The Secret of Convict Lake
Tags: revenge, murder

Plot synopsis:
In 1871, six convicts escape from a Carson City prison. A posse loses them in a mountain blizzard, and after the posse turn back, the convicts continue on foot and one of the fugitives freezes to death. The five remaining are Canfield, Greer, Cockerell, Anderson and Maxwell. They make it to a lake called Monte Diablo, where five women live in a settlement while their men are away prospecting for silver. Granny is the elder, watching over Marcia, Rachel, Harriet and Barbara.
Frightened by these men who arrive at night, the women however permit them to use an empty cabin. Granny hides guns where the unarmed men can't find them and they soon realise that the men are escaped convicts. In exposition, it becomes clear that Canfield (Glenn Ford) has returned to this small town for a reason and the other convicts suspect that he has money hidden somewhere in the small settlement. Canfield, we learn, had been convicted of killing a mine owner, Morgan, and $40,000 had gone missing, unfound after the murder.
Canfield learns that the local woman Marcia, to whom he is attracted, is engaged to be married to a man named Rudy Schaeffer. It was Rudy Schaeffer whose testimony led to Canfield being sent to the penitentiary. Canfield claims it was Rudy behind the robbery, that Rudy took the $40,000 and unfairly swore testimony against Canfield, who then reveals that he has returned to the town to seek revenge and kill Schaeffer. Marcia finds it hard to accept his version of events, a damning version against her fiancé, while at the same time she is attracted to Canfield.
A barn catches fire due to Rachel's carelessness and the convicts help put it out. The women are grateful and treat them more kindly. Canfield seems the most decent. The other four plot to get firearms and escape as soon as there is a thaw in the frigid cold, as they continue to suspect that Canfield has returned here for the missing money they. too, want to find. In private conversation it is revealed they have no compunction in killing Canfield once they have all that they want.
Meanwhile, the men of the town are returning from their silver prospecting and stop in a saloon along the way. Rudy Schaeffer spots a wanted poster identifying Canfield and the other fugitives as escapees. He and his men head back on horseback to the lake and their families. Meanwhile, Greer has worked his charms on Rachel (who is Rudy's sister) and she reveals to Greer where the hidden guns are. He, Cockerell and Anderson burst in on Granny, remove her from her bed and find them under her mattress. Marcia meanwhile, terrified that her fiancé is targeted for a revenge killing, rides out of the small settlement to raise the alarm, but is followed by Canfield who eventually catches her settling down to camp for the night in a cave. He convinces her that he is indeed an innocent, good man. She believes him and tries to talk him out of his revenge plot. He says that the mine owner Morgan had swindled him out of the money, that he had come to talk to Morgan about it. Morgan had pulled a gun on him, they had scuffled and the gun had gone off accidentally, killing Morgan. Rudy had witnessed this, but in order to get the money had falsely testified that Canfield had killed Morgan in cold blood.
Canfield and Marcia kiss and both then plan to return to the settlement in the morning. Clyde, the younger convict, who is revealed to have been in jail for being a psycho woman killer is attracted to the youngest, Barbara, and takes her on a long walk and tries to kiss her. Barbara resists, but when she does, he starts to get agitated and attacks her. Canfield, returning to the settlement on horseback with Marcia hears Barbara's cries and goes to help her. In arriving to assist, Canfield sees Clyde pull a knife, about to stab Barbara when Canfield lurches in and fights him, getting stabbed in the shoulder. Barbara escapes screaming and runs through the clearing towards the group of other women who are out looking for her, some carrying pitchforks. Canfield, stabbed, cannot chase Clyde, who runs after Barbara through the trees like the lunatic he is, waving his knife. Unfortunately he runs into the women with their pitchforks and they kill him.
Back at the settlement, Marcia confronts Rachel and tells her that her fiancé Rudy (Rachel's brother) may very well have been guilty of the robbery and not Canfield. Rachel has looked for the missing $40,000 and found it in a trunk belonging to Rudy. She gives it to Marcia who then takes it and gives it to Greer, exhorting him to leave them all alone and go.
