U.S. One Sheet Poster
Incident at Phantom Hill, an Earl Bellamy-directed western for Universal, is the story of a million-dollar shipment of Union gold that was stolen by a group of Confederate soldiers in the closing weeks of the Civil War in Texas. After the war, Joe Barlow (Dan Duryea) is the only surviving member of the group that stole the gold. He had been let out of prison in Texas under a Confederate pardon in return for his service in the army. Now, in order to avoid going back to prison, he has agreed to lead a group of soldiers to the gold's location. The problem is that the trek will go into Comanche territory, which is forbidden by treaties with the tribe. Therefore, a group of soldiers will have to make the trek in plain clothes and off-the-record.
Captain Matt Martin (Robert Fuller), whose brother was a Union soldier killed during the theft, agrees to lead the small group. Before they depart, however, a sheriff (played by Don Collier) recognizes Barlow as a convict and corners Barlow and Martin, threatening to haul them both to jail. Martin talks their way out of the jam, saying that they are leaving quickly for Santa Fe, but the sheriff throws them a curve ball. He insists that they take a prostitute, Memphis (Jocelyn Lane), with them to Santa Fe. Martin reluctantly agrees but plans to ditch her at the first opportunity.
As the group makes its way through the desert, Barlow tries to tempt Memphis and others with a share of the gold, if they will help him take control of the expedition. They battle robbers and Indians along the way. I'll leave it at that in order to avoid spoilers, other than to say that Memphis starts out bad, but ends up being good (the typical cliched prostitute role in a western).
Incident at Phantom Hill was a way for Universal to use two of its contract players, Jocelyn and Fuller, on the big screen in between TV appearances. That is a pattern that Universal was using at the time. Many of its contract players were doing TV work, but Universal would use them from time to time in film work as the opportunity arose. Along the same lines, Bellamy directed the film, but he was really a prolific TV director. The result is a professionally done B-Western that has a feel somewhere between a traditional big-screen western and a well-done TV movie. It is reasonably entertaining, but it is by no means a classic western.
The best part of the film, is that we get lots of Jocelyn on the big screen in glorious color. She looks as lovely as ever, and her acting is adequate for the part. This is the type of role that fit her skill set. You just have to overlook the fact of how "perfect" she looks for most of the time that they are in the desert. Eventually, they mussed her hair up a bit for the viewers wondering how she could look so good after spending days in the desert. There's not much chemistry with Fuller, but I don't really think that is Jocelyn's fault per se. Fuller's performance is very stern and somber throughout. I have not seen enough of his work to be a good judge, but my guess is that he was a good, professional actor, with which people liked to work, but his acting range was fairly limited. He and Jocelyn don't really seem to rise above the rest of the cast to carry the film, to be the "stars." With that said, the film boasts a strong supporting cast. Duryea always brings his special abilities to any role, and he is the person that really dominates the scenes, though he received third billing. Others, like Claude Akins, Noah Beery, Jr. and Denver Pyle are always good.
Incident at Phantom Hill was a way for Universal to use two of its contract players, Jocelyn and Fuller, on the big screen in between TV appearances. That is a pattern that Universal was using at the time. Many of its contract players were doing TV work, but Universal would use them from time to time in film work as the opportunity arose. Along the same lines, Bellamy directed the film, but he was really a prolific TV director. The result is a professionally done B-Western that has a feel somewhere between a traditional big-screen western and a well-done TV movie. It is reasonably entertaining, but it is by no means a classic western.
The best part of the film, is that we get lots of Jocelyn on the big screen in glorious color. She looks as lovely as ever, and her acting is adequate for the part. This is the type of role that fit her skill set. You just have to overlook the fact of how "perfect" she looks for most of the time that they are in the desert. Eventually, they mussed her hair up a bit for the viewers wondering how she could look so good after spending days in the desert. There's not much chemistry with Fuller, but I don't really think that is Jocelyn's fault per se. Fuller's performance is very stern and somber throughout. I have not seen enough of his work to be a good judge, but my guess is that he was a good, professional actor, with which people liked to work, but his acting range was fairly limited. He and Jocelyn don't really seem to rise above the rest of the cast to carry the film, to be the "stars." With that said, the film boasts a strong supporting cast. Duryea always brings his special abilities to any role, and he is the person that really dominates the scenes, though he received third billing. Others, like Claude Akins, Noah Beery, Jr. and Denver Pyle are always good.
Overall, Incident at Phantom Hill is an OK, run-of-the-mill western that doesn't stand out from many other decent films of the genre during that era. Jocelyn fans, however, should definitely make a point to see this one.
I had an opportunity to talk with Don Collier at a convention. I tried to start a conversation by saying "I have always wondered how it was to work with Jocelyn Lane on Incident at Phantom Hill. Based on things that I've read, it sounds like she was quite a character." He said, "Yes, she was. She was a great gal to work with." He was nice but not forthcoming with any other thoughts, and I didn't get the sense that he was too interested in discussing it further, so I let it go.
I also attended a convention at which Robert Fuller was a celebrity guest, but there was always a long line of ladies at his table, so I did not get a chance to talk to him about working with Jocelyn. I had no idea that he has such a strong following of female fans. I am hoping that I will get a chance to ask him about that at a future convention.
The film was originally going to be called The Faceless Men, and lensing commenced March 1, 1965 per reports in Variety. I am not sure of the completion date, but my guess is that it was completed by summer 1965. It premiered in France, West Germany, and the Netherlands in the first quarter of 1966, ahead of its July 1, 1966 premiere in the U.S. I have not seen any box office returns to indicate how it performed at the U.S. box office.
Variety published a lukewarm review of the film on June 1, 1966, based on a May 25 viewing at Universal with an 88-minute running time. It noted:
"An action western, this Technicolor-Techniscope pic is filled with guts and gore and should prove popular enough on a double bill. Technical credits are first-rate and acting okay, but story line, as far as developing interesting characters, attempts too much and too late. However, story is peppered with enough visual excitement to hold attention. ... Fuller is in command of group and has a determined air about all he does. Romance with Miss Lane is strangely elusive and this is one of those pix where there are no clinches. Duryea is good as the bad guy..."
Incident at Phantom Hill has not been released in the U.S. on DVD, and I have seen no indication that it was ever released on VHS. It was, however, released on DVD in France in 2009:
"An action western, this Technicolor-Techniscope pic is filled with guts and gore and should prove popular enough on a double bill. Technical credits are first-rate and acting okay, but story line, as far as developing interesting characters, attempts too much and too late. However, story is peppered with enough visual excitement to hold attention. ... Fuller is in command of group and has a determined air about all he does. Romance with Miss Lane is strangely elusive and this is one of those pix where there are no clinches. Duryea is good as the bad guy..."
Incident at Phantom Hill has not been released in the U.S. on DVD, and I have seen no indication that it was ever released on VHS. It was, however, released on DVD in France in 2009:
in the U.K. in 2011:
and in Spain in 2012:
Now for some worldwide promotional material.
The U.S. one sheet poster is shown at the top of this post. Here are the U.S. six sheet, three sheet, half sheet, and insert posters, as well as the lobby card set:
The U.S. one sheet poster is shown at the top of this post. Here are the U.S. six sheet, three sheet, half sheet, and insert posters, as well as the lobby card set:
Some U.S. stills:
A British Quad poster:
A Belgian poster:
French posters:
A Spanish poster:
Yugoslavian posters:
An Australian daybill poster:
German lobby cards:
An Italian fotobusta:
A Mexican lobby card:
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