''The Phantom Stage'' is a 1939 American

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

film – a "B" movie – directed by George Waggner and starring Bob Baker as a

singing cowboy A singing cowboy was a subtype of the archetypal cowboy hero of early Western (genre), Western films. It references real-world campfire side ballads in the American frontier. The original cowboys sang of life on the trail with all the challenges, ...

Plot

Bob Carson and his sidekick Grizzly hear that a stagecoach owned by Mary is being mysteriously robbed of gold shipments. The gold is placed in the strongbox, but has vanished when the stagecoach arrives at its destination. Carson takes on the job of driving the stage. It turns out that a local bad guy has a small accomplice who hides in a case that is shipped on the stage, and slips out to steal the gold from the strongbox during the journey, then retreats to the case. At the other end, the case is taken away but the strongbox is empty. Carson works out the trick, hides in the case, is discovered, escapes, and the villain is captured. With the problem solved, Carson marries Mary.

Production

''The Phantom Stage'' was the last of Universal's

movies featuring Bob Baker.

Reception

A reviewer said of the gold theft approach, "... this plot element is handled in so ludicrous a manner that Bob Baker's musical interludes actually come as a relief!"

References

Sources

* * * 1939 Western (genre) films 1939 films Universal Pictures films Films directed by George Waggner American Western (genre) films American black-and-white films 1930s American films 1930s English-language films Films scored by Frank Sanucci English-language Western (genre) films {{1930s-Western-film-stub