a5c7b9f00b A lawman stages a prison break so a gang of imprisoned robbers will lead him to their hidden loot. Billy Carson gets the Governor to let Daggett and his gang escape from prison in hopes that they will lead him to the money they got when they robbed the bank. Billy and Fuzzy trail the gang to an old mine, but it looks like Billy&#39;s plan will fail when Daggett is unable to remember where he hid the money. Wild Horse Phantom starts off in modern times with a prison break for Kermit Maynard and his gang of heavies. In one of those strange time warps popular in the forties, they&#39;re dropped off by the getaway car into a frontier western setting where the rest of the movie takes place amidst oil lamps and horses.<br/><br/>Following the outlaws to a dark mine where the gang&#39;s loot is stashed, Billy and Fuzzy encounter a possibly insane cackling miner and other creepy plot devices in their quest to apprehend the escaped convicts and recover the money before the local bank forecloses on the property of the local ranchers from whom the cash had been stolen.<br/><br/>One of the best (and best known) of Producers Releasing Corporation&#39;s Billy Carson series, this is the only episode set in contemporary times.<br/><br/>Aided by better than usual writing and direction, Buster Crabbe and Al St. John are at the top of their game here.<br/><br/>The film&#39;s highlight has Fuzzy being attacked by the title prop from the P.R.C. produced Bela Lugosi vehicle, The Devil Bat. Fuzzy bites it in the butt! Crabbe may get top billing, but the star is goofy St. John. I doubt any comic relief in Westerns gets more screen time than the toothless clown in this oddity. It&#39;s like they don&#39;t have enough 60-minutes of script, so his antics have to fill the bill. The plot&#39;s a standard one– our hero has to get stolen money before the ruthless banker forecloses on area ranchers. What makes this oater different is that most of the action takes place in a darkened mine tunnel where the money&#39;s hidden. The pit&#39;s also inhabited by a big flying bat and crazy laughter. Too bad these weren&#39;t played up more, which would have really distinguished this bottom row production (PRC). As it stands, Crabbe&#39;s broad-shouldered, St. John&#39;s fitfully funny, and the 60-minutes mostly amounts to a silly oddity.
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