Dateline Diamonds ** (1966, William Lucas, Kenneth Cope, George Mikell, Conrad Phillips, Patsy Rowlands, Anna Carteret, Vanda Godsell, Kenny Everett, Small Faces) – Classic Movie Review 13,820

The 1966 British music film Dateline Diamonds stars William Lucas, Kenneth Cope, George Mikell, Conrad Phillips, Kenny Everett, and the Small Faces, whose manager Don Arden arranged for the group to appear to promote their single ‘I’ve Got Mine’.

‘The Hottest Rocks In Britain Are Being Smuggled By The Hottest Rockers In Britain!’

Director Jeremy Summers’s 1966 black and white British music film Dateline Diamonds is written by Tudor Gates, based on a story by its producer Harold Shampan, and stars William Lucas, Kenneth Cope, George Mikell, Conrad Phillips, Patsy Rowlands, Anna Carteret, Vanda Godsell, Kenny Everett, and the Small Faces.

Dateline Diamonds is a strange Sixties jumble of genres – musical, thriller and comedy – as an evil blackmailer called Major Fairclough (William Lucas) tries to smuggle gems via a pirate radio ship, while policemen Paul Verlekt (George Mikell) and Tom Jenkins (Conrad Phillips) investigate.

Major Fairclough is linked to an international criminal gang that uses the MV Galaxy ship, scrapped in 1986, the home of the pirate radio station Radio London, to smuggle stolen diamonds from the UK to Amsterdam. Fairclough blackmails Lester Benson (Kenneth Cope), the fictional manager of the Small Faces, into helping him.

William Lucas and Kenneth Cope deal neatly with the thrills, though George Mikell and Conrad Phillips look a bit befuddled, while the music of the Small Faces, the Chantelles and Kiki Dee keep the songs swinging. Incredibly young-looking, then pirate-radio DJ Kenny Everett provides a modicum of zany humour. An uncomfortable young Anna Carteret (later in the BBC TV series Juliet Bravo) appears as Conrad Phillips’s daughter Gay Jenkins and Vanda Godsell plays Mrs Jenkins.

Dateline Diamonds is cheap and cheerful, eager and amateurish, and now quite irresistibly nostalgic.

This low-budget B-movie was released as a support feature to Doctor in Clover (1966).

The final sequence with Rey Anton and Pro Forma, Mark Richardson and the Small Faces performing on stage was filmed during a Radio London night at the Rank Ballroom in Watford in Hertfordshire, England.

The Small Faces are Steve Marriott – lead vocal, lead guitar, Ronnie Lane – bass guitar, backing vocals, Jimmy Winston – Hammond organ, rhythm guitar, backing vocals, and Kenny Jones – drums.

The Small Faces band’s real manager Don Arden arranged for the group to appear in the film promoting their November 1965 single ‘I’ve Got Mine’, the follow-up to their top 20 debut hit ‘Whatcha Gonna Do About It’. He was apparently happy to be portrayed in it as blackmail victim Lester Benson. But what Don Arden had not expected was that the film’s release was delayed until 3 April 1966 and it was the only publicity for the single, which failed to chart. Timing is everything. To be fair, ‘I’ve Got Mine’ isn’t really very good. Perhaps ‘Whatcha Gonna Do About It’ isn’t either but it has some power behind it (Steve Marriott shouts a lot). It’s on You Tube waiting to be checked out.

It is shot mainly at Rank’s Pinewood Studios and released by Rank.

Cast: William Lucas, Kenneth Cope, George Mikell, Conrad Phillips, Patsy Rowlands, Anna Carteret, Vanda Godsell. Plus Kenny Everett, the Small Faces, the Chantelles (Riss Chantelle, Sandra Orr, Jay Adams), Kiki Dee and Mark Richardson, who all receive ‘Guest Artistes’ credits.

Steve Marriott died on 20 April 1991, aged 44, when a fire thought to have been caused by a cigarette swept through his Essex 16th-century home.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,820

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