Lust for Gold is an American western first released in 1949, directed by S. Sylvan Simon. The film stars Ida Lupino, Glenn Ford, Gig Young, William Prince and Edgar Buchanan. Our overall rating for this film is: good.
July 4, 1949
A Fine Addition to Good Westerns
A. W.
Out of fact and fancy, Producer-Director S. Sylvan Simon, his scenarists, the author of the book and a professional cast, have mined a tense, intelligent and often thrilling adventure in "Lust for Gold," which came to the Criterion on Saturday. For the story of man's ill-fated quest for the "Lost Dutchman" cache—a $20,000,000 jackpot in mined, high-grade gold ore secreted somewhere in Arizona's craggy Superstition Mountains and free for the finding—has the attraction of a tall tale plus the conviction of a statistic. And, though its romantic aspects are dross by comparison with the rest of the yarn, the saga makes a neat addition to the roster of good Western dramas which have come our way.
The narrator, who says he is a grandson of the Jacob Walz, for whom the elusive bonanza is named, sets the documentary tone of the legend by providing clues to the general location of the "mine" as being "some twenty-six miles east of Pheonix." But he also points out prophetically that this is the "biography of death trap." In flashback then, is shown the discovery of the mine about a century ago; how the Mexican prospectors, the Peralta brothers, hid their hoard only to be killed by Apaches under Cochise for having desecrated their holy hills.
Most of the dire adventure is relegated to Jacob Walz, who came into the treasure via murder in the Eighteen Seventies. Killing and the lust for gold went hand in hand as Walz was smitten by a designing lady, who with her impecunious husband try to snatch the nuggets, only to be discovered and eradicated by the baleful Walz. The latter, however, also becomes one of the twenty-one men who die for the bonanza without reaping its benefits. His grandson, it should be noted, brings matters up to date by discovering a clue to the saled loot, but fatefully it, too, eludes his grasp. He ends his story on a wry but somewhat optimistic note to the effect that the basic facts are true; that any citizen has the right to look for that fabulous mass of minerals, and that the State of Arizona will honor any legitimate claim.
Glenn Ford is genuinely taut and convincing as the close-mouthed and suspicious Walz, who thinks nothing of murdering five persons including the woman he loves to protect his ill-gotten gains. And, Ida Lupino, as the scheming object of his affections; Gig Young, as her spineless mate; William Prince, as the grandson-narrator, who nearly adds his own name to the necrology of the "Lost Dutchman"; and Will Geer, as a smiling deputy sheriff are just as credible in other principal assignments.
"Lust for Gold" is not in the same class as "Treasure of Sierra Madre" to which school it belongs, but it very competently probes into the anatomy of greed. What it reveals is not pretty but it certainly is interesting.
LUST FOR GOLD, screen play by Ted Sherdeman and Richard English; based on the book, "Thunder God's Gold" by Barry Storm; produced and directed by S. Sylvan Simon for Columbia. At the Criterion.
Jacob Walz . . . . . Glenn Ford
Julia Thomas . . . . . Ida Lupino
Pete Thomas . . . . . Gig Young
Barry Storm . . . . . William Prince
Wiser . . . . . Edgar Buchanan
Deputy Ray Covin . . . . . Will Geer
Sheriff Lynn Early . . . . . Paul Ford
Walter . . . . . Jay Silverheels
Roman Peralta . . . . . Antonio Moreno
Floyd Buckley . . . . . Hayden Rorke
Coroner . . . . . Eddy Waller
Parsons . . . . . Will Wright
Matron . . . . . Virginia Mullen
Ludi . . . . . Arthur Hunnicutt
Lucille . . . . . Myrna Dell
Luke . . . . . Tom Tyler
Mrs. Bannister . . . . . Elspeth Dudgeon
Bill Bates . . . . . Paul E. Burns
Somewhere on Superstition Mountain there lies a treasure as big as the West. Silver screen legend Glenn Ford stars as Jacob "Dutch" Walz, the man behind the myth of Arizona's infamous Lost Dutchman gold mine. LUST FOR GOLD is the quintessential gold rush tale, chronicling one man's quest for the mother lode and the complications that come with such passions. This timeless tale of love, loss, danger and greed co-stars Ida Lupino, Gig Young and an uncredited appearance by Jay Silverheels.
Here's a few links to the Legend.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Dutchman%27s_Gold_Mine
http://www.desertusa.com/mag98/aug/stories/lost1.html
Read some of it to better understand this movie.
as recently as last year they found the body of Jesse Capen who went missing in 2009 looking for the mine.
here's a postcard of the map,happy hunting
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