Valley of Fire

This 1951 sepia-tone feature by Gene and company is fast-paced, entertaining and superior to most similar period films. Gene Autry aids lawman Pat Butram in helping tame the male-populated metropolis. Former Hopalong Cassidy co-star Russ Hayden plays a bad guy who woos the lovely Gail Davis.

I enjoyed this one, with its novel plot and good acting. Gene's voice is in fine form here and his chemistry with Davis was notable. Sepia-tone was pretty much a gimmick, to cover the fact that these films were not in color, as many of Roy Rogers films were around that time (TruColor).

Don't be put off by the singin' cowboy genre..... This film will be enjoyed by most western fans of all ages.

Cowboy hero Gene Autry goes into politics and gets himself elected mayor of a gold camp town which has the problem of their being only one woman in the whole settlement. And that woman is Christine Larson who with Harry Lauter runs the local saloon and gambling palace where the hard earned money from the miners is taken.

Mayor Autry decides that the best thing to do is kick the gamblers out and bring in some women and give these miners some brides and some other forms of recreation. But Lauter gets a deal going with another sex starved gold settlement nearby and the race is on.

In the meantime Russell Hayden is a second villain here who robs stages carrying gold, kills the drivers, and then launders it through his own mining claim. He takes a fancy to Gail Davis, one of the brides and also goes in with Lauter on his bride deal. That does not please Larson who does not have a good history with Hayden.

Russell Hayden was generally a B movie western hero, but occasionally went to the dark side. He's best remembered as Hopalong Cassidy's sidekick Lucky Jenkins. He's a slick article in this film.

This subject was also dealt with in a much more brutal and grim fashion in the MGM western Westward The Women starring Robert Taylor which also came out in 1951. Even so with white hat cowboy hero Gene Autry this film touches on some non-family film subjects like sex in the west ever so gingerly.

Pat Buttram plays Gene's sidekick as he was starting to do on the big screen and the small. Valley Of Fire was a bit more adult of a film than the normal Gene Autry film of the time. And you sure wouldn't see Roy Rogers doing stuff like this.

Up until late in the film, I thought "Valley of Fire" was a decent but unremarkable Gene Autry film. But the finale involving the exploding guns and bad accompanying sound effects sure left a bad final impression!

The story is set in Quartz City...an old west town with no law and a jerk who owns the local den of sin who likes it that way and is determined to keep running business as usual. But when Gene Autry is elected mayor and vows to clean up the town, you know eventually the pair will come into conflict. Part of the bad man's plan involves kidnapping the women Autry has arranged to become brides of the men in town...as well as killing Autry and returning to the bad old ways.

The notion of Mayor Autry appointing the idiot, Breezie (Pat Buttram) sheriff is ludicrous...and, not surprisingly, the plan ends up being a serious mistake because, well, Breezie is an idiot! But that did not bother me as much as the ending...which I mentioned above. It was just cringe-worthy and makes it a very weak Autry outing.

Thank goodness for the Alabama Hills. Those Neolithic rocks with the high Sierras in the background have always added a lot to the most unexceptional oater, including this pretty good one. Okay, gold hijacks have been a standard feature of westerns for decades, but here it's wagon loads of women that sort of get hijacked. And from the looks of the cuties on board, I'd hijack them too. No need to detail more of the plot, which others have already done.

Generally, it's an unexceptional Autry programmer, though well stocked with extras (Columbia studios, I bet) along with an entertaining mix of action, humor (Buttram & Infuhr), and song. I especially liked "On Top of Old Smoky", which Gene gives his most pleasing croon. Then too, I've blown out enough candles to recall when it was a popular mega-hit on the radio. Good thing too that Gene was able to get director English who had proved he knows how to put the cowboy elements together. Anyhow, it may not be Gene's best, but fans certainly won't be disappointed.