Years ago the fathers of John Mason (John Wayne) and Janet Cater (Sheila Terry) each owned half of the Sally Ann gold mine. Carter was cheated out of his half by the father of Joe Ryan (Harry Woods). Now, mysterious letters have brought both John and Janet back to town, at the same time Joe and his gang have appeared. What’s more, the town seems to be haunted by The Phantom, which makes things awkward for John’s scared-of-spooks stereotype Black sidekick. Is there gold in the mine? And who is the mysterious Phantom?
John Wayne in a horror movie? Not quite. John Wayne in a Scooby-Do horror Western? Closer. John Wayne in half a Scooby-Do horror Western? That’s it.
Haunted Gold is a remake (or a re-purposing) of the silent The Phantom City (1928), starring Ken Maynard, who was, briefly, a big Western star. Maynard wasn’t much of an actor, but he was a real rodeo rider who could perform some impressive stunts. So they took the old exterior shots and added sound, and shot new interior ones, and called it a movie. Wayne, who was never a great actor but was truly pathetic at this early point in his career, was hired purely because he looked enough like Maynard that they could merge the films. Of course if the idea was to reuse old exterior shots, the studio wasn’t going to spend much time or money on the new stuff, so Wayne’s part of the film involves a lot of standing around and reciting exposition.
The result is as good as you’d expect. Actually, it’s even worse as there’s a hefty dose of racism in the form of a cowardly Black servant. The film even speeds up when he’s running from imaginary ghosts because that makes him even sillier. It’s edited so there’s a specific moment when the White audience along with the White actors are supposed to laugh at the ridiculous Black man.
This is an atrocious picture. It’s overly talky, poorly made, pitifully acted, and painfully racist. It covers all the bases. Skip it.