The Mine with the Iron Door
Cast & Crew
David Howard
Richard Arlen
Cecilia Parker
Henry B. Walthall
Stanley Fields
Spencer Charters
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
J. Horace Pitkins, who is going broke, cons Bob Harvey into buying shares of his Eureka Discovery Corp., which searches for buried treasure. Harvey learns that the land he bought is rumored to contain the buried treasure of San Capello, the "mine with the iron door." As soon as Pitkins leaves and Harvey takes over the company, the police come to arrest him, but Harvey convinces officer Dempsey to invest $200 for a half interest in the mine. Using the money for travel expenses, Dempsey and Harvey arrive in Ralston, Arizona, a town obsessed with the treasure's legend. The two men hire burros and travel to Monks Canyon, where they come upon the cabin belonging to Thad Hill and his daughter Marta. The Hills' friend, Dr. David Burton, attempts to dissuade Dempsey and Harvey from their search. As Harvey and Marta become close, he admires a gold Spanish cross which was a present from Burton. The cross is marked with an Indian arrow, an eye and the rising sun. During a horseback ride, the couple finds an arrow like the one on Marta's cross carved on a rock. Seeing all of this, Burton takes the cross and tells Hill that he placed gold in the stream to keep him and Marta close by and urges them to stop seeing Harvey. The next day, Burton apologizes to Hill and walks Marta to his cabin, where he tells her he found the treasure fifteen years earlier. He explains that the cross is the key to the mine, the entrance of which is concealed in his house. Meanwhile, Harvey realizes that Burton is going insane and rushes in to save Marta. Burton had wanted to keep Marta and the gold away from the world, protected from all possible harm. Later, the town holds a parade as the treasure is removed.
Director
David Howard
Cast
Richard Arlen
Cecilia Parker
Henry B. Walthall
Stanley Fields
Spencer Charters
Charles Wilson
Barbara Bedford
Horace Murphy
Crew
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Exterior location shots were filmed in Victorville, CA. This was the second of two films based on Harold Wright novels produced by Principal and released by Columbia. The first was The Calling of Dan Matthews. Sol Lesser previously used Harold Wright's novel as the basis of his 1924 film The Mine with the Iron Door, directed by Sam Wood and starring Pat O'Malley (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1921-30; F2.3635.)
