Desert Phantom
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
S. Roy Luby
Johnny Mack Brown
Sheila Mannors
Ted Adams
Karl Hackett
Hal Price
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Sharpshooter Billy Donovan pulls into a small Texas town to promote ammunitions for Gigantic Shell Company and meets Jean Haloran. Jean's ranch has been the victim of a "desert phantom" who has killed six cowhands including Jean's brother Arthur. Billy offers to catch the phantom but that night runs into Mexican bandit Salizar, whom Billy came to Texas to find because Salizar murdered his sister and her husband. Billy eludes Salizar and arrives at the ranch in time to see a man in a nightgown climb into a bedroom window. After waking Jean, they find Jean's paralyzed stepfather, Tom Jackson, asleep in his room with the window locked. The next morning, Billy hears a shot, but finds no gunman. While in town, Billy learns Jackson has no legal right to the Haloran ranch, which was once the El Monte mine, and begins to suspect Jackson is the phantom. Jim Day, meanwhile, hopes that Jean will sell the ranch to him. When Billy returns to the ranch, he hears another shot and, while searching for the phantom, falls in an old mine shaft. While Billy lies in the mine unconscious, one of Salizar's men abducts Jean and takes her to Salizar's hideout, where Salizar threatens to kill Billy unless Jean marries him. Meanwhile, Billy wakes to the noise of gold-digging in the mine and follows muddy footsteps into the house, where they end in Tom's room. Billy then catches Tom outside sleepwalking and confronts him with his hypochondria. Realizing Jean is missing, Billy races to Salizar's hideout and saves Jean, who has found a map of the El Monte mine in Salizar's dresser. At the Haloran ranch, Salizar foils Day's attempt to arrest him and Billy kills him in a draw. When Billy catches Day coming out of the mine, Day confesses to being the phantom killer and conspiring with Salizar to get the gold. With the mystery solved, Billy and Jean agree to marry.
Director
S. Roy Luby
Cast
Johnny Mack Brown
Sheila Mannors
Ted Adams
Karl Hackett
Hal Price
Nelson Mcdowell
Charlie King
Crew
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Modern cast credits include: Fred Parker (Man at Bar), Forrest Taylor, Frank Ball and George Morrell (Townsmen), and Art Dillard and Roger Williams (Henchmen).
