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Death Valley Gunfighter casts Allan 'Rocky' Lane as a town taming former sheriff sent for by young sheriff William Henry to find out who has been robbing and terrorizing Eddy Waller and Gail Davis's mercury mine. At one time three brothers including Davis's father owned the mine in partnership, but now only Waller and Davis remain.As is explained in the opening title, mercury AKA quicksilver is used in the mining of gold and as such is valuable stuff on its own. That's why the bad guys want to get a hold of that mine. They can demand a percentage on gold mines that they sell the quicksilver to.I have to call attention to Harry Harvey's performance as the town banker. It borrows quite a bit from Laird Cregar in This Gun For Hire. He's a milquetoast villain that detests violence, but ain't above a little embezzlement even from his partners.Death Valley Gunfighter is one of the better Allan Lane films from Republic out there. Eddy Waller is at his most cantankerous and again Harry Harvey who usually is a good guy may have his career role on the big screen here.