Filmed in 1935 this movie stars John Wayne as a cowboy named "John Martin" who is on his way to the small, isolated town of "Rainbow Valley". While riding his horse he happens to come across an old man by the name of "George Hale" (George Hayes) who tells him he needs water desperately for "Nellie". Figuring that he needs it for his horse, John gives him his canteen only to discover that "Nellie" is an automobile and George is the mailman for Rainbow Valley. Having added the water to his car's radiator George thanks John and tells him he will probably see him again in Rainbow Valley. Since both are headed that way John decides to follow George from a distance. It's at this time that he hears gunshots and notices that some outlaws on horseback are chasing after George. Naturally, John rides to the rescue and after taking on the crooks one by one escorts the now-wounded George to the doctor in Rainbow Valley. Once he gets to town he is informed that Rainbow Valley has been plagued by crooks and that the residents are in desperate need of someone who can fend off the outlaws trying to stop the workers from restoring the only road connecting Rainbow Valley with the nearest town 60 miles away. At any rate, rather than detailing the entire story I will just say that this was a decent Western B-movie all things considered. Besides being quite old it is also a bit short (about 52 minutes). But the acting was adequate enough and the movie turned out to be somewhat entertaining all the same. That said, I suppose it merits an average rating.

Now we're on the weak end of the 'Lone Star' westerns. Unless you've never seen any of them, this is a retread of several tropes from earlier films in the series. If this is your first, the surprises at the end (which is well edited) will be new. Sorry to have to spoil your fun.We get that dynamite is needed to clear the trail; dynamite is used to get water flowing in the superior first film 'Riders of Destiny' (1933). We get that John Wayne has really been sent by the government to work undercover and infiltrate the gang of outlaws; as also seen in 'Riders of Destiny,' and countless other early thirties westerns such as 'The Man From Hell's Edges' (1932) with Bob Steele, etc.We get Lucille Brown as the "Prairie Flower," and Leroy Mason as the head villain, also from the better 'Texas Terror' (1935) in which Lucille gets more screen time than the villain, and when finding out that John Wayne is indeed a good guy at the end, rushes to his cabin to spend two hours alone with him! Unfortunately, she's wasted here with little to do. We get the Tin Lizzie driven by George Hayes, also featured in 'Texas Terror.' Note: In this film he sings a song! Now, if you don't think he's acting trying to walk and talk like an old geezer, watch him as the nasty, dastardly villain in the awful serial 'The Lost City'( 1935) ! We get shots of Yakima Canutt jumping on a horse, and plunging off a cliff into a river, among many shots repeated from earlier films in the series.So what does it all mean? A weak Lone Star. When you have two extensive shootouts between the road workers and the villain's gang of henchmen behind rocks in a canyon, nobody, not even the camera, is moving. Surprise, that means that the film isn't moving either! It's better to spend your time on the 'Lone Stars' with either better character development or better action such as 'Sagebrush Trail' (1933),'The Star Packer' (1934), 'The Trail Beyond' (1934), 'The Dawn Rider' (1935) or 'Texas Terror' (1935). Despite the well paced ending, this one gets a 3.

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.

"Rainbow Valley" was made right after "Texas Terror", and interestingly, a number of the principals stuck around to appear in both. The main heavy goes by Rogers, and is portrayed by LeRoy Mason, while John Wayne's romantic interest is a demure Miss Eleanor (Lucille Brown). Each had similar roles in "Texas Terror", along with George (Pre-Gabby) Hayes, but this time around, his character sports around in an automobile. John Martin (Wayne) expresses some surprise, remarking that it's the first one he's ever seen. However shortly later when George is injured in a chase while driving, Martin knows just what to do to bring it to a stop! I got a kick out of George's name for the car - 'Nugget Nell'. Some years later in the early Fifties, Pat Brady would tool around in 'Nellybelle' on "The Roy Rogers Show", maybe they were related.The plot is a familiar one involving villain Rogers in a land fraud scheme, but instead of water rights or phony deeds, the bad guys prevent the town folk from completing a road connecting Rainbow with an adjoining town. Preventing the arrival of supplies and necessities, Rogers hopes the local ranchers will sell out to him cheap. Special Agent Martin's presence on the scene was arranged by the governor so he could investigate, sounding a bit more involved than it had to be. Martin spent some time in jail with Rogers' top henchman Galt (Jay Wilsey as Buffalo Bill, Jr.), causing Miss Eleanor and others some concern since he might be throwing in with Rogers. Not to worry though, it's all part of the plan to complete the road and take down the baddies.I found a few interesting things about this Lone Star Western, it's the only one I can recall off hand in which John Wayne actually twirls a six gun. For his part, George Hayes seems pretty accomplished in throwing sticks of dynamite to fend off the bad guys. It seemed to me that was Teddy Roosevelt's picture hanging in the post office; his presidency ran from 1901 to 1909, so that would have worked for the picture chronologically, along with the presence of Nugget Nell.Having seen nearly all of Wayne's Lone Stars, this might be the one film that shows the most print degradation, with washed out scenes and a fair amount of visual static. Still, I felt lucky finding this title along with eight other John Wayne flicks from the mid to late 1930's, none of which duplicated the much easier to find public domain films like "Blue Steel" and "The Star Packer". In my case, I found it as part of a promotional display at a local Walmart; the package of nine films on two DVD's is put out by Echo Bridge Entertainment. Believe it or not, included is the complete twelve chapter serial, "Shadow Of The Eagle"!