User Reviews

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

Just watched The Secret of Convict Lake last night and just had to watch it again this afternoon to make sure I thought it deserved 10/10. For me, it definitely does. In two noir discussion groups to which I belong, there's a question of whether a western can qualify as a 'noir." If so, this one defines that category - even better than two often considered and rejected by purists, the Ox Bow Incident and Colorado Territory, both also 20s for me.

It's black-and-white with bleak sets and grainy snowstorm cinematography that is a perfect backdrop for the claustrophobic story in the very small settlement where all our players are stuck. The dialog is spartan noir. We spend most of our time with the convicts and our convict hero, Jim, convincingly underplayed by a laconic Glenn Ford, actually did kill the victim he was convicted of murder for. The twist is that the killing was an accident and the witness lied on the stand saying that it was deliberate murder to get possession of the $40,000 in the bank vault. The liar turns out to be Gene Tierney's fiancee. Three other convicts and fellow escapees with whom he is chained including unctious Zach Scott, brute Jack Lambert and young psycho Robert Hylton. In addition to Tierney, the women of the town trying to salvage their lives and the town include matriarch Ethel Barrymore in a performance as strong as it is underplayed, a well-meaning Jeanette Nolan, a bitter Ann Dvorak (sister of the liar to whom Tierney is engaged) and vulnerable innocent Barbara Bates (Pheobe) from the last scene of All About Eve. All play their roles to perfection and add to the constant atmosphere of bleak tension and general hopelessness.

After 45 minutes to establish all of the above, Tierney confronts Ford to protect her fiancee which results in his obtaining a gun and gaining her affections. When Scott sees Ford has a gun, he plots out his moves and from that point, things proceed very briskly, memorably and grip you at an emotional level (across the spectrum) for all of these characters. The women all have to reflect upon who they really are. The men meet their different fates in very appropriate ways. The resolution is ingenious and packs a punch. As the film ends, we are informed that it is based on an actual prison break and co-habitation of the town by the convicts on the lam.

Obviously, not everything in the film is real but who cares? It all sucked me in and gripped me as much as any of my favorite noirs. The filming of how Scott meets his fate is particularly poetic.

See it! A true hidden gem - will probably break my personal all-time top 200 list.

Only one similarity connects the plot of this movie and the historic facts: several of the 29 convicts who escaped from a Carson City, Nevada, prison in September of 1871, did successfully cross the Sierra Nevadas into California, where they camped near Monte Diablo, since renamed Convict Lake thanks to them. The movie starts with a handful of escapees crossing the Sierras. So much for fact. After that, fiction takes over, with more females than males in the cast. But so what? It's still solidly entertaining.

Four convicts make it to the little settlement of Convict Lake: two antagonistic alpha males (good Glenn Ford and bad Zachary Scott), a young sociopath (Richard Hylton), and a dangerous goof (Cyril Cusack, of all people!). They weasel their way into the sympathies of the resident women (and referenced children), whose husbands are off doing the unspecified work of frontiersmen. But they left plenty of guns behind.

The convicts, on the other hand, don't have guns. They have leg irons, one each, sans chain, which the heroine (Gene Tierney) notices while she's holding a shotgun on them. But the women take pity on them, enough to give them food and a cabin for the night. That decision is made by the matriarch, the great Ethel Barrymore, bedridden and delivering her signature tough old lady, which is praise, not complaint: "I'm a poor old woman lying in a bed of pain reading my bible, you bloodthirsty weasel." She orders the women to gather all the guns and hide them under her mattress.

The movie is predictable to anybody familiar with Hollywood westerns, or Hollywood romances, or Hollywood period. But as with any work of art, it's the details that matter. The inclusion of a sociopath adds a crucial bit of tension. He is played well enough by a pretty-boy actor, Richard Hylton, but it's the crafty dialog that deserves the credit. The fact that this handsome young man is, in fact, a homicidal maniac is the only thing that scares the consummately evil Zachary Scott into rational behavior, up to a point.

The script (with uncredited contributions from Ben Hecht) kept me going. When Glenn Ford first puts his hands on Gene Tierney, his reaction is, "I wondered if there was enough left in me to care about living." Zachary Scott has contrasting scene with Ann Dvorak (her last film role): "It's been a long time since I've had a woman slap my face," he says, encouraged, before they roll in the hay.

