Ghost of Hidden Valley

Crooked rustler Dawson is using the abandoned Trenton ranch to run cattle across the border. To keep snooping busybodies away, his men create disturbances that make everyone think the property is haunted. Henry Trenton, the son of the original owner, arrives from England to claim the ranch. Dawson makes up his gang as phony ghosts to scare the young man back to dear old Blighty. Fortunately, Billy Carson and his loyal pal Fuzzy are on hand to show Henry there's no such things as ghosts...just greedy rustlers.

PRC started producing their "Billy The Kid" series in 1940, which reinvented the famous outlaw as a hero. Bob Steele played Billy in the first six features, and was replaced by former "Flash Gordon" Buster Crabbe in 1941. After thirteen movies, Billy's surname was changed to Carson, suggesting that PRC got cold feet about the negative historical association. Overall, Buster and his bearded sidekick Al "Fuzzy" St. John would make three dozen "Billy the Kid" movies for the studio in five years! Incredibly, tireless B-movie filmmaker Sam Newfield directed all 42 entries in the series.

• western