The Raid (1954)

During the Civil War, a group of Confederate prisoners escape from a Union prison in upstate New York and cross the border into Canada. Once there, they plot to invade the sleepy town of St. Albans in Vermont and pillage and burn the town in revenge. Very loosely based on an actual incident known as the St. Albans raid (historically, the Northernmost action in the Civil War), the film concocts an unlikely narrative that is at odds with the actual facts. The changes actually work in the film's favor as on the day of the planned raid, something happens that turns the film into more of a thriller than a traditional western and the film portrays the raid's leader (Van Heflin) far more sympathetically than the actual raiders deserved. It's a minor effort but so well done that it deserves a better reputation that the film currently has. Directed by Hugo Fregonese (HARRY BLACK AND THE TIGER). With Anne Bancroft as the young widow who complicates matters for Heflin, Richard Boone playing against type as a one armed Union soldier, Lee Marvin as hotheaded Reb who can't seem to follow orders, Peter Graves, Claude Akins, James Best, William Schallert and young Tommy Rettig and Richard Eyer.