Gold

Gold is a 1974 British thriller film starring Roger Moore and Susannah York and directed by Peter R. Hunt. It was based on the 1970 novel Gold Mine by Wilbur Smith. Moore plays Rodney "Rod" Slater, general manager of a South African gold mine, who is instructed by his boss Steyner (Bradford Dillman) to break through an underground dike into what he is told is a rich seam of gold. Meanwhile, he falls in love with Steyner's wife Terry, played by York. In the United States, the film was released only as part of a double bill. Plot The film begins with a tunnel collapse at the world-famous (but fictitious) Sonderditch gold mine outside Johannesburg, establishing the courage of Slater and his chief miner, John Nkulu (known as "Big King"), and the bond of trust between them. This is contrasted with the contempt with which some other managers treat the native miners. Big King is awarded a gold helmet for his heroic efforts to save others. It is soon revealed that the collapse was no accident, but a failed part of a plan by a London-based criminal syndicate, which includes the mine-owner's son-in-law and director-manager Manfred Steyner, to destroy the mine so that the syndicate members can profit from share-dealing and raising the price of gold on world markets. This will be done by drilling through a deep underground greenstone wall or dike which is all that prevents an adjacent reservoir of water from flooding the mine. The mine's general manager, an accomplice in the plot, was killed in the tunnel collapse. Steyner then interviews Slater, the underground manager, for the now vacant post of general manager, although the mine owner/chairman of the board Hurry Hirschfeld (Ray Milland) has the next regular man in seniority in mind as a candidate. During his interview, Slater first meets Steyner's wife Terry at their luxurious mansion and is attracted to her, but she does not at first return his interest. However, Steyner arranges for them to meet again, in the hope that Terry will influence her grandfather, Hurry Hirschfeld, an old curmudgeon whom she lovingly calls "Poppsie", in Slater's favour. The plan works, with two consequences: Slater becomes general manager, and he and Terry start a love affair.