Watch Haunted Gold For Free

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Please don't spend money on this.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

In the 1930s, John Wayne starred in a long string of low-budget westerns--even by B-movie standards. Despite their very low production values, the films are mostly pretty watchable today--making them among the better western series films of the day. However, even though they GENERALLY were good films, there were also quite a few a turkeys--and this one was definitely a terrible film. Much of the reason is the weird decision to give Wayne a black sidekick--a definite rarity among this genre. While this would seem like a very progressive thing for 1932, it definitely was not due to the horrible sort of character this man (Clarence) was in the film. I think the only reason a black man was cast was to promote the old stereotype of a stupid and scared black man--a definite cheap laugh getter of the day. Throughout the film, Clarence refers to Wayne as 'boss' and spends most of his on-screen time being afraid--and is thoroughly offensive. It is cringe-inducing to say the least!"Haunted Gold" is not just bad because of the negative black character, however. Political correctness aside, there is little (other than excellent stunt-work) to recommend it. The plot is pretty silly. Seeing Wayne and the rest riding about on horses and acting the way they do even though the film is apparently set in 1932 is pretty weird. Also, the idea of a caped creep scaring people off their ranches is awfully silly and the film abounds with clichés and stereotypes.As for the stunts, however, some of these cheap old films did have amazing action sequences. The horse knocking the guy off the cliff was clever, the scene of the guy falling from the gondola was cool, Clarence supposedly falling through the floor spectacular and the fight on an out of control buckboard amazing. But stunts alone do not make up for a thoroughly terrible film. Offensive and stupid...with cool stunts. John Wayne fans can look elsewhere for a film worth seeing.

So says the trailer that I saw before the film - it packed everything into it - even a big wrap up for Duke, the wonder horse!!! Was that how John Wayne got his nickname???John Mason (Wayne) and his partner Clarence (Blue Washington) ride into a "ghost town". Someone called "the Phantom" is trying to keep people away from the Sally Ann Mine. Mason, who is the son of the Sally Ann Mine discoverer, has received a mysterious note to come to town. Janet Carter (Sheila Terry, a regular in these early John Wayne westerns) has also received a note. She is the daughter of Carter, a co-founder of the mine. There is also Joe Ryan (Harry Woods) whose father originally stole the mine from the other two men - needless to say he is the villain!! "The Phantom" is revealed as the letter writer - no spoilers here!!!As with a lot of John Wayne's early westerns there is plenty of action. Fast riding, an exciting fight in a cable car and then the obligatory jump onto Duke, then shenanigans in an abandoned mine.I agree with the other reviewers, the racist humour is hard to take. I also agree, I think Blue Washington looked a very dignified performer ( unlike Mantan Moreland and Willie Best who both sounded and acted like funny men)and it made me quite uncomfortable watching him babble and dressed up like a ghost - they even wheel out the old "turning the black man white" trick. Looking at his long list of films "Haunted Gold" was one of the few films were he actually had a credited performance, also that he specialised in these sort of characterizations, which was very sad.Martha Mattox was the creepy housekeeper, playing the same role that she played to perfection in "The Cat and the Canary" (1927)."Duke - the Wonder Horse" had lots of tricks up his sleeve - he even (singlehandedly) fetches the law at the movie's end. He looked like a beautiful palomino.

John Wayne made scores of B-Westerns in the thirties, and in some ways the few he did for Warner Bros. were among the more interesting, having somewhat better production values and execution. There are elements in "Haunted Gold" that would never have been covered by the budget of one of his Monogram programmers, but that's not saying much. It's pretty much the same old thing we'd see from Wayne for the next six or seven years -- good guy helps a sweet young thing outwit nefarious baddies out to cheat her or him out of something. Wayne has physical charm yet is still a callow actor at this time, though no one does much real acting in these. There's no George Hayes to lend true gravitas to the situation, and Erville Alderson, while always an interesting specimen to look at in the movies, is really terrible as a performer in the solid older man part. It's all not really much, until an exciting fight in a cable car between Wayne and an outlaw near the end. What is most notable (and most difficult) about the movie is the sidekick character, Clarence. "Haunted Gold" isn't the first nor would it be the last Hollywood movie to give a black actor bug-eyed terror and clichéd dialect for racial comic effect. But if there can be degrees of acceptability to such stereotyping, this movie seems to take it to a painful degree. For one thing, Blue Washington, who plays Clarence, is a strong, masculine figure of a man -- tall, muscled, intelligent of mien -- yet he scampers about whimpering about spooks and monsters like skinny little Willie Best. It seems immeasurably more degrading (though I'm not suggesting it wasn't degrading for other actors). Perhaps part of the difference is that Willie Best and Mantan Moreland, when they did their frightened "darkie" routine, were funny -- very funny. Watching Blue Washington do this stuff is like watching Sidney Poitier or James Earl Jones do it -- it's difficult not to focus on the humiliation of the actor. The script contains plenty of references to "darkies" and "Smoky" and "that watermelon accent," though Wayne's character treats Clarence more as an amusing comrade than a dimwit or a servant. But none of this makes "Haunted Gold" less uncomfortable an experience, at least if one has any empathy for Blue Washington, an actor who it seems had talent, even if it is sublimated beneath insensitive clichés here.

"Haunted Gold" was one of six "B" westerns produced by Warner Bros. for the 1932-33 season starring John Wayne. They were either out and out remakes of silent Ken Maynard films or they borrowed liberally, stock footage of Maynard and his horse Tarzan.The plot involves an abandoned gold mine haunted by a mysterious stranger known only as "The Phantom". Cowboy John Mason (Wayne) and his sidekick Clarence (Blue Washington) ride in to the mine site. Joe Ryan (Harry Woods) and his gang have already arrived looking for a lost gold treasure. Mason and Ryan are half owners of the mine, Mason having inherited his share from his father and Ryan having cheated the rightful owner out of his share.Lurking about are the mine's former manager Tom Benedict (Erville Anderson) and his servant Simon (Otto Hoffman). Janet Carter (Sheila Terry) the daughter of the rightful owner of her half interest is also on hand. It seems that all have been summoned to the site by mysterious notes to each from "The Phantom". Meanwhile, "The Phantom" skulks about peering out from behind secret panels keeping an eye on the proceedings.Mason and Janet team up to foil Ryan's attempts to gain control of the gold. Finally, "The Phantom's" identity is revealed and.................This film is arguably the best of Wayne's six Warner Bros. westerns. There were better production values than he would have in his later Lone Star westerns and he had the advantage of working for a major studio. The animated owls over the opening titles are the work of Producer Leon Schlesinger who was better known as the head of Warners Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoon factory.Wayne and his horse "Duke" were made up to match stock shots of Maynard and "Tarzan" in the earlier silent films. Long shots of the hero and horse and most of the stunts and stunt riding is Maynard.Having been filmed in 1932, two years before the implementation of Hollywood's Production Code, this film contains several racial slurs involving the "Clarence" character who is black. He is called both a "Darkie" and "Sambo", by the Woods character and is referred to as the hombre with "the watermelon accent" by gang members. Wayne's character even calls him "boy" in one scene.For trivia buffs, look for the statue that was used as the falcon in "The Maltese Falcon" (1941) atop the heroine's organ as she plays.