Rainbow Valley

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 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.

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".

Some very interesting directorial touches help this -- pardon the pun -- rather pedestrian Western: There weren't enough horses for the towns people so they had to reach the battlefield on foot.

The fight scenes were obviously pre- the great Yakima Canutt-choreographed battles, and the sound recording was almost primitive, certainly compared to what was to come.

But all together, with villains Leroy Mason and Jay Wilsey, here billed as Buffalo Bill Jr., this is a pretty good movie.

Besides, characters played by George (pre-"Gabby") Hayes and the lovely Lucile (billed as "Lucille") Brown side the hero, played by John Wayne, and they make a triumphant triumvirate.

Even this early in his career, John Wayne shows both personality and a great ability to express his thoughts and emotions, as well as the athletic ability to be one of the great action heroes of motion pictures. I do recommend this movie.

That's the whole point, there ain't no road to Rainbow Valley and the outlaws want to make sure that it stays that way. By controlling the narrow pass into the valley they can starve the miners out collect on the potential riches they've found. Of course all this is reckoned without the presence of John Wayne.

As was pointed out by another reviewer this takes place during the first decade of the last century as typified by both the picture of the current president on the post office wall, Theodore Roosevelt. And by the fact that mailman Gabby Hayes delivers the mail in one of those new fangled contraptions and automobile with a crank starter.

The car proves to be a double whammy for both the outlaws and the good guys. Since it's the only car in the valley when Gabby Hayes is captured by the outlaws it makes it real easy for the Duke to follow as he laughingly points out. Of course when Gabby tries to rescue Wayne during the climax, he doesn't reckon on another problem for early automobiles, they run out of gas and there ain't no filling stations built yet. I have to confess a chuckle or two as Gabby and Lucille Browne hitch up some harness horses to his Model T and have to go out that way to the final gun battle.

Rainbow Valley is not a bad western for a Lone Star Monogram production. At a bigger studio with a better script and better production values this could have been a classic.