The director of Boss of Lonely Valley, Ray Taylor, also did his fair share of action serials. This Buck Jones western does resemble a chapterplay at times. At one point, Jones is visibly shot by henchman Ezra Paulette and plunges into a raging river. "No one could survive a fall like that," says Bad Guy Lee Phelps, but like any serial hero, Jones emerges from the rapids no worse for wear in the following scene. Not that the film's target audience, kids of all ages, cared about such inconsistencies. Like most of Jones' films, Boss of Lonely Valley is strong on action but weak on credibility and logic. And that is perhaps what it should be. In her last of five westerns opposite Buck Jones, blonde Muriel Evans is her capable self as the heroine, and a kid actor named Dick Holland is not too annoying as her smart-aleck brother. Walter Miller, a serial star of the 1920s, makes a properly arrogant Boss Villain and a good time is had by all.
by Hans J. Wollstein
review