Rudy Schaeffer and his men arrive back in the small town and confront the convicts who are attempting to escape. In a gunfight, Cockerell and Anderson are shot. Greer flees and runs up a mountain, the $40,000 flying from his pants in the wind. He stops to try and pick it up and is shot, falling from a ledge on a high cliff to his death. Canfield finally comes up behind Rudy Schaeffer and holds a gun on him, telling him to confess to all the others about the true story of the robbery and the mine owner's death. Marcia runs up behind screaming, scared about what is about to occur. As Canfield turns to see her, Rudy spins around and pulls a gun. However, Canfield turns back and kills Schaeffer in self-defense.
Soon after, the townsfolk are standing around 5 graves. (The 4 dead convicts and Rudy.) They all see a posse arriving on horseback in the distance. Marcia pleads with them all to tell the Sheriff when he arrives that Canfield is innocent and killed Rudy in self-defence. Rachel wants to turn Canfield in for killing her brother, whether he meant to or not, since he had returned to the town initially with the sole purpose of killing Rudy. The others all think that Canfield should go to trial and let a jury decide. Marcia pleads again that the only fair trial he will receive is here and now.
When the sheriff arrives, he walks in on the end of the burial ceremony and sees the 5 graves. He says to Granny that he is looking for 5 convicts, (having found the 6th frozen on the mountain). She points to the five graves and says that the convicts are buried, not revealing that Rudy is in one of the graves rather than Canfield. The Sheriff, believing Granny, then asks if anyone here wants to add anything or make a statement. One by one they all decline. The last person asked is Rachel. She hesitates, then quietly says she has nothing to add. Marcia and Canfield end up together as the posse leaves and the townsfolk file away.

Review: women and condemned convicts.
Six condemned convicts escape over a mountain pass (one of them doesn't make it, leaving five) in a blizzard and take refuge in an outpost where the men have temporarily left their wives and assorted other females to watch over the property.
It's quite a setup and the movie does not let it down.
Directed by Michael Gordon who did the superior Another Part of the Forest, this film nearly equals that one, with the women acting fairly mesmerizing as they eye these cons first with suspicion and later with sympathy and then a little lust.
It's fairly predictable but that does not detract from the scenes, especially with Ford and Gene Tierney and Scott with Ann Dvorak.
While Glenn Ford is great and has the hero's role, the parts for both Zachary Scott and Jack Lambert as the two heavies, are both excellent.
Shot in black and white, the opening scene of them trekking over a mountain in a full on blizzard looks dark and ominous.
Gordon doesn't waste any character in the film.
Everyone has a background which is revealed with just enough information to leave a lasting impression.
Amazing this film hasn't been seen more..
Effective Western with a fine cast.
In "The Secret of Convict Lake" danger looms in the winter of the 1870's when escaped prisoners hide out at a colony consisting mostly of women.
There's enough drama to hold your interest as the ladies unleash some of their own frustrations as they contend with some slimey characters.
Of course the "secret" is another matter which I won't reveal.
The exceptional cast includes Glenn Ford, Gene Tierney, Ethel Barrymore, Zachary Scott, Ann Dvorak, Jeanette Nolan, Helen Westcott and Ruth Donnelly.
There's also an impressive performance from Robert Hylton an actor with potential who should have had a bigger career in Hollywood..
Bring Your Parka.
Those opening scenes of mushing through snow under arctic conditions made me appreciate the comforts of an easy chair and fireplace.
It's an oddball Western from start to finish with a strong cast and a noirish atmosphere.
Essentially a band of escaped convicts invade a small mountain village whose men are away leaving only the women.
As you can guess a number of subplots evolve from the premise, the most important of which has Glenn Ford trying to clear himself of an unjust murder charge.I love it when evil-eyed bad guy Jack Lambert has a stare-down with gimlet-eyed bad guy Zachary Scott.
It's almost like a couple of Darth Vaders squaring off.
There are a number of good scenes most of which involve Scott, especially when he's vamping the hapless Ann Dvorak.
But, the best scene defies our expectations when the two youngsters run off to the woods.
It's a chilling, well done sequence.
The cast is almost an A-list, with Ford quite good as the resolute Jim Canfield when he stands up to the other four convicts.
