Sutter's Gold

Sutter's Gold
Sutter's Gold
Directed by	James Cruze
Screenplay by	William Faulkner
Produced by	Carl Laemmle
Starring	Edward Arnold; Lee Tracy; Binnie Barnes
Cinematography	George Robinson
Edited by	Philip Cahn
Music by	Franz Waxman
Production; company	Universal Pictures
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	March 1, 1936;
Running time	94 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$730,571

Sutter's Gold is a 1936 American Western film. It is a fictionalized version of the aftermath of the discovery of gold on Sutter's property, spurring the California Gold Rush of 1849. Edward Arnold plays John Sutter. The supporting cast includes Lee Tracy, Binnie Barnes, Katherine Alexander, Montagu Love, and Harry Carey as Kit Carson. The film was directed by James Cruze.

The film is based on the novel "L'Or; la merveilleuse histoire du général Johann August Suter" by Blaise Cendrars (Paris, 1925); ISBN 1417910755, and a play by Bruno Frank.

Production and aftermath

Carl Laemmle, president of Universal Pictures, loved action westerns and he wanted to make a big outdoor spectacle, along the lines of the well remembered silent epic The Covered Wagon (1923). Laemmle hired that film's director, James Cruze, for the new film Sutter's Gold. The studio assembled a "name" cast of popular character players including Edward Arnold, Lee Tracy, Harry Carey, and Binnie Barnes. Unfortunately neither the studio nor the film had any big "star" names to attract moviegoers, and—dooming the project—Laemmle had given director Cruze carte blanche to make the film and Cruze spent money lavishly, as was his custom in the silent days. The expenditure was too lavish for the budget-conscious Universal, and the no-star spectacle failed disastrously. Sutter's Gold damaged James Cruze's standing irreparably and it ruined Universal. A consortium of investors ousted Carl Laemmle and took over the company (now known as "the NEW Universal"). The only real benefit Universal derived from Sutter's Gold was its value as stock footage; Cruze's carefully staged outdoor scenes were often edited into the studio's low-budget adventures, westerns, and serials.