User reviews

I rarely say this, but this film would have been much, much better if the very quickly spoken narration at the beginning of the film was removed or done better. In fact, the first time I tried to watch this film, I turned it off due to the horrid introduction. Likewise, the ending narration and its amazing sappiness would also be best if it were removed altogether. These sickeningly preachy bookends to the movie really take what is a decent film and sink it.

The film itself is actually based on real events. It seems that in the 1870s and 80s, hydraulic mining was literally blowing hilltops off in order to extract gold. Using high pressure hoses, the ground was washed away--often flooding the farms in the valleys with sediment or water. For more about this, do a Google search--I found it all moderately interesting. The famous Edwards Woodruff v. North Bloomfield Mining and Gravel Company case decided the legality of a company basically destroying the surrounding area to extract gold or other precious metals.

The first thing that you'll probably notice about the film, other than the horrible opening narration, is the garish color. The print shown on Turner Classic Movies is usually the best available, so I assume no pristine prints survive. Instead, the colors are very gaudy and rather gross. See the film and you'll know what I mean. Despite being made by Warner Brothers, who also made amazingly beautiful color films during this era (such as THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD and THE SEA HAWK), this Technicolor just looks yecchy--probably due to the ravages of time. It could use a restoration to sharpen the picture as well.

The film is made up of two camps--the farmers (represented by Claude Rains and his friends) and the miners (represented by the likes of Sidney Toler). Rains' side is obviously in the right--the miners are creating an environmental disaster area and have no regard for the financial damages they are causing the farmers. However, nice guy George Brent still works for the mine, as he runs one of the three mines in the area. How he is able to justify the mine owners' actions AND try to be friends with Rains and his family (including his practically perfect daughter who any man in the film or audience would adore, Olivia de Havilland) is sure tricky. However, over time, the mine owners' tactics get worse and ultimately it's all heading for a big showdown--either in the courts, in all-out war or both.

The film has a really nice cast--with lots of fine actors. In addition to Rains, Toler, Brent and de Havilland, there is a long list of character actors who make the film worth seeing. George Hayes (in an appearance just before he became known in the credits as "Gabby"), Tim Holt, Henry Davenport, Barton MacLane, Henry O'Neill, Willie Best (in a role that does not cast him as an idiot, thank goodness) and Russell Simpson (among others) may not be household names, but for old movie nuts like myself, they are familiar friends.

Overall, the film is educational and entertaining--but also a bit predictable and formulaic. But, if you can somehow ignore the start and finish, you may find like I did that the film IS worth seeing.

Despite the rather banal and slightly over-cute title for the film, 'Gold is Where You Find It' had more than enough to make me want to watch it. Max Steiner composed some timeless scores and was one of the great film composers at that time. Michael Curtiz directed many good to classic films, two being among my favourite films of all time. And the cast is a fine one, although George Brent was somewhat inconsistent Claude Rains in particular made every film he was in better.

'Gold is Where You Find It' is worth a one-time watch, but it is not one of those watch it over and over sort of films in my view. It is neither awful, with enough good things to raise it above that, or particularly good, with too many significant flaws. While most people come off well here in 'Gold is Where You Find It', it is perhaps safe to say that all have done a lot better in their careers. That's certainly the case with Curtiz, as far as his films go this is a lesser effort of his.

There are good things. On the most part, 'Gold is Where You Find It' is well made visually, the settings are sumptuous and in no way look cheap. Much of the Technicolor has a lavish look, even if this aspect isn't perfectly executed. Steiner's music score is typically lush and sweeping without being too melodramatic. There are charming moments.

Brent gives it his best shot in a colourless role, can understand actually why some found him bland in the film but it is not easy making a character this thin interesting and Brent at least doesn't look bored. The rest of the cast are better though, with the ever great Rains stealing every scene he's in and with Olivia DeHavilland looking beautiful and having a charming presence. The supporting cast are good all round.

Not all the Technicolor is completely attractive on the other hand, some of it can veer on being too garish. The script is on the stilted and routine side, and while the story has moments of charm the pace generally could have done with more urgency, the conflict with more tension and edge and the sentiment not been as strong.

Moreover, the characters while well performed are quite sketchy in development, namely Brent's. Do agree with those that have criticised the narration, far too saccharine, doesn't really move the story along all that much and was not really needed at all.

