Yeah, that’s what I said – a Dutchman. – Lust for Gold (1949)
Lust for Gold (1949) – This Forgotten Western Film Noir Is Brutal
The Lost Dutchman’s Gold Mine isn’t just a myth… it’s the backbone of this dark, twisting Western noir you’ve probably never seen.
“So, let’s start at the beginning.”
Hello to all of the classic people who are returning. I am glad you are back. I want to welcome any new visitors and let you know there will be spoilers ahead. Today, on Classic Movie Review, we are taking on Western Film Noir Lust for Gold (1949).
IMDb.com has this film rated at 6.8[1] which is pretty fair. On Rottentomatoes.com, the film doesn’t have a Tomatometer score and only has 68[2] percent audience approval.
Lust for Gold (1949) is set in the late 1940s, but in the classic Film Noir fashion, it flashes back to the 19th Century western era to complete the tale. Directed by S. Sylvan Simon, this film has a great cast that includes Ida Lupino, Glenn Ford, Gig Young, Edgar Buchanan, Will Geer, Arthur Hunnicutt, Percy Helton, and Jay Silverheels.
Actors – Lust for Gold (1949)
Returning
Ida Lupino was cast as Julia Thomas, a somewhat ambitious western era baker and shop owner. Great Film Noir actress and director Lupino has been covered in two Film Noirs, High Sierra (1941) and Road House (1948).
Glenn Ford played the very hostile immigrant Jacob ‘Dutch’ Walz, who was searching for gold in the western era. We have covered Glenn Ford a lot as he is one of my favorites. These films include Film Noirs The Big Heat (1953), Human Desire (1954), Blackboard Jungle (1955), Western Film Noir The Violent Men (1955), Western The Man From the Alamo (1953), and the aviation thriller Fate is the Hunter (1964).
Prolific actor William Prince was cast as Barry Storm. Prince was first covered playing the murdered buddy in Dead Reckoning (1947) opposite Humphrey Bogart.
Edgar Buchanan played Wiser. Buchanan was first covered in the Film Noir Human Desire (1954). He is probably best known for playing slow moving Uncle Joe in “Petticoat Junction.”
Jay Silverheels was in small uncredited role as Deputy Walter. Of course, Silverheels was Tonto on the “Lone Ranger,” 1949-1957 television show. We have covered him briefly in Key Largo (1948) and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948).
The great voiced Percy Helton was uncredited as the Barber. We have mentioned him a few times in films Miracle on 34th Street (1947), Film Noirs The Set-Up (1949), Thieves’ Highway (1949), and Kiss Me Deadly (1955).
Arthur Hunnicutt was in the uncredited role of Ludi. He has been covered in Film Noir Border Incident (1949), Cat Ballou (1965), and El Dorado (1966).
New
Gig Young was Pete Thomas, the cuckolded husband of Julia (Ida Lupino). Young was born in Minnesota in 1913. He was raised in Washington, D.C. and began performing in theater while in high school.
Gig attended the Pasadena Community Playhouse on a scholarship. He was scouted during a play and eventually signed a contract with Warner Bros.
Like L.Q. Jones, Gig Young took his name from a character he played in a movie. In this case, the film was The Gay Sisters (1942). Gig’s acting career was interrupted for three years while he served in the U.S. Coast Guard during World War II.
Following his military service, Gig returned to work at Columbia. For his role in Come Fill the Cup (1951), he was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. He received another Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his role in the very funny Teacher’s Pet (1958), where he co-starred with Doris Day and Clark Gable.
Gig worked extensively on television, but played a real stinker in They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969). This time he won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar. During this time, he was dealing with alcoholism. This cost him the role of the Waco Kid in Blazing Saddles (1974) and the voice of Charlie on televisions “Charlie’s Angels.” Oddly, he still got film roles including Lovers and Other Strangers (1970) and Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974).
In 1978, Gig murdered his fifth wife, actress Kim Schmidt, before turning the gun on himself. He was 64 years old and Schmidt, his wife of three weeks, was 31.
