pensman The opening credits would have had me scrunched down in my seat; then when a creepy hand appeared my eyes would have closed but I would have opened one eye slightly so I wouldn't miss anything good about to happen. A good thing too because a man was missing and then a picture frame moves revealing a pair of eyes. Then the scene changes as we see John Wayne appearing being followed by Clarence, his ranch cook, who gets to play the same character Mantan Moreland played in the old Sidney Toler Charlie Chan films. In other words, he is there to be the black comic relief who comes close to saying "hooves, don't fail me now." He is a cowboy who rides a horse, but he doesn't want to go to any haunted mine with spooks and all.And back at the haunted ghost town, Joe Ryan and his men start shooting at shadows, or was it the phantom. But Ryan won't be spooked: he has a half interest in the Sally Ann mine. John Mason (Wayne) owns the other half. Janet Taylor had owned the other half but it was lost to Ryan. Regardless, Mason has received a message to show up as his half interest in the mine is in jeopardy. Janet Taylor received a similar message but doesn't know why; she has no ownership rights. Worse, she tells Mason that she feels she is being watched and she is!So, will Mason figure out what's going on? Will he be able to return to Janet her half ownership? Will he convince Clarence there are no ghosts? Will he see that Joe Ryan and his men get what they deserve? Will he find out if Simon really is deaf and dumb? I love the scene when Janet Taylor comes down stairs dressed as if she were going on a fox hunt with knee high riding boots, a shirt and tie, wearing a blazer and topped off with a feathered riding cap. Next Janet learns from Benedict that she was cheated out of her half of the mine by Ryan and that her father was framed and sent to prison. Mason tries to trick Ryan to get Janet's share of the mine back but his plan backfires and the phantom steals the mine ownership. What follows is a mash up of events that would have had kids sitting wide eyed waiting to see what happens next. The thirties were a great time for Western. John Wayne alone was cranking out about five Westerns a year and there was a massive amount of cowboy heroes. This is a fun film and is very entertaining but the PC police wouldn't know where to start as Blue Washington (Clarence) suffers through a long series of indignities. At least in this film he receives credit.

MartinHafer 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.

classicsoncall If you're a fan of these old time B Westerns, you'll probably get a kick out of a minor sub-genre of ghost themed oaters that cropped up from time to time back in the day. "Haunted Gold" just might be the earliest, at least the earliest of a handful I've come across in recent years. There's 1936's "Ghost-Town Gold" with the Three Mesquiteers, a 1945 programmer with Buster Crabbe and Fuzzy St. John called "His Brother's Ghost", Fuzzy again with Lash La Rue in 1947's "Ghost Town Renegades", and 1950's "Streets of Ghost Town" with Charles Starrett as The Durango Kid. Oddly, this early John Wayne flick for Warners might be the best of the lot, with decent production values and some interesting elements to elevate one's interest. For one, Wayne's sidekick in the picture was a black man, portrayed by Blue Washington as John Mason's (Wayne) self appointed bodyguard and day time cook at Mason's ranch. Another was Wayne's horse Duke, who got shared billing with him at the top of the credits. I'll get back to Duke in a bit.The haunted theme gets an early workout with some cartoony bat images during the opening credits sequence; seeing Leon Schlesinger's name associated with the picture as producer made sense at that point, as he went on to helm Warner's Looney Tunes unit shortly after. There's also good use of a howling wolf, a darkened cemetery, mysterious shadows and a lights out sequence at the villain shack. Blue Washington's presence was undoubtedly meant to personify the wide eyed, scaredy cat stereotype, though his physical stature didn't seem to lend itself much to comic relief. As others have mentioned on this board, some uncomfortable and demeaning racial slurs were directed at him, like darkie, smoky, and a reference to his watermelon accent. He even had a line - "Lordy boss, a spook, the Phantom himself done snitched it" - that seemed to cast a racial tone. Of course this was not uncommon during the Thirties and Forties, with films that often used epithets with characters of ethnic origin; just catch a Charlie Chan flick for some more examples.As for the story, it pretty much boils down to one of your classic B Western plot elements, with evil villain Joe Ryan (Harry Woods) attempting to swindle John Mason and Janet Carter (Sheila Terry) out of their shares of the long abandoned Sally Ann gold mine. Both had been summoned to Ghost City by an unknown letter writer revealed by the end of the story, but you'll have to watch to find out who.Back to Duke, the horse that is. You know, he had quite a bit of quality screen time in the picture, and in a move I haven't seen before, he uses his horsepower (sorry, couldn't resist) to help rider Mason pull down a shack on the bad guy posse. Later on, he comes to the other Duke's rescue in the stalled cable car by knocking one of the henchmen off a cliff (yikes!), and absolutely going berserk to pull the rope tether off the hitching post. I think Duke might have given Trigger a run for the Smartest Horse in Movies.Interestingly, Wayne portrayed a character named John Mason in one of his programmers for Monogram's Lone Star unit in 1935, "The Dawn Rider". In another harbinger of things to come, Wayne closes out the picture in a smooch with his leading lady, Sheila Terry, in about the same way he does with her in 1934's "Neath the Arizona Skies". That same year, "The Lawless Frontier" has Wayne's Sheriff Tobin calling the new Mrs. Tobin by phone to close out the story, so in that one, they actually wound up getting married.

bsmith5552 "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.