In conclusion, left me a bit mixed. 5/10

Most of the prior reviewers have done a good job of noting the problems with this film but, in the terms relative to Hollywood, historical accuracy is not one of them. Hydraulic mining WAS environmentally catastrophic, but for the farmers and ranchers who lived downstream it was also economically so, a point not emphasized by many modern environmentalists with a narrow focus. The value of this film is that it graphically and realistically tells that side of the story, too, in human and economic terms. Fellow lawyers will laugh at the jump in the appellate process from the USDC for the Eastern District of California to the California Supreme Ct., (the case was actually litigated in the USDC for the Northern District of CA, in San Francisco), but the message comes through: hydraulic mining WAS a grave nuisance and it was effectively ended, at least in CA and much of the US, by the decisions that issued from the lawsuits involved, even if subsequent legislation allowed it to reappear, with some constraints on its worst effects, in the final decade of the XIX century.

I never even knew of this movie until I watched it on TCM this morning - and I'm glad I did! It's apparently unavailable on DVD, which is a shame, and it would benefit from a thorough restoration, but I don't fault the direction or performances as much as some others do. In fact, that's one of the interesting and appealing things about this film: it tentativeness. You get the feeling that the director and actors are exploring the script as much as Warners was still exploring the Technicolor process involved in its making. That meshes well with the scenes of San Francisco during the 1880s, in all its pre-quake and proto-profligate heyday, where the mindless joi de vivre flows as fast as the champagne to set the mood for the disaster later to come.

There's a lot of history on several levels in this movie: the reference to former Confederates emigrating to CA after the Civil War, a slightly off-color racial joke that some might find offensive, and some others I won't spoil for cinematic spelunkers. But, don't sell this movie short: watch it, enjoy it, and hope for its restoration so its several qualities can shine through its more gravelly parts.

A number of reviewers fault the casting of George Brent in this film. In defense of Warner Brothers, at the time that this film was cast Flynn wasn't quite Flynn yet, and George Brent was a reliable first lead in costume dramas. It's true that I see more sparks between Mickey and Minnie Mouse than between George and Olivia in this film, but the casting must have seemed a good idea at the time. Recall that Warners seriously considered George for the lead in Captain Blood.

The film is entertaining to old timers for the casting of so many old reliable and familiar faces. I wish Willie Best had had a chance to play a serious role just once.

George Hayes was obviously transitioning to his Gabby persona, previously he had specialized in villainy.

Jared Whitney (George Brent) is the manager of a hydraulic gold mine in 1880 California, but his position is complicated when he falls in love with Serena Ferris (Olivia De Havilland), the daughter of landowner Colonel Ferris Nclaude Rains), who is opposed to the mine.

Gold Is Where You Find It is only notable because it's and early Technicolor film and it's the only film I've seen where George Brent got top billing! Brent acquits himself well in the lead, but one thinks Errol Flynn may have been better suited to the part.

The Technicolor scenery is lovely, as is Olivia De Havilland. Claude Rains and Margaret Lindsay are wasted in supporting roles, while Michael Curtiz directs very well. Barton MacLane gets a good part as the treacherous mine foreman, and there's a spectacular flood sequence at the finale.

Coming in at a brisk 94 minutes, it's looks as though big chunks were cut out of the film, as Marcia Ralston is prominently billed in the cast but is seen very little in the film. Overall, good fun.

I generally agree with the majority of my fellow IMDBers that in their understandable zeal to tell a late Depression era, populist story where the villain is Big Mining (as personified by Barton MacLane and Sidney Toler) scenarists Robert Buckner and Warren Duff forgot to make their characters interesting. The result is fairly long stretches of boredom involving a really dull love story between George Brent and Olivia DeHavilland and a tepid father/son conflict between Claude Raines and eternal spoiled brat Tim Holt. The movie does come alive at certain points. Michael Curtiz is too good an action director for it not to. I love the denouement with the evil hydraulic miners drowning in their own watery muck. Truly an ending that would have pleased Frank Norris. But in general this is pretty much low grade schlock. And can we please lose the gratuitous racism, please? Solid C.

