Chip has inherited a supposedly worthless gold mine from her father and Craig Allen is about to buy it. Roy suspects the mine may be valuable and using a clue left by Chip's father, investigates. He finds the hidden shaft that contains the gold and with the posse chasing him on a trumped up robbery charge, races to town with ore samples hoping to get there before the ownership is transferred. Roy Rogers (Roy Rogers) and his sidekick Teddy Bear (Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams) have been prospecting for gold with no success. They decide ti give it up and get a job in town. On the way, Teddy finds a girl's charm bracelet, bearing the inscription "Chip." They ride into town and find the citizens in an uproar over the disappearance of of a young girl. Believing her kidnapped they form a posse under the influence of Craig Allen (John Hubbard), proprietor of a gambling club and every other important business in town. He is engaged to Ysobel Martinez (Dale Evans), the cousin and only living relative of Chip Williams (Mary Lee), the 'kidnapped' girl. When Teddy tries to use a charm from the bracelet as a slug, Allen brands Roy and Teddy as the kidnappers, and starts taking them to jail. They escape and find Chip who has ran away because Ysobel , her cousin and not her sister, because Ysobel is selling a mine, left to her by her father, to Allen. The posse including Ysobel and Allen find the trio at the mine, and Chip clears Roy and Teddy. Ysobel, in gratitude, offers them jobs on her ranch. They go to the mine again and Chip finds the treasure left to to her…it is a tin box not to be opened until her sixteenth birthday, which begins at midnight this very night. Allen, cad that he is, knows the mine is rich in gold and is determined to dupe Chip and Ysobel, who do not know that, out of it. At the birthday party, the letter to be read disappears but through a lucky accident,Chip finds it and reads it aloud. Roy and Teddy, knowing that Allen has the bracelet , which show the location of the gold, fight Allen and his henchmen to get it for Chip, but Ysobel, still unaware of just how oily and sneaky Allen is, fires Roy and Teddy. Further complications arise. This film has the distinction of the first pairing of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans–but Dale is only a supporting character. It's also a bit unusual because Roy's sidekick is played by Guinn Williams. Now Williams almost always played dumb but lovable sidekicks but not with Rogers–with whom you'd expect Gabby Hayes. This isn't a bad thing, but oddly Williams practically disappeared from the film in the second half.<br/><br/>The film begins with Roy and Guinn wandering into town and being arrested on suspicion of kidnapping! Well the audience knows they'd never do that and soon the supposed victim (a spunky teenage girl named Chip) turns up just fine. It seems that she had disappeared to go to visit her father's old mine–one that is supposedly worthless but she knows there is some secret hidden there for her. In the meantime, a supposedly nice guy is trying to get the family to sell this mine to him–and Chip suspects his motives are far from pure. So, it's up to Roy and Guinn to help determine what the secret is and if this nice guy is actually all that nice.<br/><br/>As far as the story goes, it is a pretty typical Roy Rogers film. He plays a social worker, of sorts, that shows up in town and rights all the wrongs. It's predictable but nice and worth watching–even if the kid 'knows' the man is bad but has absolutely no reason to think this (she'd obviously read the script to see the ending). The only seriously bad moment came at the end when, for absolutely no reason, they have a crazy song and dance number. Crazy because it's not your typical Roy and the Sons of the Pioneers song but one that looks more like what you'd see in an over the top musical. The ENORMOUS sombrero and the rest of the set is laughable–especially since it's supposed to be a western, not a visit to the Coconut Grove or the 21 Club! Weird. The programmer is basically a "personality" western that depends on the likability of its leads rather than lots of action. Don't expect much hard-riding or fast shooting. There is a cleverly choreographed saloon brawl showing off Roy's Tarzan skills. Unfortunately, about the only outdoor action are buckboards bouncing on a washboard road, again and again. Then too, the musical selections are nothing special, finishing up with a big production number as might be expected.<br/><br/>In the personality department, spunky little Mary Lee, as Chip, steals the film with her lively personality, while Roy and Dale serve up more likability in their first screen pairing. At the same time, an oafishly winning Big Boy Williams (Teddy Bear) serves up the chuckles as comedy relief. The plot's fairly standard— but for good guys Roy, Dale and Big Boy, baddie Hubbard is out to steal Chip's inheritance. So nothing special there. Anyway, the most that can be said for the 70-minutes is that it's a fairly pleasant assembly-line product. But maybe more importantly, it hints at why a youthful Roy and Dale made such a likably successful team, both on-screen and off.<br/><br/>A "5" on the matinée Scale.
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