The Secret of Convict Lake is a 1951 American Western film directed by Michael Gordon and starring Glenn Ford, Gene Tierney, Ethel Barrymore and Zachary Scott. The film was a critical and commercial success. The story is fiction, based on legends of Convict Lake, located in the Sierra Nevada mountain ranges of northern California. and a short story by Anna Hunger and Jack Pollexfen. The film is the final role for Ann Dvorak before her retirement from the screen. Plot The film opens with the narrator (Dale Robertson in an early, uncredited role) laying the foundation of the story. In 1871, six convicts escape from a Carson City prison. One of them freezes to death during a blizzard. The others—Canfield, Greer, Cockerell, Anderson and Maxwell—make it to Lake Monte Diablo, where eight women live in a settlement while their men are away prospecting. Granny is the elder, watching over Marcia, Rachel, Barbara, Susan, Harriet, Mary, and Millie. Frightened, the women reluctantly permit them to use an empty cabin. Granny hides all the guns except one when they realize that the men are escaped convicts. Canfield has returned here for a reason; the other convicts think that he has money hidden somewhere nearby. Canfield was convicted of killing a mine owner, and $40,000 is missing. Canfield learns that Marcia, to whom he is attracted, is engaged to be married to a man named Rudy Schaeffer. Canfield claims Rudy took the $40,000 and committed perjury to get Canfield convicted and sentenced to hang. Canfield reveals that he has returned to kill Schaeffer. A barn catches fire due to Rachel's nervousness. After the convicts rescue the animals, the women treat them more kindly. Canfield is trustworthy, but the other four continue plotting. Later, Canfield manages to take Granny's gun. Marcia rides off, so Canfield follows and catches up to her. They eventually embrace and kiss. He tells her that Morgan, a mine owner, had swindled him out of the money. When he came to talk to Morgan about it, Morgan pulled a gun on him, they scuffled and the gun went off, killing Morgan. Schaeffer witnessed this, but claimed that Canfield had killed Morgan in cold blood, so Schaeffer could keep the money himself. While they are away, Johnny Greer charms Rachel, Schaeffer's sister, into revealing where Granny hid the other guns. He, Cockerell and Anderson arm themselves and wait for Canfield. On