Treasure of Silver Lake

Fred Engel's father is murdered. The killer is Colonel Brinkley; he is after a treasure map and takes half of it. The other half is with another family. Brinkley has formed a gang and is riding the region; he is also trying to start a conflict between the Native people and the whites. Fred sets out. On the road he meets Old Shatterhand and Winnetou. The three find the family holding the other half of the map and go with them to Silver Lake. Brinkley is behind them. Harald Reinl directs. Lex Barker plays Old Shatterhand and Pierre Brice plays Winnetou; Götz George and Karin Dor are in the cast. The source is Karl May's novel. This is the first of the German Karl May adaptations; many films followed and the series was a large commercial success in the sixties. It was shot in Yugoslavia; the Plitvice region in Croatia was used for the American west. Martin Böttcher wrote the music and the main theme became known in its own right in Germany. The matter it treats is not treasure but provocation; the real danger is a white gang and the Native people are used as its instrument. Pierre Brice became identified with the part and played the same character for years. The film is aimed at a family audience; the violence is limited and the register light. Its limit is representation; the Native characters are played by European actors, which is problematic today. Who it is for: viewers who like European westerns and adventure films of the sixties. Who it is not for: the representation is a problem, the narrative simple, and the acting flat.