Major Neal Benton (Van Heflin), the leader of the raid, heads into St. Albans as a spy and develops ambiguous feelings about what he is doing when he becomes friends with an attractive young war widow and her friendly son, who he boards with, masquerading as a Canadian businessman. Other raiders stay in an abandoned barn or pose as travelling street peddlers. One drunken member interrupts a church service and is promptly shot dead by Benton, the raid leader, almost giving away the plot. The townspeople shower Benton with gratitude for this, not realizing his own true identity.[citation needed]
On the appointed day, Major Benton in town, and the other raiders at the barn, all don Confederate uniforms, take some citizens hostage, rob the bank's strongbox at gunpoint, burn down the town hall, and gallop north just ahead of an arriving Union force. Burning a bridge behind them, they barely elude the Union forces and make a successful getaway to nearby Canada.[citation needed]
In the 18 January 1959 episode of the game show What's My Line?, Van Heflin the guest panellist, mentioned that Boone stole his movie from him, which the celebrity guest demurred.[citation needed]
This movie utilized the same set as the Andy Griffith Show used. Josiah’s Bank was the exterior of the Mayberry courthouse.[citation needed]
The version of this film was aired on the Fox Movie Channel and has a squeezed CinemaScope logo tacked in the beginning, however, the film was shot "flat" and is shown open-matte at an aspect ratio of 1.37:1.[2]
References
^Solomon, Aubrey. Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1989. ISBN978-0810842441. p. 249
