Only two films in this collection are set entirely in sub-Saharan Africa: William Dieterle’s Rope of Sand (1949) and Dennis MacDonald’s The Adventurers (US: Fortune in Diamonds), a gritty, moody, quiet film that depicts a back-stabbing treasure hunt in a western atmosphere much like John Sturges’ The Walking Hills from two years earlier. Set immediately following the end of the Boer War, the film stars Jack Hawkins as South African soldier Pieter Brandt, who aims to trek into the mountains to unearth the stash of diamonds he hid there during the war. To help with funding and manpower, Brandt ultimately recruits three other men: his former war comrade, the young, kindhearted Hendrik Von Thaal (Peter Hammond); local bar owner Dominic (Grégoire Aslan) whose intentions seem questionable; and disgraced English officer Clive Hunter (Dennis Price), who is wanted by the police for forging checks in “Joburg” and whose wife Anne (Siobhan McKenna) only married him because she was told that Brandt, her true love, had died in the war. Pulled by oxen and aided by natives with the vast African land mass captured in panoramic backgrounds, Brandt’s party, not unexpectedly, starts to turn on each other as they move closer to the destination, especially Dominic and Hunter, who are at each other’s throats over a poker bet, Brandt serving as mediator, Von Thaal mostly keeping quiet and observing. MacDonald could have directed with a bit more excitement, but the deliberate pacing aids in the creation of atmosphere in the mountains where soupy mist descends on the camp at night. Cinematographer Morris infuses noir style whenever possible, like the Venetian blinds encaging a Brandt as he curls up depressed in his cramped, dirty bedroom or, most dramatically, the fevered close-ups and chiaroscuro lighting throughout the diamond mind chase and collapse in the final act.