Will Geer played the role of older Deputy Ray Covin. Geer was born in Indiana in 1902. Geer majored in botany, but the love of acting took over. He began working in tent shows and on river boats, before moving to Broadway, television, and films. He also worked with Orson Welles during the Depression relief Federal Theatre Project. He remained a liberal activist throughout his life. He was blacklisted after refusing to testify before the Un-American House Un-American Activities Committee.
While best known for playing the sage grandfather on “The Waltons” 1972-1978, Geer had a robust film career. Some of his films include Union Pacific (1939), Film Noir Johnny Allegro (1949), Western Film Noir Winchester ’73 (1950), The Barefoot Mailman (1951), Salt of the Earth (1954), the political drama Advise & Consent (1962), and the great Jeremiah Johnson (1972). Geer died in 1978
Prolific character actor Paul Ford was in the role of Sheriff Lynn Early. Ford was born in Maryland in 1901. He dropped out of college and worked as a salesman during the Great Depression. Near the end of the depression, he moved into entertainment working in theater and on radio. His first Broadway show was in 1944.
Ford was successful on television with roles like flustered Colonel Hall on The Phil Silvers Show (1955).
Ford move into film and some of his highlights include Film Noirs The House on 92nd Street (1945), The Naked City (1948), All the King’s Men (1949), and Lust For Gold (1949). Other films include Western The Kid from Texas (1950), drama The Teahouse of the August Moon (1956), musical The Music Man (1962), political drama Advise & Consent (1962), comedies It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963), The Spy with a Cold Nose (1966), A Big Hand for the Little Lady (1966), The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming (1966), and The Comedians (1967).
Ford retired in 1972 and died in 1976.
Story – Lust for Gold (1949)
The credit roll rolls over a vista of Superstition Mountain in Arizona. Then a letter signed by the Governor of Arizona stating that the story is substantiated by historical records and legends of the state.
Narration begins that the mountain is a 40 by 20-mile pile of rock that is barbaric. Odd word choice. Floyd Buckley (Hayden Rorke) hikes into the mountain searching for gold. We probably all know Rorke as Dr. Bellows from “I Dream of Jeannie.”
The time period is the late 1940s.
The narration continues about how terrible it is in the mountains. It says 21-men have been murdered on the mountain. A shot rings out and Floyd Buckley dies. Barry Storm (William Prince) is nearby and hears the gunshot. He approached to investigate. Do you know what I do when I hear gunshots. I duck!
Storm was also looking for the mine, but not as seriously as others. Storm finds Buckley and begins running back to get help from the sheriff. It took three days to reach Sheriff Lynn Early (Paul Ford), Deputy Ray Covin (Will Greer), and Coroner (Eddy Waller). The coroner examines the body while the other three watch.
Sheriff Lynn takes Storm back to his office for questioning. Deputy Walter (Jay Silverheels) is sitting inside on a bench. They lean on Storm about being around the murder. Storm says he was following Buckley to find the location of the Lost Dutchman Mine, as he believes he is the rightful owner because his grandfather was Jacob “Dutchy” Walz (Glenn Ford). Sheriff Lynn says Dutchy killed a lot of men in the 1880s.
Storm begins his story flashing back to earlier when he visited the Phoenix claims office. The clerk (Virginia Farmer) says there is no record of the mine being recorded. She does tell him that the newspapers just ran a story on the mine. The story has a picture of Buckley, and it says he is a noted explorer that will be using old Spanish maps to locate the mine.
Storm meets with Buckley. Buckley says he has the Peralta map and that the Peralta and the Lost Dutchman mines are one and the same. Storm announces that he is Walz’s grandson and wants to go on the trip. Buckley says he knows how to read the markers and never takes a partner.
They come back to current time and Storm says that’s when he decided to follow Buckley. The coroner comes in and says Buckley was killed with a 30-30 and was shot from above. He also has the Peralta map. It is missing a section. Deputy Covin takes the map and won’t let Storm see it.
Sheriff Lynn is still suspicious of Storm so he directs deputies Covin and Walter to take Storm back to the mountain so they can check his story and movements.
On the mountain, Covin grills Storm about what he saw and what he planned to do if Buckley found the mine. Covin searches for the location where the shot was fired from. Covin says Buckley was the fourth to be shot in the last two years. He says 20 men have died on the mountain since 1880. Storm points out that it all took place in the shadow of a rock formation known as Weaver’s Needle.