Look, it's not a great movie, but it's solidly written and structured, if not conceived. And thanks to Ford, Tierney, and Barrymore, you won't be sorry you gave it a shot.

The Secret Of Convict Lake is a great Western that has fallen through the cracks and is neglected ( I base this on only 14 people commenting on it). One thing that makes it different is the dominant females in this movie. You have granny ( Ethel Barrymore) who is the leader of the ladies, Marcia ( Gene Tierney ( beautiful as always, but is tough as well)), and spinster Rachael Schaffer ( Ann Dvorak). All of whom are excellent. It is about 6 convicts who break out of prison ( led by good guy Jim Canfield ( Glenn Ford), and bad guy Johnny Greer (Zachary Scott)), and end up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California ( later named Convict Lake ( this story is a fictionalized account of a true story). They are after a stolen $40,000 that Jim was accused of stealing ( the crime was actually committed by Rachael's brother ( and Marcia's fiancé) Rudy). Besides that , Jim wants to kill Rudy because he lied in court and said Jim murdered someone ( a killing in self defense) so Rudy can steal the $40,000. It really becomes a battle of wits between four of the outlaws ( one died earlier) and the ladies with Jim in the middle. The worst of the convicts is a psychopath named Clyde Maxwell who tries to stab one of the women named Barbara, and when Jim tries to stop him, he gets stabbed. But Clyde gets his courtesy of pitchforks from the ladies and they are going to kill Jim as well except Barbara yells "He ( Jim) saved me." Spoilers ahead: Does the truth come out about Dale and that he framed Jim? Of course, does Jim end up with Marcia ( or better yet, Marcia with Jim ( if you watch the movie you will get what I mean)), and do the other convicts get what is coming to them ? Oh yes. But how it works out is extremely well done and I am not going to spoil the ending. This is a great western and a must see ( especially for Ford and Tierney fans). 10/10 stars.

On September 17, 1871, 29 prisoners escaped from the state prison in Carson City, Nevada, and headed west. Splitting up into two groups, they traveled over the Sierra Nevada Mountains into California, and ultimately fetched up at what was then known as Lake Monte Diablo, in Mono County, where, in a series of gunfights, the convicts and their pursuing posses suffered numerous losses. Ultimately, all the escapees were either killed or recaptured, and the nearby body of water was later renamed Convict Lake, in memory of the historic events. With these facts taken as some kind of a loose background, 20th Century Fox, a full 80 years later, was able to fashion a winning entertainment package, "The Secret of Convict Lake." Released in the summer of '51, the film was only marginally successful, not even cracking the Top 50 spot that year; as a comparison, even the films "Ma and Pa Kettle Back on the Farm" and "Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man" made it onto that list. Still, a look at this noirish Western will surely make any modern-day filmgoer wonder why it did not perform better with audiences back then. The film is intelligently scripted, well acted by its stellar cast, taut and exciting. And for this viewer, its main appeal - indeed, my primary reason for watching it in the first place - is the inclusion of Ms. Gene Tierney, one of my very favorite actresses, here portraying a character with real grit, and looking typically beautiful while doing so.



