Just Ask for Diamond

Just Ask for Diamond (1988)

When all seems lost...

Thirteen-year-old Nick and his slightly dense older brother Herbert run the Diamond Private Detective Agency above Camden Town Tube Station in north-central London. When a master criminal called The Falcon dies, they come into possession of his box of chocolate Maltesers, which contains the secret key to a fabulous cache of diamonds. Can they unravel the mystery and avoid the clutches of seedy lowlifes Brenda Von Falkenberg, Gott and Himmell, The Fat Man and the dogmatic Chief Inspector Snape, all of whom want to find the swag first.

Date of release
1988-09-01
TMDB
5.6 / 10 (5)
Runtime
1h 20m
Genres
Family, Comedy, Crime
Director
Stephen Bayly

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Based on: The Falcon's Malteser

Just Ask for Diamond is a 1988 British comedy crime film directed by Stephen Bayly, written by Anthony Horowitz and starring Dursley McLinden, Colin Dale, Patricia Hodge and Michael Robbins. It serves as an adaptation of the first novel in The Diamond Brothers book series by Horowitz, The Falcon's Malteser (1986).

Production and release

Just Ask For Diamond was the last film produced by the Children's Film and Television Foundation. The screenplay was based on the novel The Falcon's Malteser (1986), which had quickly become popular in England, and was inspired by Horowitz's favourite film, The Maltese Falcon (1941).

It was filmed on location across London, including at St Pancras railway station and Chalk Farm tube station. The film's musical score was composed by Trevor Jones, which was described as "a sound world for the picture" which reflected its noir style.

Mammoth, a British heavy metal band created by John McCoy, appeared in the film, where they played the henchmen of the "Fatman" (Michael Robbins).

The production was released in the United Kingdom in December 1988, but was poorly received and made little impact at the box office. It later received a United States release via Miramax Films under the alternative title Diamond's Edge, and was edited slightly to tone down some of the narration and violence. The film was also made available on VHS and DVD.

Nigel Floyd of the Monthly Film Bulletin described the film as "a series of absurd misjudgements", and criticised it for not visualising "a more nightmarish edge".

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