Le trésor du lac d'argent

Let me put this topic on a nationalistic setting - namely, that this movie, Treasure of Silver Lake or "Der Schatz im Silbersee" (1962) is strictly German movie and that it reflects a specific historical period of that country from 19th century, the literary Romanticism and struggle for Unification of the Masses. Karl May (1842-1912) as the protagonist writer of the adventure story came from a poor background and strive hard to make for a living his whole life. He was an enigmatic author for Germany, Adolf Hitler admitted he was overwhelmed by him as a boy and Albert Einstein was also great fan of his books. This is purely German phenomenon we have here of both exasperation and charm - viz, Karl May who used to tell his stories from first person had never visited America or the Orient or China before later years when he personally was devoted to Evangelism, whatsoever.

We shouldn't regard May's literature as trivial or in that case that already during his lifetime he has been copied or parodied. He is one of the great writers of adventure literature from the period before the World Wars, together with Mayne Reid and Emilio Salgari. Their Indians are not ethnological North Americans but simply savages prone to evangelization. Their White Male characters are prototypes of the Superman from the 20th century, always justified and invincible. In the case of American Wild West stories their heroes lack historical accuracy although many of the plots develop in mid-nineteen centuries, presumably before the American Civil War 1862-1865 and with no certain American Geography. So don't look for typical Western Film and try use your imagination. I will further explicate myself.

I have numerous historical books in my library on Modern American History but not a single volume about Indian Wars in literary perspective. I have some scattered materials on Zane Gray, Louis L'Amour, etc. but they are top-listing from 20th century and have numerous film adaptations. The fellows we are talking above are firstly coming from abroad (Germany, Ireland, Italy) and secondly, have historical sense that is indifferent to Anglo-American political issues. So they come and go as foreigners, more or less, the only common ground being Christianity of the advancing trappers or sometimes the eccentricity of a visiting European scholar. Women are always beautiful and stick to family values. I will speak by my memory since I have read those books long time ago and their plot is fuzzy in my mind, but Mayne Reid's books concern the period before American-Mexican War 1846-1848 where the titular was wounded in the thigh and returned to Ireland. After that he started to write books (from Ireland) about his past adventures and mostly dealing with Texas sharp-shooters; Mayne Reid doesn't speak about the defense of Alamo or General Santa Ana - which are subject to many American Films and stories. He did write about Tecumseh the Creek and Osceola the Seminole before they were defeated and sent to Indian Reservations. There were two films based on Reid's novels about those early Indian heroes that were produced by DEFA (formerly, the GDR Film Studio) with Serbian actor Gojko Mitic as principal star. The latter participated in the 1970s at some 20 Indian Films, all based on genuine book plots from Fenimore Cooper, Mayne Reid, Liselotte Welskopf-Henrich, etc.

I will skip the material on Emilio Salgari, but he deserve special attention for his Far West Trilogy (1908) dealing with Chief Red Cloud the Sioux, his wife Yalla and daughter Minehaha, being persecuted by American trapper and agent John T. that was scalped by the Sioux. The book was exemplary 1000 pages, with some historical events and personages like Chivington Massacre and General Custer among others traversing 30 years of time. No railroads existing, which started to appear in the Wild West circa 1860s.

Now let's go to Karl May. I will try to plot the geography of his novels and leave aside the timeline which is not very clear to me. By the time Old Shatterhand arrive in Santa Fe, the Great Plains are the last abode of Native Americans. Here still roam consolidated tribes of several ethnic groups (meaning, territory west of Mississippi River and no American States charted) - Kiowa, Cheyenne, Dakota, Sioux, Arapaho, Comanche and westernmost are Apache, Navajo; still further west are Shoshone and Ute). So looking back at a political map today, these are the states that join the American Union after the mentioned war with Mexico - firstly, Texas along the Rio Grande River; then New Mexico which is undivided and later its western part become Arizona. California become a state but at first is sparsely populated before the Gold Rush in 1870s. Between the Pacific Coast and the New Mexico territories to the North lies the state of Utah and then Nevada. Here principally develop the story in "Treasure of Silver Lake" with no big cattle towns and only wooden forts available. The concept of Cowboy or "cattle-herder" is non-existent yet.

Finally, few words about the actors staff. Lex Barker and Pierre Brice (Winnetou) are excellent in their performance in all 13 movies of the Karl May franchise. Herbert Low (the Colonel Villain) is the most popular actor in this movie. He was Austro-Hungarian by birth and performed in 113 credits for Anglo-American productions. Lom died 95 years old in 2012. Thank You!