In the film, our escaped convicts, rather than having a shootout with the pursuing posses right after gaining the area of the lake, fetch up at a settlement that has been left completely in charge of the womenfolk, while the men are away prospecting. (Whether or not that was a wise move is open for debate.) Thus, the five convicts who remain living to see this encampment - Jim Canfield (Glenn Ford), Johnny Greer (Zachary Scott), Limey (Cyril Cusack), Matt Anderson (Jack Lambert) and young, feverish rapist Clyde (Richard Hylton) - are surprised to find that their welcome is not as smooth as might be expected. Indeed, their reception is a chilly one, with the women's group leader, Granny (the great Ethel Barrymore), more than willing to take her shotgun to them, and Marcia Stoddard (our Gene) equally ready to send them back into the blizzardy conditions and to their fate. Ultimately, the cons are allowed to stay for a while in a cabin by themselves; the cabin where Marcia was to have lived with her fiancé, the absent Rudy Schaeffer (Harry Carter), following their marriage. After a day or two, the cons manage to make their presences not quite as resented as at first, and even some of the older women, such as Harriet (Jeanette Nolan) and Mary (pre-Code great Ruth Donnelly), begin to come around. And when Rudy's sister, the man-hungry Rachel (Ann Dvorak, here in her 80th and final film), accidentally starts a fire in the barn, and the cons rush in to help put the blaze out and rescue the animals, they are looked upon with even more favor. But trouble soon looms, when it is learned that Canfield has a secret agenda of his own for being there: He is out to kill Marcia's fiancé, Rudy, whom he blames for wrongfully accusing him of theft and murder, and is also looking for the $40,000 that he believes Schaefer ran off with. And then things become even more problematic, when Clyde attempts to rape Harriet's daughter Barbara (Barbara Bates, who many will remember as Phoebe from the previous year's "All About Eve"), and when Johnny seduces Rachel in an attempt to find out where Granny has hidden the women's guns, in an effort to force Canfield to share the hidden loot. Fortunately, for one and all, the men of the settlement are not too far away, and when they do return from their prospecting trip, the spam really does hit the proverbial fan....



"The Secret of Convict Lake" has been directed by Michael Gordon (who would go on to helm the celebrated comedy "Pillow Talk" eight years later) in a no-nonsense manner, showing an equal facility with fast-moving action and with the more intimate and emotional sequences as well. The film's screenplay, by Oscar Saul, based on a short story by Anna Hunger, is both intelligent and engrossing (an even better screenplay by Saul would be revealed to audiences just a month later, in "A Streetcar Named Desire"), and the film's B&W cinematography, by Leo Tover, is a thing of beauty to behold. Though largely shot in the studio, the wintry sets go far in convincing the viewer that this film has been shot on location. Tover, incidentally, would also have some of his further work spotlighted for audiences the following month, in the sci-fi classic "The Day the Earth Stood Still." The film's score, by composer Sol Kaplan, goes far in moving the action scenes along; Kaplan had also scored another terrific Western a few months earlier, the Susan Hayward vehicle "Rawhide." And so yes ... the fine talents both behind and in front of the cameras combine to make "The Secret of Convict Lake" a genuine sleeper, and one ripe for rediscovery today by a new generation. It is a taut and fast-moving film, and indeed, the entire affair comes in at a scant 83 minutes. The picture features any number of wonderful scenes - I just love the ones in which Canfield and Marcia get to know each other, and the one in which the women defend Barbara from Clyde with the aid of some nastily wielded pitchforks, and the final shootout between the villains and the returning men of the settlement - and ultimately comes off as a very different kind of Western; one that the ladies and the feminists of today might justly celebrate.



And oh my goodness ... fans of the great stars Glenn Ford and Gene Tierney should be especially happy with this one! As for me, I just loved seeing the great actress in both long skirts and riding pants, wielding a shotgun and talking tough; indeed, I don't believe Gene gives us that famous, beautiful smile once in this entire film. It is a fairly grim and serious role for the great Tierney, and the underrated actress carries it off with great professional skill. Tierney had already suffered a number of tragedies in her personal life at this point, but was still a few years away from the breakdown that would cause her to be institutionalized for a period of time, and the two dozen electroshock treatments that she would go on to write so movingly about in her autobiography "Self-Portrait." So this is a Gene a few years past her mid-'40s peak, as regards both roles and beauty, but still very much the consummate pro and still looking mighty gorgeous, whether her hair is wrapped up in a tight bun or flowing loosely. All her many admirers should adore seeing her work here. As for Ford, he is his usual ingratiating self, even though his Canfield character is not a sympathetic one at first blush, unshaven and dirty as he is when first introduced. Still, Canfield does "clean up nicely," and ultimately shows himself to be quite a good egg, and Ford does a terrific job at portraying that inner decency. (Even when playing so-called "bad guys," as he would seven years later in "3:10 to Yuma," Ford was always somehow likeable.) Perhaps best of all, however, in this film, is Barrymore's Granny, who, despite being confined to a bed, still manages to prove herself one of the shrewdest and toughest birds in this picture. "The First Lady of the American Theatre" was 72 when she essayed this role, and was already quite ill herself with the cardiovascular disease that would take her eight years later. Still, she manages to bring to Granny the same smarts and no-nonsense spunk that had characterized her Mrs. Warren character in the great thriller "The Spiral Staircase" five years earlier. As for Dvorak, in her final film, she still looks very attractive at age 40, and easily convinces us that her Rachel character would sell out the others for the love of a bad man. And Zachary Scott, I might add, here makes for a wonderful villain, both smooth talking and ruthless; add the Johnny Greer character to his pantheon of great louses, including, of course, his caddish Monte Beragon in 1945's "Mildred Pierce." Sharp-eyed viewers will also note the presence of Ray Teal at the film's tail end, playing a sheriff who might just as well be the same Sheriff Roy Coffee that Teal would portray on TV's "Bonanza" eight years later.



