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German actress Lena Malena starred in this lavishly budgeted and potentially intriguing melodrama about the influence of a valuable gem on its owners. In South Africa, a miner (Charles Stevens) loses his life after stealing a valuable diamond. Before he expires, he gives the stone to Musa (Malena), a girl from the village. Now known as the Shah Diamond, the gem turns up in New York City, where it is admired by Cecile (Gwen Lee), a socialite. When Cecile's lover Jerry (John Roche) buys her the stone, her husband John (Conrad Nagel) leaves in a fit of jealousy. Cecile, however, mistakes the gem for a valueless glass trinket and gives it to her maid, Musa. Next, the diamond turns up in a speakeasy, where it is admired by Tillie (Eleanor Boardman), the owner's girlfriend who is suffering from tuberculosis. An admirer, Larry (Lawrence Gray), secretly gives the girl money for treatment, but she instead buys the diamond. There is a police raid and Musa, now a dancing girl, is shot attempting to retrieve the diamond. Diamond Handcuffs was produced by Cosmopolitan Productions, an organization founded by newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst.