The film is based on Ian Fleming 's novel of the same name and is the second of four James Bond films directed by Guy Hamilton. The story has Bond impersonating a diamond smuggler to infiltrate a smuggling ring and uncovering a plot by his old enemy Ernst Stavro Blofeld to use the diamonds to build a space-based laser weapon.
Bond sets out to stop the smuggling but discovers he must defeat Blofeld before he destroys Washington D. The producers were inspired by Goldfinger ; as with that film, Guy Hamilton was hired to direct, and Shirley Bassey performed the title song. Locations included Las Vegas , California , and Amsterdam. Diamonds Are Forever was a commercial success and received positive reviews, though some of the humor has become controversial in retrospect. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Sound.
At a facility where Blofeld lookalikes are being created through plastic surgery , Bond kills a test subject and later the "real" Blofeld. While assassins Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd kill people involved in a diamond-smuggling operation, M suspects that South African diamonds are being stockpiled to depress prices by dumping and assigns Bond to uncover the smuggling ring.
Bond kills the real Franks, then switches IDs to fake his death and assume Franks' identity. Tiffany and Bond go to Los Angeles , smuggling the diamonds inside Franks' corpse.
At a funeral home operating in the smuggling ring, Franks' body is cremated, and the diamonds are passed on to smuggler Shady Tree. The funeral home operator double-crosses Bond, and Wint and Kidd try to cremate him alive. However, Tree stops the process after discovering the diamonds in Franks' body were fake, planted by Bond and the CIA. Bond tells Leiter to ship the real diamonds. At the Whyte House, a casino and hotel owned by billionaire Willard Whyte, Tree works as a stand-up comedian.
