This film takes place within the closing weeks of the Civil War with a Union convoy carrying approximately $1 million in gold in West Texas. Suddenly, without warning the convoy is ambushed by Confederate forces and the wagon carrying the gold is seized. That being said, with the war having now ended the scene then shifts to a young American cavalry officer by the name of "Matt Martin" (Robert Fuller) being given instructions to take a former Confederate soldier named "Joe Barlow" (Dan Duryea) and a couple of volunteers to West Texas to find the gold and bring it back. Unfortunately, there are several problems with his mission that he will have to resolve with the first being that he cannot travel in uniform because the specific part of West Texas where the gold is hidden now belongs to the Comanche--who guard the territory very aggressively. Another problem has to do with the fact that Joe Barlow happens to be a cold-blooded outlaw who has been promised a pardon if he cooperates but cannot be trusted to fulfill his end of the bargain. So he needs to be watched very closely and at all times. And if that wasn't enough, while traveling through a nearby town they are forced to take a young woman by the name of "Memphis" (Jocelyn Lane) with them to prevent the secrecy of their mission from being exposed. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was an okay Western for the most part but it had a couple of slightly unrealistic scenes which could have been presented a little better. Even so, I thought it was sufficient for the time spent and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Average.
Review of Incident at Phantom Hill
