One of my all time favorites.

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

There is a connection to the odd name of the film which isn't apparent until the conclusion of the murder investigation. Although this is a crime thriller about an adulterous man's murder of his wife, the term 'Rogue's Yarn' is a nautical one, describing the yarn used only in naval rope and indicated from their colour the ropeyard in which they were made. They were introduced to stop thieving by making the rope easily recognizable. In the days of sailing, naval rope was considered far superior to any other, and there was a great temptation to smuggle it out of the dockyards and sell it to owners or captains of merchant vessels.The connection becomes obvious near the end of the film.Only one other oddity. John Marsden intended to murder Inspector Walker by filling up the below deck cabin with butane gas so that it would explode when he struck a match to light his pipe. It would become instantly obvious to anyone entering the cabin that the smell alone would be sufficient warning that something was amiss. Anyone who has used butane in caravans would recognise the smell, so why didn't the Inspector?

ROGUE'S YARN is an intriguing little murder mystery, shot in Brighton by director Vernon Sewell and featuring his famous yacht that had previously appeared in the likes of GHOST SHIP alongside many other productions. As some other reviewers on here have noted, the structure of the film and the content make it feel very much like a COLUMBO episode, with the murderer introduced to the viewer at the outset.The dashing Derek Bond plays an adulterous husband who plots to bump off his invalid wife with the help of his mistress. All goes according to plan, until a dogged detective shows up and threatens exposure. What follows is a fun police procedural movie, with a lot of screen time spent on the unravelling of a perfect alibi.The unknown Elwyn Brook-Jones stars as the detective, with the familiar Hugh Latimer in comic relief support as his sergeant. I wasn't familiar with Brook-Jones before this film, but the Roy Kinnear lookalike does a good job at bringing his working class character to life. He makes Walker both a realistic and likable presence. Although ROGUE'S YARN is undoubtedly a B-movie in terms of budget and narrative, Sewell is one of those directors with the capability to make any film look good and there's a great suspense sequence involving a leaking gas tap.

John Marsden (Derek Bond) is persuaded by his glamorous mistress, Michele (Nicole Maurey), to murder his invalid wife for her money. He devises what seems to be the perfect murder plot by having himself appear to be in charge of his yacht when the deed is done. This he achieves by fitting an autopilot to his vessel and, as soon as he has cleared Shoreham harbour, he dives off the yacht and swims ashore where his mistress has a car waiting. He commits the murder, stealing some jewelery to make it look like a burglary and then takes a boat from Southampton to the French coast where he has a speed boat waiting. He rejoins the yacht, sinks the speed boat and arrives in La Havre as if nothing had happened. However, Inspector Walker (Elwyn Brook-Jones) has his doubts and sets out to prove Marsden did it.Very watchable as a time capsule of an era of British filmmaking that has long since died. This b-pic will seem like a prototype Columbo to viewers (That was what I thought and I was delighted when another reviewer here said exactly the same) with Brook-Jones's detective - complete with a shabby overcoat - getting his man by irritating him. There is a great little scene on board the yacht where Derek Bond has filled the saloon with butane gas in order to try and kill the inspector - hoping he'll light his pipe thus causing an explosion. However, every match he attempts to strike is dead - good suspense here.Its directed by Vernon Sewell who directed many second features throughout the fifties and sixties - some well above average and won critical plaudits that these sort of films rarely got. Check out Strongroom and two others that I have yet to see though my film guides love them, The Man In The Back Seat and House Of Mystery. Sewell was also a keen yachtsman and his own steam vessel, The Gelert, appeared in several of his movies as a very useful prop; although the producers reportedly got tired of it and told him: "Vernon, your yacht, no more."

Vernon Sewell,the director owned a boat and liked to have it featured in a number of his films. In this film it provides the setting for much of the action.Sewell makes a decent attempt to try and convince us that there was a reasonable chance that the police would not be able to get enough evidence to charge him with murder. There is though one unintentionally funny scene where Bond has opened up a gas pipe in an attempt to blow up the detective.The detective keeps on trying to light his pipe with matches and a lighter but nothing works. This is rather an entertaining thriller. Obviously Sewell must have enjoyed himself particularly with all the nautical terms included in the script.