All told, "The Secret of Convict Lake" is very much a class production, despite being a "small picture" from a major Hollywood studio. It is surely not one of the classic Westerns of the '50s - arguably the greatest decade for that particular film genre - or in the same rarefied league as such contemporaneous films as "Winchester '73," "High Noon," Shane" and "The Searchers," but it yet remains something of an undervalued gem that might just surprise and please those who are newcomers to it. And for all fans of Gene Tierney - who, incidentally, would have turned 100 on the day that I sat down to celebrate with this picture - it should prove to be 83 minutes of wintry heaven. More than highly recommended!

With such stars as Glenn Ford and Gene Tierney, you would think this 1951 Western is "A-list" all the way. But given its cheap production design in which a studio set is used instead of on-location cinematography and an insufferable intrusive music soundtrack which is heard almost throughout the film, The Secret of Convict Lake should be relegated to the typical "B-list" westerns of the day.

Nonetheless, the film's premise, screenplay and acting aren't bad at all. Five convicts escape from a Carson City, Nevada prison and attempt to survive in a blinding snowstorm in the Sierra Mountain range of northern California. They come upon a small town (Lake Monte Diablo) which is populated solely by a group of eight women (the menfolk away prospecting).

Glenn Ford is the protagonist Jim Canfield who seeks to kill one of the townspeople Rudy Schaffer (Harry Benjamin Carter) who falsely testified that he murdered a mine owner and stole $40,000 (Canfield actually shot the man in self-defense and it was Schaffer who stole the money).

Zachary Scott plays Johnny Greer, the bad guy convict who believes Canfield has hidden the $40,000 away in the town.

The women are a tough lot headed by Granny (Ethel Barrymore) who allows the men to stay in town only if they keep their distance by holing themselves up in a cabin at the edge of the settlement.

The women finally begin to trust the men more after they put out a fire accidentally started by the nervous spinster Rachel Schaeffer (Ann Dvorak), Rudy's sister.

Eventually the men manage to get the guns out of the hands of the women leading to an action-packed climax.

Gene Tierney plays Marcia Stoddard, inexplicably betrothed to Schaeffer but eventually falling for Canfield.

The convicts aren't sugar-coated and it's Greer who seduces Rachel, manipulating her to reveal where the women have hidden all the guns.

Perhaps the most interesting character is the youngest convict Clyde Maxwell (Richard Hylton) who is unable to control his murderous urges and almost kills Barbara Bates (Barbara Purcell), a naïve girl who seeks excitement unknowingly flirting with the psychotic Maxwell.

Canfield saves Barbara from Maxwell but it's left up to the women themselves to do Maxwell in by stabbing him with pitchforks (a nice touch!).

The climax proves a bit unsatisfactory despite the bad guys (particularly Greer) receiving their comeuppance. The main problem is that we never find out why Schaeffer betrays Canfield.

Presumably it was just for the money, but we find out next to nothing about him. And why does Marcia fall for him in the first place? He hardly seems like much of a con artist as it appears he wants Canfield to gun him down due to guilt feelings over the false accusations.

The ending doesn't feel like it's very believable with Marcia sticking up for Canfield and convincing the townspeople not to turn the good guy convict in.

The acting is strong with a group of female actors getting to play some good parts for women, unusual for a western.