Lust for Gold
Directed by S. Sylvan Simon
Written by Ted Sherdeman and Richard English from the novel “Thunder Gods Gold” by Barry Storm
1949/USA
Columbia Pictures Corporation
First viewing/Netflix rental
Julia Thomas: Who is he?
Man in crowd: Jacob Walz. Must be a Dutchman.
Julia Thomas: Or a German.
Man in crowd: Yeah, that’s what I said – a Dutchman.
On the surface, this is a Western about the discovery of the Lost Dutchman gold mine. Underneath, it is 100% film noir.
A long flashback is framed by the story of Barry Storm a descendent of the namesake of the Lost Dutchman Mine who runs across a corpse while searching in the mountains for the old mine. Turns out that there have been a number of murders in the vicinity.
As Storm searches through a pile of old documents, we segue into the flashback. Jacob Walz (Glenn Ford) rides into town and heads straight to the assay office with a pile of gold nuggets. The townspeople are clambering to find out where the mine is. The proprietress of the local bakery Julia Thomas (Ida Lupino) gets wind of this and plots how she will get a share of the loot. She orders her husband Pete (Gig Young) to introduce her to Jacob. Pete is forced to comply because Julia has the info that will tie him to an unsolved murder back in Milwaukee.
At any rate, Jacob goes on a drinking spree, but manages to keep his secret even while dead drunk. Julia spots him passed out in the street and takes him home with her. When he wakes up she appears like an angel with no interest in anything but her baking. When she tries out her German on the lonely miner, it is love at first sight.
Soon Jacob begins courting Julia. who is having a harder and harder time keeping her marriage to Pete hidden. She is finally forced to admit her marriage and agrees to get a divorce. Soon she will caught between two violent, angry men.
Once the love triangle is resolved, we return to the modern-day mystery involving the location of the mine and the identity of the killer. With Paul Ford as the modern day sheriff and a youngish Will Geer as his deputy.
This is a fairly solid noirish Western with a truly evil femme fatale. Glenn Ford is handicapped by a bad German accent that comes and goes repeatedly and the story is a bit too convoluted. It’s not a bad way to spend a couple of hours, though.
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