Lately it seems that I can count on a Gene Autry film to introduce me to a vocabulary word I've never heard before. Early in the picture, when Breezy (Pat Buttram) thinks he discovers gold and it turns out to be a cuff-link that he lost in a stream, he declares "Isn't that a spizzerinctum!" It sounded like gibberish, but upon doing a google search, it turns out that one of the meanings derived from this word is that of a 'tawdry ornamentation', though it's more often used in connection with having energy and ambition. Just remember, Pat Buttram came up with it.
As for the story, this one might be considered a mature themed Western considering it's content. As newly elected mayor of Quartz Creek, Gene decides it would be a good idea to place an ad in an Eastern newspaper seeking women to head West to balance out the population consisting of all men and one woman. She's Bee Laverne (Christine Larsen), who's had it with her conniving fiancée Steve Guilford (Russell Hayden). Guilford likes Gene's idea and throws in with Fandango Bar owner Tod Rawlings (Harry Lauter), but Rawlings sees it as an opportunity to charge five hundred dollars a head to broker a future wife business. Rawlings' henchmen head out to hijack the wagon train heading to Quartz Creek with the single women.
Along with the females heading West, there's a sub-plot involving Guilford's robbery of seventy two thousand dollars in gold from a stagecoach bound for Quartz Creek. He launders the gold through local claims he's bought up including Breezy's, but with Gene's nose for trouble, it's not long before he figures out the connection.
"Valley of Fire" is not big on songs; in anticipation of the women's arrival Gene offers one up called 'Here's to the Ladies', and later on he sings a version of 'On Top of Old Smoky'. As is often the case in Gene's pictures, Gail Davis shows up as one of the marriage prospects on the wagon train, something of a gold digger starting out, but once involved with the larcenous Guilford, decides it's a better idea to stick with a 'man of the land'. That would be Gene.
As for the story, this one might be considered a mature themed Western considering it's content. As newly elected mayor of Quartz Creek, Gene decides it would be a good idea to place an ad in an Eastern newspaper seeking women to head West to balance out the population consisting of all men and one woman. She's Bee Laverne (Christine Larsen), who's had it with her conniving fiancée Steve Guilford (Russell Hayden). Guilford likes Gene's idea and throws in with Fandango Bar owner Tod Rawlings (Harry Lauter), but Rawlings sees it as an opportunity to charge five hundred dollars a head to broker a future wife business. Rawlings' henchmen head out to hijack the wagon train heading to Quartz Creek with the single women.
Along with the females heading West, there's a sub-plot involving Guilford's robbery of seventy two thousand dollars in gold from a stagecoach bound for Quartz Creek. He launders the gold through local claims he's bought up including Breezy's, but with Gene's nose for trouble, it's not long before he figures out the connection.
"Valley of Fire" is not big on songs; in anticipation of the women's arrival Gene offers one up called 'Here's to the Ladies', and later on he sings a version of 'On Top of Old Smoky'. As is often the case in Gene's pictures, Gail Davis shows up as one of the marriage prospects on the wagon train, something of a gold digger starting out, but once involved with the larcenous Guilford, decides it's a better idea to stick with a 'man of the land'. That would be Gene.