Director John Huston had read the book The Treasure of the Sierra Madre by B. Traven in 1936 and had always thought the material would make a great movie. Based on a nineteenth-century ballad by a German poet, Traven's book reminded Huston of his own adventures in the Mexican Cavalry. When Huston became a director at Warner Bros., starting with the smash success of The Maltese Falcon (1941), Huston asked to write and direct the project, which Warner Bros. had previously secured the movie rights.

B. Traven was the pen name of Berwick Traven Torsvan, AKA Ret Marut, Richard Maurhut, and Hal Croves. In Warner Bros. studio memos, Traven was not referred to by any of his many aliases, but as "some sort of spook" or "the phantom spook." Traven earned these monikers because he refused to sign any documents personally, opting instead to work through a Power of Attorney, usually Hal Croves. Many suspected at the time that Traven and Croves were one and the same person.

Huston was set to make the picture for Warner Bros. when the United States entered World War II. Huston's producer Henry Blanke insisted that the studio hold the material until Huston's release from the Armed Services. After the war, Huston wisely renewed his contract with B. Traven and through their correspondence started once again to plan The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. A meeting was arranged for Huston and Traven to meet in Mexico, the location in which both men agreed the film should be shot. However, Traven did not show for their Mexico City rendezvous. A few days later, Huston, still south of the border, woke up in his hotel room to find a man standing at the foot of the bed. He presented Huston with a card that read: "Hal Croves, Translator, Acapulco and San Antonio." The mysterious Mr. Croves also produced a letter from Traven that explained his absence and instructed Huston to take on Croves as an advisor. The letter said that Traven had taken ill, but that Croves was his great friend and knew as much about Traven's work as he himself did, and was authorized to answer any questions Huston might have. Huston had wanted Traven and had induced the studio to pay him $1,000 a week for his services. Huston paid Croves only $150 a week. Huston was never completely sure if Croves and Traven were the same person, but recent scholarship has confirmed that they were indeed the same man.

By Scott McGee