bkoganbing Valley Of The Sun is an offbeat comic western that stars Lucille Ball in a role you would normally see Dale Evans do over at Republic with Roy Rogers. But Lucy and the rest of the cast acquit themselves well under the handling of director George Marshall.Lucy runs the Busy Bee Cafe in Yuma where she's all set to marry Indian agent Dean Jagger who makes a nice living cheating the Indians. That was a great racket in the old west and who's to complain as they don't have the right to vote as yet. Army scout James Craig cares however, but he's had to bust jail after helping a couple of falsely accused Apaches escape.In making his escape Craig runs into both Lucy and Jagger and then has a dual mission to stop that wedding and get some justice for the Indians. Do you doubt he will succeed?This western moves at a really nice clip with the comedy some of the rough house kind like Jagger having a stagecoach run over some cactus to dislodge Craig who is riding by hanging on to the boot. Nevermind though Craig pays him back good in stopping that wedding and I won't reveal how. George Marshall was one of the great comic directors from the last century and never gets the due that he should. This minor picture for RKO shows him at his best.I remember back in the day in New York City when I was a kid, Valley Of The Sun was run frequently on WOR TV as they owned the entire RKO Library. It seems to have fallen out of favor in the past several years though for reasons I can't explain. This is a really fine film.

sddavis63 Not being a particular fan of westerns, I watched this primarily because I wanted to see Lucille Ball in something other than an "I Love Lucy" or "Lucy Show" type of role. Here she plays Christine Larson, owner of a saloon in the Arizona Territory in 1868 who's about to be married to the unscrupulous local Indian agent (Dean Jagger.) Ball's performance was OK - nothing really more than that; she didn't blow me away. It succeeded for me in that the role was very different from what I'm accustomed to seeing her in - there was very little of the outrageous physical comedy she later became famous for, although the movie tried to maintain a gently amusing feel throughout. (A typical funny line - "there's two ways to deal with women - and no one knows either one of them!") I didn't find the story all that compelling, although I appreciated that the Indians were shown as the victims of the Indian agent. There's typical shootout action and a lot of horses - your typical western in other words. As to Christine - we pretty much can guess from the beginning how her planned marriage is going to end up; it's just a question of how she's going to get there. If you like westerns, this would be a pretty typical one with a bit of humour thrown in. If you're not big on the genre, this will be lacking. I'm not big on the genre. 3/10

sdiner82 This thoroughly enjoyable RKO comedic Western from 1942 used to be shown regularly on TV in the '50s and '60s, but seems to have faded into obscurity and deserves a TCM revival. A swift 79-minute running time packs in plenty of action, rambunctious humor, and sparkling romantic chemistry between leads James Craig (why he didn't become a major star remains a mystery) and luscious Lucille Ball (exuding the volcanic combo of dazzling beauty and an innate flair for slapstick that would come to full fruition a decade later in "I Love Lucy" on the home-screen). Dismissed by most critics as a forgettable low-grade oater, "Valley of the Sun" was a high-budget class-A RKO production, and shows in the caliber of the witty screenplay, eye-catching production design, and shimmering black-and-white photography. Excellent entertainment, and still a thorough delight from start to finish.

michael-248 This entertaining western is an interesting mix of comedy and adventure, complete with cowboys, indians and couple of black hats. Be sure and watch for the very funny wedding scene involving a bunch of ants. Starring Lucy in her only western movie role, and co-starring John Craig, Cedric Hardwicke and Dean Jagger.Worth a peek