First of all , one has to wonder why Warner Bros.who were already on a winner with the Flynn/de Havilland pairing (e.g. Captain Blood and The Charge of the Light Brigade), chose to cast the very colorless George Brent as the hero, as he falls way short of being effective. The intro speech was pathetic, the story has been done many times, the color was poor, and if it were not for Claude Rains and Miss de Havilland it would have been almost unwatchable. But in all fairness I must say there were some very good supporting cast members, like Harry Davenport, Margaret Lindsay, the always "villain" Barton MacLane and Warner perennial player John Litel, plus others , all of whom had very little to work with. Errol Flynn was badly neede here.

A mining engineer, caught between a mighty gold syndicate and a group of stubborn ranchers, learns that GOLD IS WHERE YOU FIND IT when he meets the beautiful daughter of a powerful landowner.

Warner Brothers had great hopes for this lavish Western, and the money that was spent certainly shows up on the screen. Unfortunately, the romantic attraction between stars George Brent & Olivia de Havilland never catches fire. This is largely the fault of the script, which seems strangely aloof from their involvement and makes their love scenes rather pedestrian. Alas, real life can be much the same way...

In this case it is important to look at what strengths the film possesses. Chief among these is master actor Claude Rains, in a suave performance as Olivia's determined, courageous father. With his rich, silken voice, he could have simply read the script directly into the camera and made it compelling. Always a treat to watch & listen to, the movie is fortunate to have him.

Good support is given by young Tim Holt as Rains' amiable, tragic son; Harry Davenport as a friendly old doctor; Gabby Hayes & Willie Best as employees of Rains; and Sidney Toler & Barton MacLane as the murderous syndicate president and mine foreman.

The Technicolor photography - still rare & wonderful in 1938 - is pleasant on the eyes. The massed attack on the mine is well handled & exciting.

****************************************

Viewers of the film are likely to hear more about hydraulic gold mining than they ever knew before. Indeed, the environmental problems which the film depicts, with the immense runoff fouling the downstream waters & farmlands, are quite accurately depicted.

The Golden Moon Mine in the movie could have easily been based, in part, on the great Cherokee Mine in Northern California's Butte County. Located at the base of Table Mountain, between the towns of Chico & Oroville, the Cherokee Mine attracted Argonauts from around the world (as its cemetery still attests) and became the largest hydraulic mining enterprise on earth. Nearby Butte Creek was dammed to provide a 300 acre supply of water for the Mine (three smaller reservoirs were also created). Over 100 miles of conveyance were constructed to move the water to the Mine, where each day forty million gallons were needed for the eighteen immense monitors which directed their gush at the side of the Mountain. Sluices nine miles in length were ready to catch the particles of gold washed down from the bluff. In its few years of operation - 1880 until 1887 - two and a half million dollars worth of gold was found, as well as small amounts of platinum, topaz and even diamonds. Eventually the gold played out and the Mine was no longer cost effective to remain open. To this day, the scars still remain on the side of Table Mountain as mute witness to one of the engineering marvels of the 19th Century.

A stellar cast - George Brent, Olivia deHavilland, Claude Rains. Sydney Toler. it's now the 1870s. better gold mining processes. so much water. now the farmers are getting flooded out. and they sue the mining companies. apparently based on a real court case Woodruff v. North Bloomfield Gravel Mining, according to the trivia section! Jared (Brent) meets the Ferris family... Rains is the old fashioned dad, deHavilland and Holt are brother and sister. everyone is going into large scale, hydraulic gold mining, but pop Ferris is determined to farm wheat the old way. and to fight miners the legal way. In the courts. and to make things worse, daughter Serena has fallen in love with one of those cursed miners. keep an eye out for Harry Davenport as Doc Parsons. he was the kindly old doctor or grandfather in so many films. story just simmers and bubbles. never really reaches a boil. Directed by Michael Curtiz. won the oscar for casablanca four years later. he made SO many great films. this one filmed WAAAY north of sacramento. it's average.

Although she might admit to it now, but not back in her salad days, one of the reasons that Olivia DeHavilland's films are so well remembered from her days at Warner Brothers was the sheer expense of them. She did do her share of sound stage shooting, but as often as not Warner Brothers would cast her as the heroine in their expensive period costume dramas. She certainly did them well, though she wanted better parts. Even films like Anthony Adverse and Gone With The Wind added to her reputation. But these films and Captain Blood, Dodge City, The Private Lives Of Elizabeth And Essex and The Adventures Of Robin Hood are what we remember of her early period and one of the reasons she's better known than a lot of her contemporaries today.

