Springfield Rifle(1952)

Springfield Rifle(1952). Directed by Andre de Toth. The film is set during the American Civil War. Cast: Gary Cooper, Phyllis Thaxter and Lon Chaney Jr..



The Union army needs horses and a small group of men from Fort Hedley try and bring in herds, led by Lt. Col. Hudson, but.. raiders sympathetic to the Confederacy manage to steal them right out from under the nose. Col. Sharpe suspects a southern spy is tipping them. Later, another band of Union soldiers led by Major Kearney, along with a herd of horses try and cross a mountain pass once again, only to be headed off by the raiders. Rather than risk the lives of his men, Kearney lets the raiders have the horses and heads back to the fort. Kearney reports to Hudson, they are interrupted by Capt. Tennick, who demands that Kearney be court-marshaled for being a coward. Kearney, even with the support of his men, is found guilty and is dishonorably discharged from the army, has actually volunteered to go undercover to try to prevent raids against shipments of horses to continue. Falling in with the raiders and Confederate soldiers, he gradually gains their trust and soon discovers who has been giving them secret information.

I really enjoyed this movie full of twist and turns and for those of us who like their westerns action filled this film is for you..

Phyllis Thaxter, November 20, 1921, Portland, Maine), was the daughter of Maine Supreme Court Justice Sidney Thaxter, and his wife, a former actress. Her movie debut was opposite Van Johnson in the war-time film, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo.

At MGM, she usually played the wife to a number of leading men. She played a cattle owner's daughter alongside Barbara Bel Geddes in, Blood on the Moon (1948).

In(1952)Thaxter performed mostly in character parts in television: Wagon Train(1959) and the The Twilight Zone episode 'Young Man's Fancy'(1962). Thaxter was cast along with Glenn Ford as Ma and Pa Kent in the film, Superman(1978).