The Valley of Vanishing Men

The Bill Eliot Columbia Serials are the best serial westerns. The music itself, stirring and melodramatic, matches the settings, story and cast which, for a serial, have Epic proportions. While Overland With Kit Carson has real West location in desert and mountain forests, "Valley" makes good use of the familiar Iverson Ranch/ Chatsworth CA movie location. Republic serials, Westerns and otherwise, simply did it to death. It is now a high price suburbia. In both "Valley" and "Kit Carson' the bad guys are quite original creations and a convincing atmosphere of meanness and evil pervades throughout. The historical slant of Valleyis a cut above the usual Hollywood western. Slim Summerville's comic relief is also above the usual old codger role and is entertaining. Like Republic's "Painted Stallion" serial, "Valley" is into the struggles and intrigues of the "new" free Meico of Juarez in the new territory of New Mexico. Both Valley and Kit Carson I number in the ten best serials.