley as a diamond dealer. If you can get through the slow first half, it's decent viewing. (Netflix streaming)