The Secret of Convict Lake

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.

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.

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.

From 1951, The Secret of Convict Lake stars Glenn Ford, Gene Tierney, Ethel Barrymore, Zachary Scott, Robert Hylton, Ann Dvorak, Jeanette Nolan, Helen Westcott, and Ruth Donnelly.

This is a departure from your usual western: First of all, it has strong female characters, including Ethel Barrymore, Gene Tierney, and Ann Dvorak.

Six escaped convicts are stopped by a blizzard in the Sierra Mountains. Jim Canfield (Glenn Ford) accompanies them, though he doesn't consider the other convicts buddies.

One is a slimeball, Johnny Greer, played by Zachary Scott, who is after $40,000 that he is sure Canfield stole, which is one reason Canfield was in prison, that and murder. There is also a psycho rapist and murderer, Clyde (Richard Hylton). One escapee died along the way.

The men approach a settlement, occupied by women whose men are away. They are treated decently by the women, but they are told to keep their distance. Canfield seems especially interested in Marcia (Tierney) who is engaged to marry Rudy, the brother of Rachel (Dvorak).

Canfield insists that he did not steal the $40,000 that Greer is after. He has his own reasons for being at the settlement.

As far as keeping their distance, it's difficult due to a love-hungry spinster (Dvorak) and an innocent young girl (Barbara Bates). There's bound to be trouble, and there is.

The ending is very unusual for the times, but to me satisfying.

Very good performances all around, big finale, and an effective snowstorm.

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.