Ditto, the other performers who manage to make some difficult dramatic scenes convincing enough.
And catch that ending.
It made me wonder just what does comprise a "duly constituted jury".
It's an unusual resolution for its time, to say the least.
I don't think I ever found out the "Secret" of the title, nor I believe do we ever see Convict Lake.
Nonetheless, there's more than enough going on to fill a lively 83 minutes, and I agree with the others that the movie is generally an under-rated Western..
If you're a thief you think everybody steals.
The Secret Of Convict Lake is based on the proposition in the title, if you're a thief you think everyone steals.
So when Glenn Ford who was framed for a robbery and murder leads a breakout in a Nevada prison and takes six men over the Sierras to a remote town in the foothills.
Ford is looking to even the score with the guy that framed him, but the others who include Zachary Scott, Cyril Cusack, Jack Lambert, and Richard Hylton don't believe him, they believe he's hidden the stolen money there.One of their number dies, frozen to death on a mountaintop, but the others arrive at a small settlement on a mountain lake.
The men are gone and the women are led by tough old pioneer lady Ethel Barrymore.
Ford has a tough time keeping the others in line, especially Scott who definitely has his own ideas.
It's pretty tough among the women as well, they haven't seen their men for weeks and some of them are looking good.
For Barbara Bates especially, a young inexperienced girl who Hylton takes a fancy to.
By the way in those days of The Code, Hylton's portrayal of a sex offender was pretty daring.Barrymore and Gene Tierney are pretty good at reading character and realize Ford is not a real criminal type.
How that all works out you have to see The Secret Of Convict Lake.The film was shot in another remote Sierra town called Bishop, California and in Durango, Colorado.
The cinematography is both stark, forbidding, and strangely beautiful.
It happens to be based on a true story at a place called Monte Diablo Lake renamed Convict Lake as per the film.According to Peter Ford's biography of his dad, Glenn sustained a serious eye infection during the shoot and wore a patch over the infected eye when the cameras weren't rolling.
He also had a great admiration for Ethel Barrymore as actress.
And he and Gene Tierney found each other's company delightful.The Secret Of Convict Lake is a must for Glenn Ford's legion of fans..
This film was a critical and commercial success (Wikipedia).
Some films end up being forgotten and that's the case with this excellent western directed by Michael Gordon (Cyrano de Bergerac, Pillow Talk) and with great black and white cinematography by Leo Tover (The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Tall Men, The Sun Also Rises, among many others).
Inspired by a legend of the Convict Lake (Sierra Nevada, California), it tells the story of men who escaped from jail and go looking for 40000 dollars, through the snow in a lonely group of houses located on an almost unreachable valley.
Glenn Ford and the great bad guy Zachary Scott are the main male characters and Gene Tierney, Ethel Barrymore and Ann Dvorak, the female.
Great script, even Ben Hecht touched it, though uncredited.
Dale Robertson lends his voice as the narrator, also uncredited.
This film was a critical and commercial success and I am sure that it will eventually be back where it belongs, among the best westerns, in DVDs , etc..
Far better than most westerns because it is so unusual..
When the film begins, a group of prisoners have escaped in the Sierra Nevadas.
Most were soon caught but there are six unaccounted for...and headed towards a very, very small town.
To make things worse for the folks in this minuscule town, all the men are gone...leaving everything to the women.
While the women do initially get the jump on the prisoners, they cannot let them freeze to death or starve so they take them in...but keep them under close observation.
There are some obvious problems...when they are healthier, this group of sociopaths are a serious risk to rape, steal or do other mayhem.
Also, one of the men (Glenn Ford) is in this small town for a reason...one of the men from the town set him up to go to prison and he wants revenge.
But he also is a decent man...and might be the only thing between the women and these sickos.In some ways this film reminds me of the Gregory Peck film "Yellow Sky"....which is about a gang of thugs who harass an old man and his daughter.
But this one has quite a few differences and is very good in its own right.
Unusual and well worth seeing...and based, at least in part, on real events.
How much was fiction and how much wasn't, I have no idea..
good Western, hang in there for the second half.
I just want to say that this is a better than average western with a good cast.
