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All Jimmy (Wallace Ford) and Marjorie (Barbara Pepper) want to do was
getting married as quickly as possible ... but they want to get married so
quickly that the guy at the registration office has to send them over the
state border, where they are supposed to meet a justice of peace who can
marry them on the spot in a shady motel, the Red Rock Tavern, which
- considering the location n the middle of nowhere and the time of the
year - is virtually crowded with guests ... but before you know it, three
of the guests (John Cowell, Ivo Henderson, Ed Cassidy) are being killed,
apparently by the motel's guard dog. Only Jimmy, a department store
detective, has his doubts, and before you know it he is investigating in a
murder case.
Soon enough, Jimmy has found out that the three remaining guests (Joan
Woodbury, Jack Mulhall, Arthur Loft) were in league with the three dead
men in a jewel smuggling racket, and they seem to have wronged the hotel's
former owner and designer, the inventor Morgan (Earl Dwire), who might
have a grudge against them ... which only seems to be confirmed by the
fact that the hotel suddenly turns into a deathtrap locking everybody in.
Then though, Marjorie finds conclusive proof that Jamison (John Elliott),
the wheelchair-bound owner of the hotel, is indeed the killer, and faced
with the proof she has collected, Jamison even admits to it - much to the
relief of everybody but Jimmy, who just doesn't believe the sotry due to
lack of a proper motive ... and indeed, soon everybody is threatened by
the voice of the killer - not Jamison - again, and when Jimmy and company
investigate, they even bump into Morgan, who has come to take his revenge,
but assures them he hasn't killed the three dead men.
Ultimately, Jamison's wallflower wife (Clara Kimball Young) reveals
herself to be the killer and threatens to blow everyone up in the cellar
she has locked them into ... but it's too late, Jimmy has already smelled
the beef and found a way out of the cellar to overcome Mrs Jamison just in
time. And while the police arrests her for murder, and all her guests for
jewel-smuggling, a justice of peace, who has come with the cops, finally
marries Jimmy and Marjorie on the spot.
Despite the occasional plothole, leap of reason and far-fetched
plottwist, this is a surprisingly entertaining murder mystery of the old
dark house variety - and one in which the old dark house actually
plays a bigger role than just giving the film its proper atmosphere. What
makes the film so entertaining is its fast-paced script, that leaves one
barely enough time to think about the plot, a very vivid direction, a good
supporting cast, and great performances of Wallace Ford and Barbara Pepper
as the leading couple.
Recommended.
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