Wild Gold
Cast & Crew
George Marshall
John Boles
Claire Trevor
Harry Green
Roger Imhof
Ruth Gillette
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Jerry Jordan, a singer and showgirl in a Reno club, rewards Steve Miller, a construction engineer watching the show, for his excessive attention with a drink in his lap. Jerry's profligate husband Walter, whom she supports, is in trouble with the law for conning $5,000 from a woman. Two detectives show up at their apartment and order Walter out of town. Fed up with Walter's lies, Jerry, after giving him some money, heads to an engagement in San Francisco in her car. Out of town, she vainly attempts to pass an automobile driven by Steve. Jerry eventually forces Steve's car into a river, and when she stops to see if he is alright, Steve pretends that his leg is broken. Jerry, however, sees through his ruse and pushes him back into the river before driving away. Steve is picked up by J. Lorillard "Jake" Pushkin and his Golden Girls, a dance troupe headed by Dixie Belle, who are headed for Sacramento. They arrive in Red Rock, where unemployed, amateur prospectors have come to try their luck at a gold rush, which began when gold prices skyrocketed. Outside of Red Rock, Jerry's car breaks down near the cabin of Pop Benson, a kindly, grizzled old prospector, who is a good friend of Steve's. Steve soon comes by Pop's cabin and, pretending to help, throws Jerry's carburetor into a stream. Pop offers Jerry a place to stay until her car is fixed, and after Steve learns that he has been fired from his job on the dam because he went to Reno after payday, Pop also invites him to stay. Meanwhile, in Red Rock, Jake has traded his truck for a worthless gold mine. Alone with Jerry, Steve crudely tries to embrace her, and she trips him up. He is knocked unconscious from the fall, and Jerry nurses him to health. Having fallen in love, Steve gets work at the dam as a laborer, and she lets him kiss her on the cheek. After Jerry's car is fixed, she decides to stay awhile. Steve quits his job, having secured employment in San Francisco to work on the bridge over the bay, and Jerry then decides to get a divorce and go with Steve. Walter, however, shows up in Red Rock, having learned that Jerry's whereabouts from a San Francisco club at which she cancelled an engagement. He looks for her at Pop's cabin and finds a bag of gold that Pop mined in the hills. Pop confronts him as he tries to escape with the loot, and as they struggle during a storm, Pop falls to his death over an embankment. Jerry, Steve and Jake find Pop dead and the gold missing. Because they do not have enough money to ship him home to Connecticut, Jake puts on a show to raise the necessary funds. Meanwhile, Dixie recognizes Walter, with whom she earlier had been involved, and they plan to leave town together. During her number, Jerry spots Walter. After the show, Jake discovers that they still need seventy-five dollars to send Pop home. He then starts a poker game with a few aces up his sleeves, and although he begins to win, the cards in his sleeve get stuck and he looses everything. Meanwhile, the storm washes out the only bridge, thus trapping Walter and Dixie in town. Jerry secretly visits Walter and begs him to leave her alone, but he refuses unless she gives him a lot of money. Back at Pop's cabin, Jerry tells Steve about Walter, but makes him promise not to confront him. Dixie discovers Pop's gold in her bags and, realizing that Walter is trying to frame her, comes to the cabin to tell Steve. Jerry overhears and fearing that Steve will become a murderer if he finds Walter, runs out the back door to Walter's hotel. Steve follows her there and struggles with Walter, who escapes when Jerry holds Steve back. Walter runs into a car, but just then the storm destroys the dam, and the ensuing flood through the street destroys the town, leaving Walter, among a number of others, dead. Jerry and Walter then head for a new life together in San Francisco.
Director
George Marshall
Cast
John Boles
Claire Trevor
Harry Green
Roger Imhof
Ruth Gillette
Monroe Owsley
Edward Gargan
Suzanne Kaaren
Wini Shaw
Blanca Vischer
Elsie Larson
Gloria Roy
Myra Bratton
Benjamin [a Donkey]
Paul Mcvey
James Flavin
Larry Fisher
Pat Moriarity
Richard Tucker
Samuel T. Godfrey
Dick Rush
Frank Mcglynn Sr.
Ray Brown
Jack Hoffman
James C. Morton
Tom Herbert
Jack Walters
Ky Robinson
Will "high" Ghere
Ernest Shields
Robert Dudley
Sid Jordan
Roger Gray
Alan Davis
Willard Robertson
Crew
Fred Allen
Frank Baker
Yakima Canutt
George Carpenter
Sidney Clare
Lester Cole
Lewis H. Creber
Warner Cruze
Harry Fried
Jay Gorney
Duke Green
Norman S. Hall
Beulah Hutton
Henry Johnson
Samuel Kaylin
Joe Mcguinn
Dudley Nichols
Albert Protzman
C. Redd
Bob Rose
Irving Rosenberg
Royer
Sam Schneider
Emmett Schoenbaum
Roger Shearman
Lamar Trotti
Joseph Valentine
Sol M. Wurtzel
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working titles of this film were Gold Rush of 1933, Gold Rush of 1934, Gold Rush, The Gold Rush Story and Free Gold. New York Times noted that the film's story was influenced by "the recent rush of amateur prospectors to abandoned mining claims." According to information in the legal records, the idea for the film was submitted in April 1933 by Harry Fried. Reviews noted that the film included shots of the new Boulder Dam (which was renamed Hoover Dam in 1947). While Lewis H. Creber is credited onscreen with "Settings," International Photographer lists Duncan Cramer as art director. Cramer's participation in the film has not been confirmed.
