Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The picture opens with Eddie Dean riding into view atop White Cloud, a rather handsome palomino that would have appeared even more striking if the movie were in color. I think White Cloud might have given Trigger a run for his money in a beauty contest, which is kind of interesting because Trigger's real name was Golden Cloud before Roy Rogers bought him and changed the name. A bit of horse trivia there.This might be the first Eddie Dean flick I've seen in which Soapy Jones (Roscoe Ates) hooks up with his partner later on in the story, having been hired on as a cook at the Jarvis Ranch to get an early lay of the land regarding a train robbery. It's not clear to me why the train robber element was introduced into the story line because that's not the mystery solved by Eddie and Soapy by the end of the picture. It had to do with crooked lawyer Gunnison (George Chesebro) attempting to swindle Mary Anne Jarvis (Jennifer Holt) out of her ranch after learning there was a rich gold ore vein on the property.You know, I watch these old Westerns and it's comical sometimes how weak the stories were written. When Eddie is first introduced to Mary Ann, it's by way of being a prospective buyer for her ranch. Then he turns right around and tells her he doesn't want to buy it, but instead wants her to hire him as a ranch hand, but he won't tell her why. For me, that would have been a huge red flag, but I guess this was a simpler time. The way too trusting Mary Ann indeed hires him on.The other thing that totally baffled me was how Eddie determined that Mary Ann's uncle was killed by someone who was left handed. There was no inkling as to how he came about that idea, although he did manage to catch Gunnison deftly using his left hand to strike a match, thereby putting Eddie on the right track. I'm not even going to try to explain the two separate ransom notes left by Mary Ann, it would take a few more viewings of the film and even then I don't think it would make any sense.So with all my critique you would think this is a bad Western, but hey, I can watch this stuff all day given the chance. Maybe a break or two for some rational thought, but you get the idea. I never met a B Western I couldn't watch at least once.

Into Shadow Valley ride Eddie Dean and Roscoe Ates who get themselves involved with Jennifer Holt and her troubles. Her father and uncle have been killed and she's not sure she wants to run the ranch they've left her.Of course there's skullduggery afoot and it's being caused by perennial western villain George Chesebro. He's found out there's gold on that property and he's manipulating quite a scheme to get it. This one came from Producer's Releasing Corporation which apparently as per its poverty row status had the same players in all its westerns and would just recycle the plots with the same writers.Jennifer Holt must have wished she was over at RKO working in brother Tim's westerns which were much better quality. Ditto for Eddie Dean who like Gene Autry came from the country music scene and was a talented singer and songwriter.Nothing new here folks.

To my way of thinking Eddie Dean was one of the best singer-song writers of the 1940's. He wrote the country western classic "One Has My Name The Other Has My Heart," which has been recorded many times by many different artists, also being a big hit for Jerry Lee Lewis when Jerry Lee switched from rock to country. So why didn't Eddie Dean write the music for this movie? Instead he sings three songs that are trite and forgettable. He was also a much better singer-song writer than he was an actor. One thing that impressed me about this movie was the appearance of the very lovely Jennifer Holt, Tim Holt's sister. She adds much to the movie and plays a strong-willed determined young woman, much more independent minded than the usual Saturday matinée cowgirl, including Dale Evans. The low-budget nature of the film is obvious in the cabin that serves as the ranch. The "ranch" looks more like a hideout for the bad guys. In fact, the hideout for the outlaws in the film isn't much smaller than the "ranch." Soapy Jones is no Gabby Hayes or Fuzzy St. John, but he does a creditable job as the comical sidekick who has fun trying to learn how to shoot, usually in the direction of the "ranch house." It's too bad that Eddie Dean wasn't given better songs to sing, but the movie is still a lot of fun to watch, if you don't expect too much.