Covin takes Storm to a Saguaro cactus that has rocks hammered into it. He says only the north one points to a location is the rocks where some other signs are carved. They head up to the carvings. The signs are the Spanish word for gold, oro, a sunburst indicating that it is near, another indicating at that it is 50 yards away, the fourth symbol, a snake is with its head pointing up. Covin says no one has ever figured it out. He also says the signs were made by the three Spanish Peralta brothers.
Covin continues to tell the story as they flash back 100 years to 3 men, Manuel, Pedro, and Ramon (Antonio Moreno). After they found the gold, they opened several mines before leaving. Pedro returned with a large expedition. The miners faced repeated attacks by the local Apache Indians, of which Deputy Walter is a descendant.
Pedro hid the gold in the most inaccessible mine. He says they stored 20 million dollars of gold in the mine. The Apache attacked before the mine could be sealed. All the miners were killed. The leader of the Apache ordered the mine sealed as they felt the mountain was sacred.
Back in modern times, Storm is overwhelmed by the story. He stays behind to search for the gold. Covin reminds him that a killer is in the area. Storm spent the next five days searching for clues to the mine’s location. As he searches, someone aims at him through a rifle scope, but they don’t shoot.
Storm almost gets bitten by a large Rattlesnake. Having fallen on the ground after the strike, Storm finds an old rifle in the dirt and believes it may have been his grandfather’s.
Storm leaves the mountain and takes the rifle to Sheriff Lynn for identification. The Sheriff identifies the rifle as a Sharps breach loading 45-90. That model was first manufactured in 1877[3] and the large grain size made it perfect for taking down larger game.
Sheriff Lynn tells Storm he should go to the Pioneers Home in Phoenix, which is actually an old folk’s home. Storm jumps at the idea.
At the Pioneer Rest Home, Storm is taken to Mrs. Martha Bannister (Elspeth Dudgeon). Martha is crabby. When she hears the name Jacob Walz, she gets defensive saying how mean the man was. Bill Bates (Paul E. Burns) jumps into the conversation and says Walz was a real sidewinder. SNAKE NOT MISSLE.
Martha flashes back to when she was a girl in Florence Junction. The child actress is Karolyn Grimes who played Zuzu in It’s A Wonderful Life (1946). She asks questions like children do and Jacob ‘Dutch’ Walz (Glenn Ford) tricks her into firing his rifle. She runs away scared. Walz’s partner Wiser (Edgar Buchanan) says he is selling two burros to a Mexican man and his partner Ludi (Arthur Hunnicutt). Wiser knows they are going to look for the lost mine. Ludi slips and calls his partner Peralta (Antonio Moreno). This catches Wiser full attention and he runs the information back to Walz.
Walz and Wiser follow Peralta and Ludi into the mountains. The followed pair camp for the night. Walz believes the men know where they are heading as they are not panning any of the streams. There is a little tension between Walz and Wiser over leadership. Walz realizes that the men they are watching have not moved. They run down to their campsite and find that Peralta and Ludi have left dummies behind as they snuck away to their destination.
A couple of nights later, Peralta and Ludi make it to the location of the markers, believing they have shaken their followers. Peralta says it has been 38 years to the day that he and his brothers were at the location. Peralta watches the moon rise through a notch in Weaver’s Needle. The moonlight illuminates the location of the hidden mine. Peralta and Ludi begin digging during the night.
Later Walz and Wiser find the other men digging in the mine. They murder Peralta and Ludi in cold blood. As soon as Walz sees the gold, he murders his partner, Wiser. Walz dumps the body and takes some of the gold back to Florence Junction. The town goes wild when they hear of the gold strike. Baker and shopkeeper Julia Thomas (Ida Lupino) closes her shop and heads to where the gold is being weighted. Parsons (Will Wright) assays the ore at $40,000 per ton, making it one of the biggest strikes ever.
When Walz’s name is heard, people speculate that he is a Dutchman meaning German. His nickname is Dutchy. As soon as Walz gets his money, he heads to a saloon for drinking and companionship.
