The Roadhouse Murder

Roadhouse Murder, The (1932)

** (out of 4)

The one thing this RKO film can say is that they did this story several years before Fritz Lang's BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT. In the film, a reporter (Eric Linden) and his girlfriend (Dorothy Jordan) are in a roadhouse when two people are murdered. There's enough evidence left by the real killers to make the search for them very easy but the reporter wants a story so he decides to take the evidence and leave news bits and pieces to make himself look guilty. The plan is for him to go on the run, cause a news sensation, go to trial and then bring out the real evidence to clear his name but of course nothing goes as planned. THE ROADHOUSE MURDERS wasn't the first film to do this story and while the Lang film wasn't the greatest movie out there it at least told the story a lot better than what we get here. I'll admit that I was entertained by the first thirty-minutes but there are just so many holes in the story and the two lead characters are so stupid that you can't help but find the entire thing annoying. One of the biggest problems happens right when the murders happen as the real killers see the reporter and the girlfriend yet do nothing to them. If these killers were worried about being caught then why on Earth do they let the witnesses live? Another problem is that this cub reporter isn't the brightest thing in the world so not for a second did I believe he could pull this off. Another thing that doesn't work is the direction because we never believe what we're watching. The idea of someone putting themselves in this situation is far-fetched to begin with but at least someone like Lang could use the suspension of disbelief but that never happens here. Linden isn't too bad playing the dimwit reporter but the screenplay just makes the character come off very annoying. The same could be said for Jordan who is good but her character is just too dumb. The supporting cast includes Bruce Cabot in his film debut playing the real killer and Phyllis Clare as his helper. Roscoe Ates of FREAKS fame has a small role here and actually steals the picture with his comic bit. At 72-minutes the final forty or so go by rather slowly because you're becoming so annoyed with the characters and it's a shame more attention wasn't given to the story. This was clearly just a "B" picture for the studio so they were just cranking it out when they should have tried fixing some of the problems and making for a good mystery.

Reporter stumbles upon murder scene and gets the harebrained idea of framing himself for it. This will allow him to write a great human interest story about the thoughts and feelings of a man being hunted by the police. And of course he can prove that he didn't do it, when the time comes. And of course he winds up in much too close proximity to the electric chair. (What his cute g.f. Dorothy Jordan sees in this loser is a mystery to me.) The plot is as silly here as in nearly every other variation of the one where some moron frames himself for murder with good intentions, but Jordan is perky and helps carry the film in one of her bigger RKO roles. Seeing her name in the credits was the primary reason I watched this picture.

Despite the story problems, picture is also well made by director J Walter Ruben (this was the second film of his that I had ever seen). Ruben and his films are largely forgotten, but he was one of the first writer-director double threats of the sound era, working nearly a decade at RKO before moving over to MGM where he produced but only occasionally directed, before his premature death in the early 1940s. Most of his films are well worth seeking out. TROUBLE FOR TWO, based on Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Suicide Club," is outstanding.

Aggressive cub reporter Chick Brian (Eric Linden) is willing to do anything for the story, but he takes a bathtub picture of the wrong girl. He and his girlfriend Mary Agnew get stranded at a remote inn in the middle of a storm. There's a gunshot and a murder. Chick is excited to have the story. In order to get even closer, he decides to hide evidence of his innocence.

I don't like Chick and I don't like his plan. I could like Chick and Mary helps a little. Although his plan is stupid and it reflects badly on him. I don't like his undeserved arrogance. I don't like his thin plan. Since he's the one hiding the evidence, the initial stakes are too low. It takes too long to raise the stakes and it's ultimately his fault anyways.

Let's see if I have this right. A newspaper reporter and his girl friend are caught in a downpour. Their car is stuck in the mud so they stagger off to the nearest hostelry where they stumble on a murder. Most people would call the cops. But not our plucky newsman. He plants clues implicating himself as the killer so that he can cover the story from a unique angle. Of course, he has something that will prove his innocence. And of course...duh!!!!...that item mysteriously vanishes. Which means unless a miracle occurs, he's going to the chair. Okay, it was 1932 and movies were just learning to talk. But this has to be one of the dumbest ideas for a thriller, even for those early days. On the other hand, idiotic as it is, it's curiously entertaining.

Eric Linden is in trouble with his newspaper's publisher. Nonetheless, he continues his secret romance with the boss's daughter, Dorothy Jordan. They go for a drive, but their car gets stuck in the mud outside a roadhouse. They take shelter inside. Their host is murdered, and they discover enough clues to lead to the actual murder. But Linden gets the hare-brained idea to plant clues to make himself the suspect. This will give him a chance to write the lead story for the paper every day for weeks. He gives the exonerating clues to Miss Jordan.

Things don't go as planned.

It's one of those ideas that aren't appealing, but under director J. Walter Ruben, once you accept the premise, it's handled well. Cinematographer J. Walter Hunt offers some excellent Old Dark House lighting in the first half, made creepier by extensive Dutch angles. An excellent cast, including Purnell Pratt, Roscoe Ates, Bruce Cabot, Gustav von Seyfferitz, and Roscoe Karns help to make it more entertaining, if not believable.

Top-billed Dorothy Jordan had not been having the most stellar career over at MGM. Trained as a dancer, her movie roles had not earned her good notices. Nonetheless, she began dating RKO's Executive in Charge of Production. She married him in 1933, and they remained wedded until his death. Unfortunately, her honeymoon interfered with her career, and she chose love over the role that was taken by Ginger Rogers in FLYING DOWN TO RIO. She died in 1988 at the age of 82.