Jay Wilsey | Through the Shattered Lens

In the early 1900s, the town of Rainbow Valley is trying to complete a road that will connect it to another town. Outlaw Rogers (LeRoy Mason) doesn’t want that road finished because he wants to buy up all the land around Rainbow Valley. He brings in a hired gun named Galt (Jay Wilsey) to intimidate the townspeople. When a traveler named John Martin (John Wayne) saves mail carrier George Hale (George “Gabby” Hayes) from the outlaws, the townspeople ask Martin to serve as their marshal and to help finish the road. Martin agrees but it turns out that he and Galt have a history.

This was one of the B-westerns that John Wayne made before Stagecoach made him a major star. Wayne gives a confident performance as John Martin. It’s about as close to a traditional John Wayne performance as you are likely to find in his early films. It’s a good and short western, with enough gunfire and tough talk to appeal to fans of the genre.

The most interesting thing about this film is that it takes place at the turn of the century, when the old west was being replaced by the modern world. Everyone in town is amazed that George Hale drives a car. John says that it’s the first car that he’s ever actually seen. Of course, this is a western and all the important work is done on horseback. The best part of the movie is when George realizes that he and Miss Eleanor (Lucille Brown) can’t drive to warn John about an ambush because the car is out of gas and there’s not a filling station to be found. Eleanor can’t ride a horse so he does the next best thing. He has the horses pull his Model T like a wagon!

Four years after this movie came out, John Wayne starred as The Ringo Kid in Stagecoach. In Rainbow Valley, he showed that he was already a star.

In the days of the wild west, Tom Cameron (George Houston) rides the range alone, seeking vengeance for the murder of his family. They were killed when their wagon train was ambushed by the same outlaws who has previously sold them a plot of land. Tom was a child at the time and he only remembers that the leader of the outlaws had a distinctive facial scar. Tom Cameron is The Lone Rider.

No, not the Long Ranger. The Lone Rider! George Houston was an opera star who made for a surprisingly convincing gunslinger and the movie opens with him singing I Am The Lone Rider, just to make sure that it was understood that his vengeance-driven vigilante was a completely different character from that other vengeance-driven vigilante. The Lone Rider is looking to avenge his family and, with the help of store keeper “Fuzzy” Jones (professional sidekick Al St. John), the Lone Rider does just that. Though this is a standard B-western, the plot is a little more serious than most other B-movies. This was the first of several Lone Rider movies and, despite the obviously low budget, there’s some emotional heft to its story. Tom discovers that his brother (Lee Powell), who he thought had died in the attack, actually survived and joined up with the gang. The story is about both Tom’s vengeance and his brother’s redemption. Fans of the genre will enjoy the film’s classic western story and George Houston’s convincing performance as a gunslinger on a mission.

The Lone Rider would ride on for 16 more movies, the last one being released in 1944. In 1942, George Houston was replaced in the lead role by Robert Livingston. Houston went from starring in westerns to becoming one of Hollywood’s most respected vocal coaches. (Howard Keel was one of his students.) Shortly after the Lone Rider road for the last time, George Houston died while planning his musical comeback. He had a heart attack and the police, thinking he was just intoxicated, tossed him in the drunk tank where he subsequently died. He was only 48 years old.