The first half was rather slow, boring and uneventful.
I was about to turn it off, but I fortunately stayed with it.
The second half really came to life with lots of action, a fast moving intricate plot and soap opera-like goings on.It's interesting that the resolution is similar to Glen Ford's oater "The Fastest Gun Alive," another good Western.The whole cast shined.
Besides Ford and Tierney, Zachary Scott and Ann Dvorak were compelling.Though not an "A" production by 20th century Fox, it was far from the typical "B" production values.
The cinematography (Leo Tover), acting, music, dialog, etc.
were all top-notch..
Intriguing, if melodramatic, outdoor saga with neatly defined characters....
Unusual, exceptional western has six fugitives from a Nevada penitentiary on the run from the law in a snowstorm, taking refuge in a remote woodland village inhabited only by women, mostly wives of traveling prospectors.
Glenn Ford plays the falsely accused thief of $40,000 out to kill the liar who wrongly fingered him for the crime and stole off with the money himself; Gene Tierney is the crook's unknowing intended, who instead develops a passion for Ford.
Interesting tale plays out melodramatically rather than as a suspense story; still entertaining however, with excellent lead performances and solid work from Ethel Barrymore as the elderly matriarch of the ladies.
There's an exciting wrap-up to the whole thing (topped with a dandy fall from a mountainside), plus a narrator telling us it was all based upon a true occurrence.
That seems unlikely (as rendered here), though it makes for a rugged adventure with romantic asides.
Briefly..
Six convicts escape from a Nevada prison, barely surviving winter storms, and find a tiny village of women, the men all having been called away.
Leader of the convicts is Glen Ford, innocent of the crime of which he's been convicted, of course.
Excluding Cyril Cusack as a good-natured "Limey" comic, the others tend to ride a little on the nasty side.
Zachary Scott, in particular, signals his desire to debauch Ann Dvorak the way a traffic light signals its status.
In this case, Scott, with this toothy grin and salacious experessions, signals "rape."The performances aren't bad and the plot is just complicated and coincidental enough, but the black and white photography doesn't really capture the brutal winter.
Everything just looks grimy..
The Secret Of Convincing Narrative.
I first saw this peak time one Saturday night on UK ITV in the '70's and it's always stuck with me.
It's a B+ Western with a good story and production, good acting and photography, and the very definition of Simple Yet Effective.Six convicts on the run from a posse in blizzardy California in 1871, become five and then apparently stumble across a small settlement solely er manned by women.
It turns out that their menfolk are away on some premise but on their way back while the good convict handsome Glenn Ford was waiting for one of them to return so he could kill him for revenge.
Slimy Zachary Scott played the main bad convict manically convinced there was a fortune to be stolen somewhere.
The women were in the main only lonely but the bad men were hogged up and dangerous even when not armed, and confirmed main old dame Ethel Barrymore's concern that they were wild bears and not men.
The characters were all strong and strongly delineated, if made today the sex would probably be literally in your face but there'd also be a much greater sublety in everything as films are taken more leisurely nowadays.
Everyone followed their correct moral paths right down to the morally ambiguous ending – however I suppose Glenn Ford should really have owned up to save the moral dilemma he put both the townsfolk and the majority of us viewers through who think it a good ending to a good little film..
The Convict Conundrum..
The Secret of Convict Lake is directed by Michael Gordon and collectively written by Anna Hunger, Jack Pollexfen, Oscar Saul and Victor Trivas.
It stars Glenn Ford, Gene Tierney, Ethel Barrymore, Zachary Scott, Ann Dvorak, Barbara Bates, Cyril Cusack, Richard Hylton, Helen Westcott, and Jeanette Nolan.
Music is by Sol Kaplan and cinematography by Leo Tover.I came here to kill one man.
I don't mind killing a couple of others if I have to.It's winter time here at Diablo Lake, and the five convicts who have survived the escape find themselves holed up in a remote village.
Their reasons for being there differ, more notable though is that the men of the village are away prospecting, meaning the village is only currently populated by women.It's a fine bubbling broth of scenarios, each convict is different, ranging from unstable psycho type, alpha male, twitchy youngster, simpleton and on to the calm likeable one who doesn't appear to belong in this company.
