This film begins with a group of bandits led by a desperado named "Colonel Brinkley" (Herbert Lom) ambushing a stagecoach and, after murdering everyone on board, riding off with whatever loot they can find. Strangely enough, when the stagecoach is discovered by the residents of a nearby town, it causes a number of questions considering that it was known not to be carrying that much money in the cash box. What it was carrying, however, was a passenger who had half of a secret treasure map worth possibly millions of dollars in gold--and it was this map that Colonel Brinkley was after. Needless to say, he is rather disappointed to only find half of the map, however, it isn't long before he discovers who has the other half. Realizing this, a legendary mountain man known as "Old Shatterhand" (Lex Barker) and his trusted Apache friend "Winnetou" (Pierre Brice) immediately take it upon themselves to protect the owner of the map at all costs. What they don't realize is just how many men Colonel Brinkley can gather to ride with him. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was the first film in a series of Western movies produced by German studios during the 1960's. To its credit, the scenery was beautiful, and the background music was quite pleasant as well. The script, on the other hand, was much too elementary and almost seemed tailored for a very young audience. Likewise, some of the action scenes could have used some improvement as well. In any case, although I don't consider this to be a great Western by any means, it still managed to pass the time fairly well, and I have rated it accordingly. Average.
Review of The Treasure of the Silver Lake