Paving the way for the Italian "Spaghetti Westerns" was this German-made "Kraut Western" that kicked off a whole series of films based on the writings of frontier adventure author Karl May. American audiences will likely have a difficult time fully appreciating this film because of the downright horrendous dubbing. Also, even though this film is inspired by the countless American westerns that preceded it, it has certain elements that may be a turn-off to traditional western enthusiasts. However, to those who approach the film with an open mind and anticipate that the dialogue will sometimes sound unintentionally funny when paired with the faces on screen, the film is more than a little entertaining. Barker plays a legendary drifter called Old Shatterhand. He roams the plains with his best pal Winnetou ("Chief of all Apaches" as the script dictates) played by Brice (and apparently played over and over by Brice in film and even on stage!) This neo-"Lone Ranger and Tonto" duo rights wrongs and helps various settlers with their sizable problems. This time out, they team up to thwart a ruthless band of criminals (led by Lom) who will stop at nothing to retrieve the title goods. If this rather simple plot sounds dull, it is decidedly not! The nearly epic film depicts stunning scenery, a nail-biting assault on a fort, a knock down contest between Barker and a towering Indian chief and a satisfactory climax at Silver Lake. Barker, a gloriously handsome former "Tarzan" has his beautiful mug hidden under a beard at first, but not for too long. He gives a standout performance in a role which won him multitudinous European fans. Brice (a French, blue-eyed actor!) doesn't get to do as much, but still made enough impact to assure a long career as this character. Also in the cast is hunky, stocky, deliriously sexy George. He manages to overcome the ridiculous vocal dubbing and provide a highly energetic and entertaining performance. In fact, all of the actors got a rigorous workout in the making of this film. They clearly did much of their own riding and stunt work. (Some of it is really odd. Watch for the fight scene between George and Lom in which George practically sits on Lom's face and then picks him up by his genitals to throw him! George also throws a dead/injured man down a well....the only source of drinking water for miles and miles! Why?) On hand for decorative purposes (which she fulfills well) is Dor, who would later be a Bond girl and the subject of one of Hitchcock's most famous camera shots in "Topaz". Lom (with a shocking burst of red hair on his usually bald head) is also beset by bad dubbing, but comes across as a serious villain. There are some comic relief characters that are excruciating. A Gabby Hayes-style rip off in a fright wig, a foppish entomologist with a butterfly net and, worst of all, a lanky, coonskin cap-wearing man who insists (to the utter torture of the viewing audience) on speaking everything in rhyme! There are also goofy elements like people hiding behind tiny trees and bushes in plain sight, yet not being seen. Still, the good outweighs the bad here with the colorful characters and exciting situations going a long way to make the film entertaining. The music also tends to be pretty interesting when it isn't intrusive. The scenes at the title lake are truly beautiful, not only due to the gorgeous setting, but also because George finally takes his shirt off for a while. Fans of "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" will find the climax of this film to be a bit of an inspiration for the climax of that film.

This "natural" looking and tentious Western will give pleasure to nature-bound spectators as well as to Western fans. The first Winnetou western acts after the introduction of Old-Shatterhand (Lex Barker) and Apache-chief Winnetou (Pierre Brice) in the movie "Winnetou 1". Herbert Lom had been got for playing a colonel, restricted by the script. Marianne Hoppe had her first international movie. For the laughers: Eddie Arent (Lord Castlepool) and Ralf Wolter (Trapper Sam Hawkins) can be seen.

I can only hope that the original Karl May Shatterhand/Winnetou stories were a lot more entertaining that this cinematic adaptation! To be sure, the scenery is very nice (particularly near the end at Silver Lake), and the widescreen photography really captures the feeling of the open west. (Unfortunately, the only print circulating on this side of the Atlantic is in pan-and-scan.) The large gun-battle against the ranch fortress isn't bad as well.

If only the screenplay had been much better than it was! For starters, it has a curiously childish tone for much of its running time, similar to the kiddie westerns made by B movie outfits in Hollywood in the '30s and '40s. It goes on abnormally on (almost 105 minutes long), partly because of a slow pace - see how that stagecoach at the beginning of the movie rides on... and on... and on... and on... and on! Also, the story takes a number of diversions that bring the story to a halt, like when the heroes are captured. Not to mention some really laughable turns in the script, like how the heroes decide to take a women with them into hostile territory to look for the treasure. Still, it's fun seeing Herbert Lom in western garb, and this may be one of the only chances you see the INDIANS instead of the calvary riding to the rescue!

As a fan of western movies, I was astonished by this one. There was at least 300 or more extras in this film. There were bad guys, good guys, a whole lot of Indians, a secret tunnel, a cave with treasure, a beautiful girl, etc. The scenery was terrific. Apparently it was shot in southern or eastern Europe. All in all, a terrific film. I gave it a 10.