I rather enjoyed the description of the Superstition Mountain area of Arizona in the film's opening narrative as 'Satan's Private Art Gallery'. The picture itself seemed to offer a preview of hell's future citizens with it's gripping story of the Lost Dutchman Mine, discovered by Jacob Walz in the 1880's at the end of a Sharp's rifle and a host of dead bodies. Though I don't know how much of the story's background is true historically, the legend of the Mexican Peralta brothers is displayed in a noirish flashback within a flashback. In it, the Apache Indians led by Cochise look like the most realistic tribe of Native American Indians I've ever seen portrayed in cinema, including I suppose "Dances With Wolves".

The cast is respectable and well suited for their roles, all appearing in the movie's main flashback story. Prospector Walz is portrayed by Glenn Ford, while Ida Lupino impresses as the gold digging (no pun intended) wife of Gig Young's character, in hiding from a murder rap back in Wisconsin. The locals of Florence Junction get a howl out of Pete's (Young) remark to Walz at the barber shop - "You can have my place", Walz not yet realizing what the town gossipers have been guffawing about.

In all of these period pieces I get a kick out of reminders of an earlier, simpler time - how about the sign in Julia's (Lupino) bakery shop - 10 cents a dozen for doughnuts!

Besides the main characters, it's also cool to see Will Geer, Paul Ford and Jay Silverheels in supporting roles, with a feisty Edgar Buchanan shuffling cards in his hat looking for that elusive ace of spades. Stay sharp and you also might recognize Billy Gray as the 'cookie boy'. As for Lupino, it seems I only ever see her playing roles with a dark side, as she did in team ups with my favorite actor Humphrey Bogart - 1940's "They Drive By Night" and 1941's "High Sierra". In fact, with the mountainous terrain at the center of this picture, that might have been a good name for this flick as well.

With it's gold fever theme, colorful cast of characters, and greed at every turn, this is a worthwhile follow up to the better known "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre", released a year prior in 1948. Not as strong as 'Sierra', it's still pretty much a sleeper hit for fans of this unique genre, a mix of Western and gritty film noir.

We all have a childhood memory of watching a film and retaining a certain line of dialog or particular scene. If you are lucky, you will discover that scene or particular speech in an adulthood and finally have a title to add to the memory.

That is the case for me with "Lust For Gold", an adult western with certain elements of film noir, much like " Pursued" and "The Furies". I happened upon this several years ago and just about choked when the scene from my childhood came back. My brother and I had been watching this some rainy afternoon and we both laughed at the scene where Glenn Ford happens to leave a shop with two baskets of cookies. He gives them to a little boy who happened to be close to my age with truly comical results. For years afterwords until our adolescence came to an end, we would remind each other of the line.

The story surrounds a rich gold mine and the mystery surrounding an alleged curse. Starting in the present day with Ford's grandson William Prince trying to find it, then flashes back 60 years to Ford's discovery of it and how it ruined his life.

Along the way, he falls for the secretly scheming Idea Lupino, a married woman who pretends to be in love with him to get her hands on the bulk of the hidden claim. Sort of like a period version of " Double Indemnity", it ends up with the two playing cat and mouse with each other which leads to an ironic conclusion.

A very intelligent opening narration by William Prince sets the intrigue in motion and there is a fine cast of character actors in support, among them Paul Ford, Hayden Roarke and Edgar Buchanan. A great bit by an old lady claiming in 1949 to Prince leads to a funny sequence with Ford from years ago where the obnoxious little old lady becomes an obnoxious little girl. This is smart in every way, making it a sleeper of a western film noir that is hard to resist.

While I really don't think there is a genre called 'Western Noir', this film seems to blend a traditional western with the traditional film noir to create a very unusual hybrid--and a very good one at that. And, a very brutal film--one of the more cynical and brutal films of the era.

The film is based on some legendary lost mine in Arizona--one that apparently MIGHT exist but apparently people have been murdered in pursuit of this mine. It's a fictionalized piece about the history of the mine and it's taught in a very unusual fashion. The beginning and end of the film are set in the present day--with the grandson of the man who discovered the mine trying to locate it once again. Then, the middle portion is about that man who discovered it--a very unsavory character played by Glenn Ford. In some ways, he's great--very cold and nasty--an easy guy to hate. But, he also is supposed to be a German--and his accent seems to come and go! I would have either not made him German or re-shot the scenes or simply got an actor who had a better command of the language and accent. But I cannot complain too much, as he's given a lot of wonderfully juicy moments--brutal and realistic to a level rarely seen at that time. Overall, this is an exceptional film because of its unflinching approach to the subject matter.

If you do watch the film, there are two actors to note. First, in a tiny scene there is a little boy who is given a HUGE number of cookies. The kid is Billy Grey--'Bud' from "Father Knows Best". Also, one of the deputies is Jay Silverheels--'Tonto' from "The Lone Ranger".