Lust For Gold

Next up in the Criterion "Western Noir" series is Lust For Gold, released in 1949 and directed by S. Sylvan Simon. This film can be more accurately described as noir than the last two films I commented on, as it is completely cynical and almost every character operates strictly out of greed.

The film is based on some truth, the Lost Dutchman Mine, which is supposedly in the Superstition Mountains of Arizona and has been sought for several decades. A man named Jacob Waltz was said to have discovered it, but it was lost once again, and at the time of the film was searched for by his grandson.

Lust For Gold thus has two timelines--a framing contemporary setting, with the grandson (William Prince) witnessing another treasure hunter being murdered (of note to those old enough to remember, this man was played by Hayden Rorke, who would later play Colonel Bellows on I Dream of Jeannie). It is the fourth murder of someone looking for the treasure.

The film then centers on Waltz himself, played by Glenn Ford as a surly German immigrant. He finds the mine, and after killing his partner (Edgar Buchanan, another staple of '60s TV) brings in some of the gold. He becomes an instant celebrity in the little town, and comes to the attention of Ida Lupino, who runs a bakery and is married to a lout she does not love (Gig Young). She connives to romance Ford in order to get his gold, but Ford overhears her plan and turns the tables on both she and Young.

Lust For Gold is an odd film, with pacing problems, and there is no real hero of the film. The ending, in which Ford lures Lupino and Young out to the mine and then tortures them, seems pretty ruthless even for a noir film. Lupino makes a good femme fatale, and Young is also good as a completely emasculated husband, but I found Ford to be all over the place and could not really figure him out.

There is also some over the top narration, as if someone were reading straight from the source material (written by Storm himself). He does tell us at the end that the treasure is still out there. As of now, this is still true. So happy hunting.