Customer Reviews

Valley of the Sun [VHS]

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James Craig stars as Indian scout Jonathan, whose pro-Native American sentiments do not rest well with crooked civilian Indian agent Jim Sawyer played by Dean Jagger, who intends to benefit from an impending tribal uprising. Court-martialed on a trumped-up charge by Sawyer, Jonathan escapes the stockade with the help of a friendly sergeant and rides off to Washington DC, hoping to forestall an all-out Indian war. En route, he makes the acquaintance of Sawyer's snooty fiancee Christine played by Lucille Ball, forcing her into a marriage for plot reasons too complicated to go into here. The film gets serious towards the climax, when the fate of the protagonists falls into the hands of level-headed Indian chieftan Cochise played by Antonio Moreno and his hotheaded rival Geronimo played by Tom Tyler.

Jagger stars as an evil Indian agent stationed in the Arizona Territory who bilks the redskins for all they're worth. Craig plays the handsome government agent sent to clean house by posing as a renegade Indian scout in order to get the goods on Jagger. While playing cat-and-mouse, both men romance Christine Larson (Ball), the lovely restaurant owner whom Craig eventually wins over...This fair 1942 western was initially promoted via advertisements as a massive outdoor epic on a par with 1930's CIMARRON upon release & unfortunately, the resulting product was just another mediocre and at times frankly dull Western which will appeal mostly as a curiousity for fans of Lucille Ball. Decent cameo performances by Billy Gilbert as the Justice of the Peace and Tom Tyler as Geronimo himself help keep the film somewhat interesting, however. Colour photography would have been an advantage here.