Rainbow Valley

in my mind this is a fluffy,light movie,but very entertaining and fun to watch.Basically,John Wayne is stranger in town who agrees to help the men get a new road built.the workers have been continually threatened and harassed or worse,by a gang of outlaws who don't want the road built.there is no law to speak of in the town,so the gang has pretty much done whatever they please.until now,that is.this is a pretty standard western movie,which follows the general formula of westerns at that time.however,i think it it is well acted,exciting and fast paced.it's a pretty short movie(less than 90 minutes)but there'a lot jammed into the short running time.if you're in the mood to simply be entertained,you might like this movie.it's not an epic,like many of John Wayne's movies,but so what.i think "rainbow Valley" is a strong 8/10

A routine "B" western in the Lone Star series of westerns Wayne made in the 30's. What sets this one apart is John Wayne as a "Singing" Cowboy. This was the time of the beginning of the Singing Cowboy era in "B" westerns (e.g. Gene Autry). Wayne's voice is obviously dubbed. He sure doesn't look comfortable serenading the heroine or warbling a tune while riding across the prairie. Fortunately for all concerned (especially the Duke) this experiment was quickly ended.

Anyone who wants to hear the Duke's "real" singing voice should watch the opening credits of "Cahill U.S. Marshal".

John Wayne rallies George "Gabby" Hayes and the other residents of Rainbow Valley against a gang of bandits who patrol the myriad roads out of town, stealing the fruits of the local gold mines and are now sabotaging the construction of a new main road.

Even though there isn't as much action in this as there is in other Wayne Lone Star productions, it's still a pleasant enough diversion with at least one great action sequence where Wayne and a dozen or so men with rifles route the bad guys, while Gabby chases them off in his horseless carriage, throwing sticks of nitro as they flee!

This time around, Wayne's stunt double and B-western nemesis, Yakima Canutt, is nowhere to be found. He must've went on vacation.

This was probably made in a matter of days with a minimal budget and given that, it does better than ok for just under an hour. The Duke, as usual partnered with "Gabby" Hayes is this time embroiled in a dodgy plan to sabotage a new road being built through the Rainbow Valley. His pal - ostensibly, at any rate - "Butch" (Jay Wilsey) is the schemer but will the aptly named "John" be able to thwart this destructive plan? Wayne looks every inch the star here, even in a rather over-sized, but fetching striped prison uniform, and as ever Hayes comes along at just the right moments to ensure a minimum amount of jeopardy with the plot - of which there are a few twists here. It doesn't hang around, there is plenty of action and some quite well choreographed fist fights before a suitably explosive finale.

This has a cast of over forty, which makes it twice as big as the usual Lonestar production.

Gabby Hayes carries much of the movie with his usual gruff-old-goat character. Unfortunatey, he's only in the first fifteen and last ten minutes of the film.

John Wayne plays a "Special Agent" John Martin who builds a road to the outlaw forsaken town of Rainbow Valley. He basically sleepwalks through the part.

As other reviewers noted, it is a bit irritating that the female characters are always dressed in 1930's fashion.

This seems to be about average for a Lonestar production. It is not one of my favorites.