THE SECRET OF CONVICT LAKE (1951)

In 1871, six escapees from a Carson City prison are on the run through the Sierra Nevadas in the middle of a blizzard. Overcome by the storm, the posse chasing them turns back, assuming that the men will die in the mountains. One of the older men does die, but the others struggle on, trying to reach a small village at Lake Monte Diablo where the men believe that one of their own, Canfield (Glenn Ford), has hidden money never recovered from a robbery. Canfield insists he was not part of the robbery—though his reasons for wanting to stop at the village are not made clear. When they arrive, they find only women; their menfolk have gone off prospecting for silver. The women, seeing manacles on the men's legs, realize they are convicts but decide to let them use an empty cabin until the storm ends—though first, village matriarch Granny (Ethel Barrymore) has the women collect up all the guns in the village to keep them away from the men. Tension remains strong but some of the women begin to take pity on the men, and Canfield becomes attracted to Marcia (Gene Tierney), who is to be married to Rudy, one of the prospectors. It turns out that Canfield has come to the village to get revenge against Rudy, whose false testimony led to his imprisonment, and who probably has the stolen money hidden in the village. When the prospectors return, trouble is in store. This B-western was shown on the Criterion Channel as part of a themed collection of Snowy Westerns. It’s not the kind of movie that Criterion usually features, but it's enjoyable enough. Despite its outdoors setting, it feels very stagy, playing out like a series of conversations and confrontations in rooms or limited areas. The plot is predictable but we're in the hands of old pros. Ford and Tierney are fine in the leads, Barrymore is a solid matriarch figure, and Zachary Scott is a scenestealer as Canfield's main antagonist. Ann Dvorak and Ruth Donnelly are standouts in the supporting cast, and it's fun to see British actor Cyril Cusack as one of the prisoners. Though the village looks like a soundstage, the opening scenes in the snow are pulled off quite well. The ending is satisfying if a little surprising, given the Code strictures of the time. There actually is a place called Convict Lake and this is supposed to be the story of how it got its name, but it's fiction. Pictured at left are Dvorak and Scott. [Criterion Channel]