The Secret of Convict Lake (1951-Michael Gordon) is a melodramatic but interesting and brisk 83 minute Western, with a setting nearly as cold and bleak as that of Day of the Outlaw, though not filmed with nearly as much thoughtful panache as that Andre de Toth-Robert Ryan film and a much smaller budget. The movie purports to tell the tale of how the real lake in California's Sierra Nevadas got its name in 1871. A group of convicts, who include Glenn Ford, Zachary Scott, Irish actor Cyril Cusack, uber-baddie, the snake-eyed Jack Lambert and Richard Hylton, escape from their guards and make their way through a harrowing blizzard to the somewhat deserted log cabin settlement on the shores of the lake in question (which we really never get a good look at). They are seeking shelter that they desperately need, though Zachary Scott and Jack Lambert are convinced that Ford knows where $40,000 of stolen loot are hidden as well. Though they are able to find shelter at the lake, the convicts are kept in isolation by those who live there.
The settlement is entirely populated by women, headed by feisty Ethel Barrymore as a canny, bedridden matriarch who tries to keep the other younger women in control of the intruders. Barrymore's performance is one of the best of her later years, full of vinegary resolve and common sense, despite her infirmity. The younger women include the always welcome Ruth Donnelly, Ann Dvorak as a skittish, angry woman driven by her own fears more than her reason, Gene Tierney as a capable young woman who seems to be able to take care of herself and Barbara Bates as the most naive of the girls, who soon forms an attachment to a younger convict (Hylton). Tierney is there because she's engaged to Dvorak's brother for pragmatic rather than emotional reasons. The men are expected to return soon but before they do, Tierney and Dvorak learn to question everything they think they know about the men (particularly the brother) and their own strengths and weaknesses.
Gene Tierney in The Secret of Convict Lake
Tierney and Dvorak both give very good performances. Though the film did not have time for a great depth of character development, it was interesting to see Tierney playing one of the strongest characters of her career, almost a blend of Belle Starr and Mrs. Muir, at a time when her career had begun its decline. Dvorak invests all her scenes with an intensity that makes the film better than it appears to be based on the script. She is particularly effective in her silent moments, especially when she becomes concerned about being alone in the barn.
Glenn Ford and Zachary Scott as antagonists are okay, though neither of them is as effective as I've seen them in different films and are outshone by the ladies. Michael Gordon, the director seems to have had a very eclectic career, working on Another Part of the Forest and Act of Murder as well as Pillow Talk and other fluffier numbers. I hope that you'll add your impressions. I think I saw this so long ago that I'd forgotten the film until I stumbled across it recently on FMC. I don't believe it is commercially available on DVD or VHS.
Has anyone else seen this movie?
