The Rogues Tavern

Wallace Ford and Barbara Pepper are a pair of eloping store detectives and Ford is most proud of the fact that he does have the title of detective. When they check into an out of season inn waiting for a justice of the peace to arrive three murders occur among the guests and Ford decides to investigate. The rest take it on face value that he's law enforcement.

This is not too bad a film for a poverty row product. The cheapness of the sets even adds some value to the atmosphere the director wanted to create.

As it turns out Ford and Pepper are the outsiders in more ways than one. All the guests have been summoned to this place the way Agatha Christie summoned her victims in Ten Little Indians.

I can't reveal the murderer by praising the cast member's performance by name, but I will say the scene where all is revealed is one for the books. What a piece of scenery chewing.

Cheap though Rogues Tavern is I think you'll enjoy it.

A hard to find movie that was originally distributed by Puritan Pictures. This is a borderline Old Dark House movie. It takes place at the Red Rock Tavern, which is an old dark hotel; there's a thunderstorm & three murders, & the lights do go out, but no secret passageways. Nice humorous touches, especially in the interchanges between Wallace Ford's character & his fiancee, played by Barbara Pepper (who has her Mae West expressions down pat). Joan Woodbury plays a strange character with many premonitions; the director seems fascinated by Joan, & the camera often isolates her in unusual closeups that lose sight of the rest of the cast & the backdrops. A watchable film, especially for Old Dark House fans, but not a great one by any means. I rate it 4/10.

A nice film for a dark and stormy night. If of course you are willing to squeeze and eye or two shut regarding some shortcomings.

The premises is simple- a young couple about to get married arrive at an isolated hotel. There they find various other people who for some reason or another have also gotten there just recently. One by one however people start getting killed and an almost wed detective takes up the case to solve the mystery before he too becomes a victim.

This is a classic mystery well suited for a dark and stormy evening or another similar occasion. There is mystery, there is horror and there are thrills and the concept of the film is excellent. However it is the dated execution that hinders this film from reaching the heights it could have reached. The acting is quite wooden and things that are supposed to be said secretly and discreetly are presented loud and with excellent articulation as if in a theater. The plot could have been a little better developed and have played more on the "whodunit" angle.

However if you are willing to overlook these shortcomings, then this is still a rather enjoyable film.

"A collection of travelers has gathered at the 'Red Rock Tavern', an old hotel, during a thunderstorm. All arriving for different reasons, the group is suddenly drawn together by the murder of one of the guests. Two store detectives staying at the hotel try to solve the case as other bodies turn up and the terror increases with each passing moment," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.

An eclectic cast makes this "old dark house" variation fairly entertaining, albeit structurally flawed. The leading man and woman are "store detectives" Wallace Ford (as Jimmy Kelly) and Barbara Pepper (as Marjorie Burns). But, the real treat is seeing former silent film superstar Clara Kimball Young (as Mrs. Jamison), in one of her more meaty later year roles. The matronly Ms. Young was one of the biggest stars in films during 1913-1919, and she still has her way with the camera.

***** The Rogues Tavern (1936) Robert F. Hill ~ Wallace Ford, Barbara Pepper, Clara Kimball Young

As the other writer said, this is a "borderline Old House" film, but I feel that he under-rated it. The business about a "mad dog" doing all the killing is very unusual. Despite what he says, the "closeups of Joan Woodbury" are only done ONCE or TWICE. She is the "mystic" who is constantly predicting death to all present, and the closeups of her eyes are supposed to lend to the eeriness of the film. A VERY intersting film, if a bit melodramatic in parts! Check it out!

Norm