The Diamond Master
by Jacques Futrelle
The popular themes of science fictions films of the silent era were often quite different from what they are today. One of the more prevalent ones was the idea that diamonds could be made from artificial means.
SPOILERS
E. van Cortlandt Wynne demands that Henry Latham and a group of diamond dealers turn over $100,000,000 dollars. In return, Wynne will not flood the market and ruin the value of their holdings. His collaborator and girlfriend is Doris Kellner. Doris' grandfather worked for years to discover the diamond-making process. Both her father and brother were killed in the experimental process. Although it turns out that the capacity to make new diamonds dies with the unfortunate murder of the inventor by a drifter, there are enough diamonds already made so that the money is turned over.
The plot actually unfolds much better than this. This novel is really an o.k. mystery/suspense story for all of that. (Wynne kinda reminds me of a Mabuse-like mastermind type.)
Various S.F. Film sources list films using this concept:
- Vitagraph's 1909 8 minute "A Maker of Diamonds" is about an old chemist who discovers the method.
- "The Diamond Makers" from 1913 - a Hindu alchemist provides the secret.
- "The Diamond-Maker" (1914) - a chemist discovers the secret but his son dies of heart attack from the excitement of it all! The chemist's daughter, years later, make a fortune by agreeing to suppress the method.
- the Pathe 1920 feature "The Empire of Diamonds" - concerns two scientists who are branded criminals for the effect their invention has on the diamond market
- the lost 18 chapter Universal serial "The Diamond Queen" (1921) - a young girl floods the market to avenge her father's death.
- "The Diamond Master" of 1929 (also lost) was essentially a 10 episode remake by Universal of their previous serial.At least 2 sources cite the last two works as being adapted from Jacques Futrelle's 1909 novel. That's what picqued my interest. These two do follow the story-line somewhat closely. I would've guessed that almost all of these films could conceivably be considered inspired by Futrelle. Almost certainly the 1914 film is also since the heroine is named "Doris Kellner" and the man she is co-conspiring with and engaged to is called "Wynne" Browning. However, "The Empire of the Diamonds" is seemingly based on "L'Empire du Diamant" by Valentin Mandelstamm.
Misc: Jacques Futrelle died aboard the Titanic. I can vaguely remember reading his stories featuring the character "The Thinking Machine" as a young-un.
written: 1/28/2002
revised: 2/19/2004