Search - The Rogue's Tavern on DVD

MPAA Rating: NR Content Advisory: Suitable for Children Movie Release: 1936 DVD Release: 06/24/2003 Format: DVD - Black and White SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 10 mins Studio: Alpha Video Members Wishing: 0 Genres: Mystery, Whodunit

Wallace Ford and Barbara Pepper have a field day playing Poverty Row versions of William Powell and Myrna Loy in this amusingly silly whodunit. Honeymooners Jimmy and Marjorie Flavin find that their Red Rock Tavern hostelry is not only home to a jewel smuggling gang but the site of a double murder. Since both the victims were seemingly bitten to death, the most obvious suspect is Silver Wolf, the part-wolf police dog owner by wheelchair-bound hotel proprietor Jamison (John Elliott) and his wife (Clara Kimball Young). But nothing is quite as it appears at first and the Flavins are quickly enmeshed in a conundrum worthy of -- well, Nick and Nora Charles. Produced by Mercury Pictures for release by Sam Katzman's Puritan Pictures Corp., Rogue's Tavern was filmed on standing sets at the former RKO Pathé studios. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Wallace Ford - Jimmy Flavin
Barbara Pepper - Marjorie Burns
Joan Woodbury - Gloria
Clara Kimball Young - Mrs. Jamison
Jack Mulhall - Bill

Robert F. Hill's The Rogues Tavern (1936) is one of the choicer old-style thriller titles in the Alpha Video line, mixing elements of mystery and romantic comedy, the latter mostly involving detectives Wallace Ford and Barbara Pepper (doing what is essentially an early version of a Lucille Ball turn). The 1936 movie looks amazingly good, despite some digital anomalies in the transfer (which become clear in the swish-pan shots). There's excellent contrast and lots of detail in the image, and the sound is mastered at a loud, clear level. There are a few missing frames and occasional white vertical scratches, but this is still a release of which the public domain company can be reasonably proud. The usual six chapters in an Alpha Video release are present, accessible through a simple menu. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide