Top Sergeant (1942)

An Army jeep is forced off the road by fleeing bandits. Sergeant Dick Manson (Don Terry), his kid brother Jack (Gene Garrick), and Corporals Frenchy Devereaux (Leo Carrillo) and Andy Jarrett (Andy Devine) follow and are joined by a posse of deputy sheriffs. Three of the robbers are killed in a shoot-out, but one of them, Al Bennett (Don Porter), escapes after wounding Jack, who dies. Bennett figures a perfect hideout would be in the Army, and becomes one of the recruits assigned to Manson. He gets into trouble because of his attitude, and particularly with Manson when he gets the Colonel's daughter, Helen (Elyse Knox), into covering up his A.W.O.L. G-Men reveal that some of the bank money has been passed at a local jewellery store. When Manson learns that Bennett has given Helen a gift trinket, he jumps at the clue, and drives her down to question the jeweler. They find him murdered. At the Army war games, Bennett blows up a bridge and several men are killed, and he diverts the blame upon Frenchy and Andy, who are court martialed for negligent homicide. Manson discovers a witness who identifies Bennett as one of the bank robbers.