"Miracle at Boot Hill" finds the Old Ranger (Stanley Andrews) introducing this story after mine owner John Woods is ambushed by his foreman Bill Groat (Peter Hansen), who covets both wealth and Woods' pretty young widow Ella (Penny Edwards). Storekeeper Herb Driscoll (Chris Warfield) fails to convince Sheriff Cosgrove (Robert G. Anderson) of his suspicions, since he himself has carried a torch for Ella Woods. Some time later, a mysterious stranger (John Carradine) arrives in town, claiming that he is an emissary of the Lord able to restore life to the dead, announcing that the occupants of Boot Hill shall soon return to their loved ones. One by one the townspeople secretly reveal their reasons for wanting the deceased to stay buried, but Driscoll appears to be the only one willing to see John Woods rise from his grave. This does not sit well with Groat's plans, as he plots to marry the widow and is determined to offer up a generous bribe to have his way. We're pretty much left in the dark as to the stranger's ability to actually perform the miracle he promises, but John Carradine's otherworldly presence and sonorous voice carries the outlandish plot with great conviction. This was actually a reunion between Carradine and Eddie Quillan, co-stars in the immortal John Ford classic "The Grapes of Wrath," the latter as Widower Mayberry, who has no desire to see his late wife reclaim the inheritance left to him. Interestingly, director Bud Townsend went on to helm cult titles like "Terror at Red Wolf Inn" and Cathy Lee Crosby's "Coach," with his 1966 feature "Nightmare in Wax" going out on a famous double bill with Carradine's "Blood of Dracula's Castle."
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