Herb sings his way through this super thin storyline about the evil rancher trying to force the sweet young thing and her brother to sell him their ranch. Backing up Herb Jeffries are The Four Tones. Herb left his baritone back East. There’s a lot of comedy from Lucius Brooks as Dusty and F.E.Miller as Slim Perkins.
Bob Blake (Herb Jeffries) rides in with his five pals after he received a letter from their friend, rancher Joe Jackson. After a song there’s some comedy as Slim, who is studying to be a ventriloquist, fools Dusty into thinking he has a mule that can talk. Joe’s sister Betty tells Bob that Joe has been missing for three weeks after going to look for who shot their father in the back.
They head into town and Dusty and a friend go to the saloon. Everybody is singing. Before the song is over, Pete (Spencer Williams,Jr.) kills his partner during a card game. Then he makes Dusty’s pal smoke four cigars at once and Dusty to drink four shots at once. Then Bob walks in. Pete ends up getting knocked out.
Bob goes to see next door rancher Buck Thorn. He offered to buy the ranch from Betty…just to help her out. He meets Pete again. Nothing happens this time. On the trail Bob and Betty meet an old man. He says he found Joe’s letter under a window in an alley by the saloon, put a stamp on it and mailed it.
Bob pretends to be drunk and staggers into the saloon. He makes his way upstairs. He takes out his guns and enters a room. Thorn and his boys are holding Joe. He knows exactly why they want his ranch. Downstairs Bob’s pals come in and lead flies. The bartender hits Bob over the head and Thorn and his bad guys get away with Joe.
When Bob and company get back to the ranch Betty is gone. Then her horse shows up. Bob and the boys follow the tracks. They lead right to Thorn’s ranch. They better get there in a hurry. Pete is about to burn Joe with a hot iron to force him to sign the deed of his ranch over to Thorn.
Music fans should have fun seeing and hearing Herb before he hit it big with “Flamingo.”
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