So with the reasons for the men being here established, narrative then jostles with the inner fighting of the convicts, and the various emotional strands of the women folk.
Suffice to say there is sexual tensions, mistrust, misrule, macho posturing and of course secrets to be born out.Violence is sporadic but potent upon arrivals (one instance especially grabs you by the throat), and with the mystery of the men's crimes a constant question, intrigue makes for an enjoyable companion.
Tech credits are uneven.
The studio bound feel of the village sequences which fill out 90% of the pic are an itch, making you hanker for the more expansive snowy terrains that greeted us at story beginning.
However, Tover's monochrome photography is suitably mood compliant, even if Kaplan's score isn't, while the lead actors are giving good value to offset some of the histrionics elsewhere.Perhaps not the firecracker it could have been, given all the elements involved - particularly annoying that a strong feminist bent subsides into token play - this is none the less a most interesting piece that holds attention throughout.
THE SECRET OF CONVICT LAKE (Michael Gordon, 1951) ***.
Unusual Western which creates a wonderful atmosphere throughout with the gleaming black-and-white cinematography of the snowy setting; the narrative is set in motion with the appearance of five escaped prisoners (hungry, tired and with the law on their tails) at a small backwoods village, which they presently find inhabited only by the womenfolk.
The former are led by Zachary Scott and, in their majority, expect to have a run of the place  but have reckoned without the resilience of the women, who have learned to defend themselves from outsiders.Besides, Scott is constantly at loggerheads with Glenn Ford: the latter had been convicted by the false evidence given at the trial by a local (the intended of heroine Gene Tierney), and Ford has come there expressly for the purpose of revenge  while Scott is eager to lay his hands on the fortune he believes Ford stole and, consequently, is hidden there!
Due to a raging blizzard, the women are forced to extend their hospitality to the prisoners; however, the two groups live in isolation from one another, until the barn is accidentally set on fire and the men lend a helping hand  which breaks down the barrier if only for a little while.Two other important female roles are those of Ann Dvorak as Tierney's prospective sister-in-law (a shrewish spinster who's subsequently given the runaround by the slimy Scott  only so that he can get her to reveal the location of the weapons, which the women have hidden away) and Ethel Barrymore as, naturally, the matriarch of the settlement (bearing a strong will to make up for her fading health).
Among the convicts are Cyril Cusack (the philosopher in the group) and Jack Lambert (the equally unavoidable brutish thug); another is a harmless-looking young man who goes into blackouts when contradicted and is then gripped by a homicidal fury  he strikes a friendship with the youngest in the place (Barbara Bates) but is soon forcing himself on the girl when he gets her alonewhich leads him to a fight with Ford and then has to contend with the wrath of the other women, who promptly attack him with their pitch-forks!
Of course, Ford and Tierney themselves develop feelings for one another  and, ultimately, the latter confesses that she doesn't love her fiancée (having accepted him only out of gratitude for the attentions he gave Tierney when down on her luck).
Eventually, the menfolk of the village turn up and the convicts have to shoot it out with them (minutes only after Dvorak has disclosed the hiding-place of the money  stolen by her brother  and which Tierney has given to Scott so that he and his companions could leave!); amid all this hubbub, Ford has a showdown with his old nemesis (witnessed by Tierney).
The finale is quite splendid: with the weather now calm, the posse has resumed the chase  arriving on the scene just as the townsfolk are holding services over five graves (whose occupants the former take to be the fugitives); at first, the locals were divided over whether to give Ford away or not but, after Tierney has pleaded his case, Barrymore's authority over the community ensures that everyone is of the same mind.Though essentially modest (running for a mere 83 minutes), the film is both good-looking and well-acted  very much an under-appreciated genre effort, evoking memories of such classics as THE OX-BOW INCIDENT (1943) and YELLOW SKY (1948), which ought to be on DVD (God knows Fox have done well by their vintage catalogue).
By the way, I've got two more exotic Glenn Ford titles from this same era to catch up with  namely APPOINTMENT IN HONDURAS (1953) and PLUNDER OF THE SUN (1953) which thankfully, are on DVD