One that was less known and I suspect because she did not have Errol Flynn as her leading man is Gold Is Where You Find It. This is a western feud story set in 1879 in California thirty years after the Gold Rush. It's not hard rock Fortyniners panning for gold out of the stream any more. Huge mining concerns are using hydraulics to create mudslides that are ruining the crops of landowners large and small. The biggest of these is Claude Rains whose grain crops like everyone else's is threatened by the mine owned by Sidney Toler whose foreman is Barton MacLane.

Into the lives of all of them comes mining engineer George Brent from the east and he makes an impression on all, on MacLane's skull and on the lives of Rains's children Olivia DeHavilland and Tim Holt. He gets caught right in the middle of the feud coming to a boil. Do we doubt where he's going to end up?

Michael Curtiz directed Gold Is Where You Find It with the usual Curtiz supply of action. There's a climax involving a battle between the miners and the farmers that's exciting and well done. The costumes and sets reflect a good eye for the period. In fact Curtiz probably decided all this needed was Errol Flynn and he got him next year for Dodge City.

Though she hated making the costume epics, these films have survived and part of the reason they have survived is Olivia DeHavilland is so darn good in them. Sadly this film is not out so one has to wait until TCM broadcasts it. It's worth the wait.

Here's an opportunity to sit back and enjoy all those studio actors and actresses of the 1930s in a color film with lavish costumes and sets.

It's not often that one gets to see Claude Raines, Margaret Lindsay, George Brent, Gabby Hayes, a very young Tim Holt, Clarence Kolb, et al in color! For 1938 "Gold Is Where You Find It" is a memorable production. It's unfortunate that more productions of the 1930s were not in color so one could see and appreciate these old-time actors and actresses up close and in the flesh.

Who cares if the plot is a familiar story of feuding miners and farmers. Sit back and watch Olivia and George up close and in color.

Not much distinction to this routine western, aside from the fact that it introduced Olivia de Havilland to the screen for the first time in technicolor. Unfortunately, neither her role nor the film itself are ever able to rise above the routine dimensions of a weak script. George Brent stars as the miner in conflict with de Havilland's rancher father Claude Rains.

It takes place in the 1870s and has a narration at the beginning and end that tells us this was meant to be an important little "epic" for the Warner studio. Despite some solid scenes of mining operations and an agreeable enough cast that includes Tim Holt (as de Havilland's brother), Margaret Lindsay and Sidney Toler (before his Charlie Chan days), the story itself is a weakness guaranteed to produce yawns long before the rambling tale reaches an action-filled finish. But by then, you're not likely to be paying too much attention.

Of all of the early ingenue roles de Havilland had at Warner Bros., this is definitely one of her weakest. It seems that when she wasn't playing opposite Flynn, she had no real leading man. Charisma between her and Brent is sorely lacking.

You've seen this picture before - with a different title and a different cast. It's the one about two warring factions (here, miners and wheat growers) battling over precious land while she (Olivia deHavilland, daughter of the most prominent wheat grower) and he (George Brent, employed by the mining syndicate) fall in love. All very conventional, despite a solid cast and first-rate production values.

Clumsy off-screen narration at both the beginning and end attempts to give this story a documentary feel and some measure of historical significance. Did the film makers tack this on because they felt the story lacked significance and originality? I did.

This is the kind of film that makes you wonder why would anyone want to put money into making this "who cares" kind of film. I don't give a damn about the story or characters, or problems they faced in fighting for their land in this rather fictional film. There's not one onuce of exciement in this film, except the rather expensive and well structured sets that were put into. Boring script, cardboard characters,(except,Claude Raines) and (especially, George Brent) and poor story, makes this a rather boring film to watch. Where's Errol when you need him. He would of fit nicely in the role of George Brent's character. But then again think about it, he doesn't these kind of movies. It's a good thing the rather talented and beautful Olivia de Havilland made The Adventures of Robin Hood in the same exact year this movie came out. With the release of Robin Hood, people all but forgotten about this one. The technicolor for this film is rather poor and looks very faded. Watch Robin Hood of the same year and you will see just how different and glorious the color of that film is, compared to this ill- faded film. *1/2 out of ****