Back at the bakery, Julia interacts with her husband, Pete Thomas (Gig Young). It is pretty clear that they don’t care for each other. WHAT’S THAT CALLED? OH, MARRIAGE.
Julia tells Pete that she intends to meet Walz because he has found gold. She runs down every mistake Pete has made including a murderer. She orders Pete to bring Walz to the house but not to let him know that they are married.
In the saloon, Walz is singing and drinking in German. The people in the saloon try to get the location of the mine. Pete tries a couple of times to approach Walz, but he is rebuffed. Saloon girl Lucille (Myrna Dell) works Walz pretty hard but also strikes out. The saloon manager orders the bartender to give Walz a Mickey Finn.
A Mickey is a drug laced drink designed to knock the drinker out. It is named after a Chicago bartender and manager, Michael “Mickey” Finn, of the Lone Star Saloon from 1896 to 1903[4]. He is said to have spiked drinks to rob his customers.
The saloon manager throws Walz out, but the gold miner pulls a gun and shoots up the bar from outside. Walz passes out right in front of the bakery and Julia sees her opportunity. She takes him inside and puts him to bed. When Pete tries to get inside, Julia sends him away.
Walz wakes in the morning, not knowing how he arrived at the bakery and house. He is shocked to find his money carefully laid out by his other belongings. Walz is suspicious but Julia is as sweet as sugar. She pretends not to know about his gold. When she speaks German to Walz, the man is hooked. DEEP IN THE GILLS.
When a woman is rude to Julia about prices, Walz buys everything in the bakery. He gives it away to a boy sitting by a burro. The boy is played by Billy Gray, who was the kid in The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) and Bud in “Father Knows Best.”
Walz cleans up and goes to Julia’s that night for a date. She works her Femme Fatale magic and Walz is drawn deeper in. He kisses her and she throws him out, reinforcing that she is a virtuous woman. Pete is watching from outside when Walz leaves.
Over the next few weeks, the pair continues to date.
A man in the barber shop (John Doucette) tells another man that Walz doesn’t know Julia is married, even though a good amount of time has passed. They say Walz has made five trips to the mine. The barber (Percy Helton) has his hair plastered to his scalp like an MC Esher drawing. Pete comes in for a haircut, but Walz comes in right after. The townsmen laugh at Pete and he storms out. Walz wants to know what they are laugh at Pete, but the men go mute.
Pete goes to Julia’s bakery/home regretting that he has gone along with the scheme, which he thinks is taking too long. Eventually she slaps Pete and throws him out just before Walz arrives. Julia confesses to Walz that she is married, but it is all part of the scheme. Walz hands her $2,000 and says she will get $5,000 total to get Pete to sign divorce papers. Walz has to leave for the mine again to raise additional funds.
Many of the townsfolks try to follow Walz to the mine. Pete is mocked by a man in the bar. He goes to Julia and says that she is through with Walz. He says he’ll tell Walz the truth and kill him afterwards. Julia pulls Pete back into her scheme. From outside, Walz hears that Julia says she is only interested in the location of his mine.
Walz goes to the bar and drinks himself stupid before drawing a map to mine. He takes the map to Julia and shows her how to get from the marker cactus and Weaver’s Needle to the mine. He says he is not coming back, and she needs to come to the mine if they are to be together. He says he will have to take a few days to shake the followers, so she may be there ahead of him.
Pete comes in and Julia tries to hide the map. Pete takes it and knows his wife is in love with Walz. He says he will kill Walz at the mine.
Pete and Julia with a pair of burros’ hike through the rough country to the mine. However, Walz has tricked them, and he is on the ridge above. At the mine, Pete sends Julia to lure Walz out into the open. She sends Pete for the burros and takes the rifle to murder Pete. However, Pete rounds a bend before she can shoot.
When Pete gets to the top, Walz has taken their burros and supplies. Walz begins rolling rocks towards the pair. They are trapped on the ledge and can’t get away. Julia appeals to Walz, but he continues to hurdle rocks.
