Valley of the Sun

James craig, lucy, tom tyler. Tucson is still a territory, with a wide mix of settlers, and the first americans. It's chris' wedding day, and the whole town is buzzing. The army is already squabbling with a scout and the crooked agent. The scout is on the run, after getting court martialed for standing up for the indians. And of course, chris' husband-to-be is caught up in the shenanigans. A typical western, with some extra humor thrown in here and there. Some silliness over using red ants to delay a wedding. Billy gilbert, who made a career out of sneezing his way through movies. Even cochise and geronimo are here. This was still the awkward part of lucy's career where they weren't really sure what to do with her. She made some good comedies in the 1940s, and of course, had her own series with ricky in the 1950s. Very pretty scenery of the southwest. Its actually not bad. A bit silly, but mostly good. We can see the beginnings of lucy and her comedy bits. Directed by george marshall. Based on the stories of clarence kelland.

This thoroughly enjoyable RKO comedic Western from 1942 used to be shown regularly on TV in the '50s and '60s, but seems to have faded into obscurity and deserves a TCM revival. A swift 79-minute running time packs in plenty of action, rambunctious humor, and sparkling romantic chemistry between leads James Craig (why he didn't become a major star remains a mystery) and luscious Lucille Ball (exuding the volcanic combo of dazzling beauty and an innate flair for slapstick that would come to full fruition a decade later in "I Love Lucy" on the home-screen). Dismissed by most critics as a forgettable low-grade oater, "Valley of the Sun" was a high-budget class-A RKO production, and shows in the caliber of the witty screenplay, eye-catching production design, and shimmering black-and-white photography. Excellent entertainment, and still a thorough delight from start to finish.

A fine cast and solid production values make this RKO Radio Pictures big-budget Western a success, ably directed by George Marshall, whose "Destry Rides Again" was an all-time classic.

The sympathetic treatment of the Indians in this picture is not surprising given the humanistic approach Marshall and his talented screenwriter Horace McCoy adopted. Even the bad guys, notably a corrupt Government Agent (Dean Jagger)who's been cheating the Indians, are treated with sympathy when not made foolish by our happy-go-lucky hero James Craig. And Lucille Ball is terrific as the feisty heroine.

Not being a particular fan of westerns, I watched this primarily because I wanted to see Lucille Ball in something other than an "I Love Lucy" or "Lucy Show" type of role. Here she plays Christine Larson, owner of a saloon in the Arizona Territory in 1868 who's about to be married to the unscrupulous local Indian agent (Dean Jagger.) Ball's performance was OK - nothing really more than that; she didn't blow me away. It succeeded for me in that the role was very different from what I'm accustomed to seeing her in - there was very little of the outrageous physical comedy she later became famous for, although the movie tried to maintain a gently amusing feel throughout. (A typical funny line - "there's two ways to deal with women - and no one knows either one of them!") I didn't find the story all that compelling, although I appreciated that the Indians were shown as the victims of the Indian agent. There's typical shootout action and a lot of horses - your typical western in other words. As to Christine - we pretty much can guess from the beginning how her planned marriage is going to end up; it's just a question of how she's going to get there. If you like westerns, this would be a pretty typical one with a bit of humour thrown in. If you're not big on the genre, this will be lacking. I'm not big on the genre. 3/10

Curious head-scratcher of a western directed by George Marshall features James Craig as a drifter in 1868 Tucson who disrupts the wedding of feisty barmaid Lucille Ball, later stopping a war between the white man and an Apache Indian tribe! Lucy-completists will want to take a look, but this may be one example of why her movie-career never caught fire. The picture is just a second-string quickie, despite writers Clarence Budington Kelland and Horace McCoy tossing in some comedic overtones (which help). Unfortunately, it just doesn't add up to much. I'd trade all those tumbleweeds for a cameo by William Frawley. ** from ****