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The Rogues Tavern More at IMDbPro »
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| Index | 11 reviews in total |
8 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
A watchable, borderline Old Dark House movie with nice humorous touches, 7 April 2000
Author:
Don W from Long Island Motor Parkway
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.
9 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
another dark and stormy night, 6 February 2004
Author:
dbborroughs from Glen Cove, New York
Dancing around the code a couple of Store detectives shop up at a tavern
on
a dark and stormy night looking for a justice of the peace to marry them.
Unfortunately for them the Justice hasn't arrived but a hotel full of
people
have, as has a murderer.
This is a good is a tiny bit slow (Due more to lack of music than
plotting)thriller. This is a movie that for a while operates like Ten
Little
Indians as several of the guests are killed by a wolf dog, or so we are to
believe.
The mystery is thick and its not entirely fair however the dialog is
snappy
and a joy to listen to. There are sliding panels and weird happenings and
everything you could want from an old dark house mystery.
No its not perfect but it is fun.
If you get the chance watch it, preferably on a dark and stormy
night....when the wolves are howling outside....
6 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
An interesting film!, 22 May 2000
Author:
Norm Vogel (norm3vog@blast.net) from S. Bound Brook, NJ
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
4 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
Hand Me That Wolf Head!, 9 February 2007
Author:
Hitchcoc from United States
Here we are again. In an old dark house (hotel, tavern, inn), where a group of jewel robbers are hiding out. A detective and his not-so-dumb blond fiancée show up to meet a justice of the peace. Meanwhile a murder is committed. A throat torn out, supposedly by a wolf-dog, who generally is tethered outside the tavern. There is a lot of byplay, with even an invalid man coming under suspicion. Others begin to get bumped off as well. People come and go. Suspicious characters and policemen and a cast of several investigate. Make sure you think of everyone as a suspect. There is pretty good humor and a little slapstick. The detective is so dense, it makes you wonder if he could find his hat in a closet. He doesn't listen to anyone, but at times seems pretty lucid. Anyway, there is nothing new or remarkable about this film, but it is fun and the conclusion is worth the wait.
2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
"this man has been killed with a pair of false dog's teeth!!!", 8 April 2009
Author:
kidboots from Australia
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
From the start Wallace Ford was a great character actor. He was not
just another cardboard leading man but bought another dimension to his
roles, as the narrow minded boyfriend Joan Crawford leaves behind in
"Possessed" (1931) and a brash young policeman, seduced to do wrong by
a luscious Jean Harlow in "The Beast of the City" (1932). In "Freaks"
(1932) he seemed to have a real sympathy for his co-stars - it really
came across in the movie. By the mid 30s he was finding character work
in mystery/ horror movies.
After a flashy early role as the femme fatale Sally in "Our Daily
Bread" (1934), Barbara Pepper didn't take advantage of her chance at
stardom and was to alternate between uncredited parts in As and leads
and supports in poverty rowers.
Jimmy Kelly (Wallace Ford) is a private detective and wants to marry
Marjorie Burns. Barbara Pepper looks so much like a young Lucille Ball.
Apparently they were great friends. Jimmy and Marjorie are sent to
gloomy Red Rock Tarvern, where a Justice of the Peace happens to be.
Clara Kimball Young, who was a great star of the early silents, gets a
part she can really sink her teeth into here, as Mrs. Jamison, the
strange manager of the tavern. They arrive in the middle of a murder.
Someone has mysteriously sent telegrams to the guests telling them to
meet there but no-one seems to know who sent them!!! A wild police dog
has savaged one of the guests and he has died. By the time the guests
are in their rooms the wild dog has struck again. Jimmy tries to
telephone the coroner but discovers the wires have been cut. The dog
(is it Rin Tin Tin!!! - no it's Silver Wolf!!!) almost strikes again
with Marjorie the intended victim but Jimmy is convinced a human is
responsible and finds the dog and befriends it.
It is a diverting film about jewel smugglers, an elderly man who is
supposed to be in a wheelchair but isn't and a mad inventor. Very "old
dark house" just not as good!!!
Recommended.