During the night, Julia climbs to Walz and says Pete forced her to bring him to the mine. Pete wakes and fires at Walz. Walz interprets this as another of Julia’s tricks. He pushes a rock and knocks her back to the ledge.
Walz keeps them pinned on the ledge as they run out of water and become more desperate. Pete continues to fire but he is at a disadvantage being downslope. Finally, he runs out of bullets. He throws his rifle over the cliff. Even after Pete gives up, Walz leaves the pair baking without water. Walz throws down a canteen and watches the couple fight over the water. He then shoots the canteen, denying them both a drink. I told you he was a mean guy.
Pete starts screaming for Walz to take Julia saying it was all her idea. She takes Pete’s knife and stabs him in the back. Julia makes case for true love as she climbs towards Walz. He watches from above as she falls to the ledge. Suddenly, an earthquake brings the entire mountain down on Julia.
Walz climbs to where Julia is buried showing that he might have cared for her a little.
The story returns to modern times. Storm, the coroner, and Deputy Covin are in the morgue. Storm says the rifle he found, the stories from the old folks, the veracity of the earthquake, and a female skeleton found on the mountain all indicate that he is near the mine location.
Deputy Walter tells Storm to be careful because there is still a killer in the mountains.
Storm and his burro head into the mountains but soon become lost. At last, he finds the place where he killed the Rattlesnake and found the old rifle. He climbs higher and finds old Spanish markings, but he can’t interpret the signs. He locates a hole in the rock. He places a stick in the hole and checks the alignments. On the third try, the stick point towards the rock window in Weaver’s Needle. Storm thinks he is the only one who has seen the information. He climbs to the rock window and notes that it is man made. Storm sees his shadow from the rock window and realizes that is how to find the mine.
Storm goes back to the carving, but Deputy Covin is there waiting. Storm explains what he knows before realizing he may be in trouble. Covin pulls a gun on Storm. Covin says he has been looking for the mine for 20 years and that the rock window is the key.
Covin walks Storm out onto a high ledge intending to throw him off. Storm attacks Covin and they fall to a lower ledge as they fight. Storm slips over edge but hangs by his fingers. Covin goes to kick Storm off but is bitten twice in the neck by a Rattlesnake that was sunning on a ledge. Covin falls to his death.
Sheriff Lynn and Deputy Walter meet with Storm at the location of Covin’s body. Walter had followed Storm onto the mountain suspecting Covin all along. Storm is a little upset to be used as bait.
Storm and Sheriff Lynn wait on the ledge to the full moon signal through the rock notch. The moonlight illuminates a location. Storm starts digging. Sheriff Lynn finally tells Storm that the earthquake and movements of the Earth and Moon keep the location unknown. Storm leaves the mystery to others, if they care to look.
Conclusion – Lust for Gold (1949)
Lust for Gold is steeped in noir despite its Western setting. The flashback structure frames the tale like a confession, peeling back the crime and betrayal. Walz is not a heroic prospector, but a killer undone by his own greed. Julia epitomizes the Femme Fatale whose schemes consume her. Even the modern-day storyline mirrors Film Noir, with Covin revealed as a treacherous lawman hiding corruption behind a badge.
The Western setting provides a striking counterpoint to the noir elements. The blazing Arizona sun and wide desert expanses replace shadowy city streets, but the psychological darkness is the same. The mine becomes a Western equivalent of the typical noir MacGuffin: like a briefcase full of cash, or a missing jewel, its allure is irresistible, but its possession only leads to ruin. Simon’s direction heightens this clash of tones, emphasizing the unforgiving terrain while framing characters in close, tense shots that feel more urban than frontier.
According to IMDb.com, there was a real Jacob Walz, who claimed to have discovered the Lost Dutchman mine. He died of pneumonia in 1891 on his Arizona ranch. While he was sick, he was cared for by a nurse named Julia Thomas. This is the same name used for Ida Lupino’s character in this film. The real Julia Thomas said Walz gave her the mines location before he died. Later, in a money-making [5]scheme, Thomas sold shares in a mining company, but nothing was ever found.
World-Famous Short Summary – Greed wears gold as its crown
Beware the moors.
[1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041610/
[2] Lust for Gold | Rotten Tomatoes
