Il segreto del lago

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.

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.

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.

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. **1/2 from ****