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The Phantom Horse travelled under the title Mabaroshi Nouma when it was first released in Japan. The protagonist is a young boy from a poor family, whose best friend is his horse. In the climax, the horse wins a local derby, providing financial security for the boy and his household. Strange that so much critical approval was bestowed upon this film at a time when no Hollywood producer would try to get away with so bromidic a plotline. Stranger still, the well-photographed but exceedingly derivative Phantom Horse was one of Japan's entries in the 1956 Cannes Film Festival.