The Treasure of the Silver Lake (1962)

In their first cinematic adventure, Apache chief Winnetou and mountain man Old Shatterhand pursue a gang of murderous outlaws who will stop at nothing to find the legendary treasure of Silver Lake.

Director:

Harald Reinl

Writers:

Karl May (novel), Harald G. Petersson (screenplay) (as H.G. Petersson)

Stars:

Pierre Brice, Lex Barker, Herbert Lom

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Lex Barker	...	Old Shatterhand
Herbert Lom	...	Colonel Brinkley
Götz George	...	Fred Engel
Karin Dor	...	Ellen Patterson
Marianne Hoppe	...	Mrs. Butler
Eddi Arent	...	Lord Castlepool
Ralf Wolter	...	Sam Hawkens
Sima Janicijevic	...	Patterson (as Jan Sid)
Ilija Ivezic	...	Hilton
Mirko Boman	...	Gunstick Uncle
Branko Spoljar	...	Doc Jefferson Hartley
Milivoj Stojanovic	...	Knox
Slobodan Dimitrijevic	...	Rollender Donner
Jozo Kovacevic	...	Grosser Wolf
Velimir Chytil	...	Woodward (as Velimir Hitil)

Storyline

In Arkansas, a stagecoach is robbed by Colonel Brinkley's gang. What the gang is really after is a treasure map one of the stagecoach passengers carries. However, Mr. Engel only has half the map. The other half of the treasure map is held by Engel's partner, a Mr. Patterson. Even so, the gang kills Engel and steal his half a map. Later, Fred Engel, the son of the murdered stagecoach passenger, seeks help to find his father's killers and retrieve the map. He contacts famous frontier scout Old Shatterhand and his Apache blood brother Winnetou. The three men set out to catch the killers. Fred Engel reveals to his two friends that his father's missing map pinpoints the location of a gold treasure at Silver Lake. They head toward the farm owned by Mr. Patterson, Engel's business partner. Patterson has the other half of the map and a daughter, Ellen, whom Fred is in-love with. Unfortunately, Colonel Brinkley's gang has the same idea of retrieving the other half of the treasure map, since ...

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Plot Keywords:

lake | treasure | euro western | bare chested male bondage | siege | 

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Taglines:

Indian Gold! Blood-Red Fury!

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Genres:

Adventure | Western

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Did You Know?

Trivia

The first Western film produced by West Germany.

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Goofs

The mentioned butterfly Papilio polymnestor parinda is from Sri Lanka and not from North America.

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Alternate Versions

When the film was submitted to the FSK, they offered the distributor the choice of either a "Not under 12" rating for the uncut version or a "Not under 6" rating if some fight scenes were removed. Distributor Constantin decided to release the uncut version. However, for the re-release in 1964, some scenes were removed and the film was released with a "Not under 6" rating. Unfortunately, these cuts were done to the original negative and the removed parts were destroyed.

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Connections

Remade as The Trace Leads to the Silver Lake (1990)

User Reviews

Perfect for a Sunday afternoon

The first of the very popular Karl May films of the sixties in Germany is at the same time really embarrassing and touching with its simple good vs. evil plot. A German Western, shot at location in oops, Yugoslavia, is surely strange, but if Italian Western movies have their charme why not German?

Winnetou and Old Shatterhand as played by Bierce and Barker have shaped our image of the way heroes have to look and behave. Götz George, arguably the best living German actor, plays one of his early roles and you can see that he is taking it not really seriously.

I recently tried to watch it when it was on TV on prime time. There is a treasure somewhere in the "silver lake" and evil guys trying to steel the plan. Nothing really spectacular. But good supporting cast. It is really only endurable on a Sunday afternoon when you are relaxed and can enjoy the haunting film score. It helps to have read the books which are very popular in Germany. A perfect example of how the mood of a book can be recaptured with a movie. In fact one of my teachers said that the Karl May films were the only examples of films that come close to the literature that they are based on. And that only because the books are not worth much. It is not true really. There are other examples like...hm, Name of the Rose?

Details

Country:

West Germany France Yugoslavia

Language:

German

Release Date:

1 November 1965 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Treasure of the Silver Lake

Filming Locations:

Croatia

Box Office

Budget:

DEM2,900,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Rialto Film Preben-Philipsen, Jadran Film, Rialto Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

111 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1