1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
Weak, slow, predictable, unbelievable (if you can believe it), 26 April 2010
Author:
mark.waltz from New York City
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
First of all, this seems like a film from 1930, not 1936. It is creakier than the floors of those abandoned houses in the country I used to explore as a kid. It also has a plot that had been done better even in the creakiest of silents and with much better scripts. Even the Tod Slaughter grand guignole melodramas of the British cinema were far more interesting than this. The cast isn't bad, but the material they are given is preposterous. Joan Woodbury is interesting as a card reader, while Barbara Pepper (best known as Mrs. Ziffel on "Green Acres") comes off alright, although at times the changes in photographic angles makes her look like a different character. Poor Clara Kimball Young has probably one of the hammiest moments in films like this; She went all of a sudden from subtlety to acting that reminded me of Dwight Frye in "Dracula". There are more red herrings in this film than any other that aren't even remotely intelligent. The appearance of the inventor in the spooky glasses at the end is one of them that just comes out of left field. Remember Truman Capote's tirade in "Murder By Death" about the characteristics of the famous mystery writer's books that he hated? Well, they are all here. In the film's credit, there are some great angles here and there of the camera looking down on the characters showing their horror of their impending fate, but it's not enough to hide the ridiculousness of the methods the killer uses and its revelation. For the actual killer to utilize the method of killing used, it would take a great deal more strength than that person has. Otherwise, it's more of a Shari Lewis puppet show. You'll see what I mean if you watch this film, which is fortunately short enough to get through. Stick with "The Old Dark House" and a few others (like "The Cat and the Canary", and even PRC's "Fog Island") which are much more interesting than this.
1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
Amusing whodunit., 4 June 2009
Author:
Michael O'Keefe from Muskogee OK
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
Robert F. Hill directs this poor man's Thin Man flick. A humorous little mystery that leaves a little more to be desired. Jimmy Flavin(Wallace Ford),a small-time detective, and his fiancé Marjorie(Barbara Pepper)arrive at a hostelry searching for a Justice of the Peace. The inn run by wheelchair-bound John Elliot is home to a jewelry ring and also the site of homicides. Visitors are found one by one with crushed throats and bite marks. Flavin decides to investigate the murders himself while waiting to recite nuptials. Well placed humor dots the criminal content. The cast of players include: Joan Woodbury, Arthur Loft, Clara Kimball Young and Jack Mulhall.
1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
Clara Kimball Young has The Last Laugh, 15 February 2009
Author:
wes-connors from Earth
"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
1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
The Rogues Tavern, 31 October 2008
Author:
matjusm from Manchester, UK/Estonia
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.
So-so old house mystery, 23 July 2011
Author:
csteidler from Minnesota
The Rogues Tavern starts out promisingly: an opening scene features a
nearly silent, deliberately-paced panning shot of the hotel commons
area and its various guests, all sitting quietly. The camera pauses on
each face or silent group, finally closing in on Joan Woodbury reading
cards and delivering a fortune to a fellow guest—a reading that ends
suddenly when she turns up the ace of spades, the card of death! It's a
wonderfully atmospheric setup that promises a spooky tale of hidden
motives and secretive characters, possibly with a touch of the
supernatural mixed in.
Alas, along come Wallace Ford and Barbara Pepper as a pair of runaway
department store detectives who have apparently eloped with no better
plan than to run off into the night hoping vaguely to find a justice of
the peace and a hotel room (or, as Ford's character notes, if the
justice doesn't show up, then they'll need two rooms).
The rest of the show isn't bad; it just doesn't move fast enough or
create enough suspense to keep me from noticing that...well, for
example, that Joan Woodbury is wasted for the rest of the movie.
Instead of developing her character as a sort of mystic (real or
phony), she is given nothing to do but just wring her hands a lot and
say thing like, "We're all doomed!" Or from noticing that Wallace Ford
is too confident by half in his detecting skills, and heroine Barbara
Pepper is too polite to him by more than half. (Why doesn't she smack
him when she's got an important clue and he tells her to leave him
alone and won't listen?)
Still, there is some atmosphere to be enjoyed here. And it's not every
mystery criminal who frames a friendly dog for murder. The murderer
also gets in some fun evil cackles in the climactic scene when
preparing to finish off the remaining guests in one fell swoop.
Yes—fans of evil cackles should not miss this one.
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