Arizona territory 1880 . A gang carries out a risked train robbing of the Wells Fargo and they are subsequently pursued by a posse, then they hide into a cave. In the stand-off kill everyone except the adolescent Pete : Russ Tamblyn who surrenders his followers. Being the only survivor of the band he is detained and beaten , but he does not tell about the stolen gold, refusing to locate the whereabout . Released after serving 15 years in Kansas state prison for the tren robbing, adult Pete: MacDonald Carey, arrives in a small town located nearly the caves to find the missing loot. Along the way he meets a beautiful wife, the local beauty and editor Elizabeth : Alexis Smith, whose husband disappeared some time ago while searching for the loot at the caverns and Pete then takes on the local land baron called Ben Cross : Victor Jory who is for her, as well .
A decent western with thrills, noisy action, crossfire, intrigue, duels and suspenseful final. The film is allegedly based on facts, upon a real robbing : The Colossal Cave Legend, whose thieves hid their loot at a caver . Stars MacDonald Carey as the ex-con who arrives in town and citizens offer him services and goods hoping to share in the loot. Alexis Smith is very good as a publisher, he is owner a Printing and Graving office called the New Clarion . While Victor Jory performs the nasty role as a poweful mine owner who wants to take the gold as well as the girl. Another important character is Edgar Buchanan who plays a Well Fargo agent, commissioned to follow Pete and retrieve the stolen loot.
Here stands out the excellent art direction from Nathan Juran and Bernard Herzbrun, gorgeous cinematography by Irving Glassberg, showing spectacular frames from the spectacular caves and highly commendable musical score Joseph Gershenson. All the cave scenes in this production in this production were actually photographed at the Carlsbad caverns in New Mexico. Being shot on location in Mountain Park Vail, Colossal cave Arizona, Carisbard caverns National Park, New Mexico, Santa Clarita , California and Universal studios. As producers gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the United States Department of the Interior whose splendid cooperation made these scenes possible.
Well produced by William Alland and Leonard Goldstein for Universal Pictures. The motion picture was professionally directed by the known and prolific producer, writer and director William Castle. He was a good craftsman who in his beginings he made several westerns in low budget such as : The law rides again, Conquest of Cochise, Americano. Later on, he moved to direct terror movies, using peculiar gimmicks, that had success enough, such as : The tingler, 13 Ghosts, Mr Sardonicus, Homicidal, Zotz, Strait-jacket , Night walker, among others. Rating 6/10. Decent, acceptable, and passable Western.
