ROPE OF SAND no stars

A look at the cast list of "Rope of Sand" and you might think you are seeing a "Casablanca" re-tread, (look, there's Claude Rains, Paul Henreid and Peter Lorre), but this thriller is a very different kettle of foul smelling fish and while watchable is never remotely in the same class as Curtiz' masterpiece. Burt Lancaster is the diamond prospector in South Africa who plans on recovering some diamonds from the mine ruled over by sadistic commandant Henreid. It's an attractive looking picture and well cast, (the leading lady was newcomer Corinne Calvet) but it's certainly no classic. It's that cast, (Sam Jaffe's in it, too), that just about saves it. Between them, they lift so-so material to a slightly higher level but in the end this is a decidedly minor affair.