Rob Roy: The Highland Rogue

Although not based on Sir Walter Scott's novel of the same name, I found "Rob Roy" a most entertaining effort. Splendidly acted throughout, particularly by James Robertson Justice (as the sympathetic Campbell), Michael Gough and Geoffrey Keen (two wonderful villains), and Eric Pohlmann (a truly charismatic performance – one of his best – as King George), "Rob Roy" emerges as a rousing adventure yarn with plenty of swashbuckling excitement, hair's breadth escapes, and even a bit of humor and romance. French has directed in rousing style. He has an eye for both the pictorial and dramatic possibilities of real locations. Supporting technical credits are absolutely first-class, featuring fine scenic photography and a handsomely atmospheric music score.

The third and last of his British made films with Richard Todd is Rob Roy: The Highland Rogue. As per a Disney family audience it's a lot more upbeat than the Nineties version of this same tale that starred Liam Neeson.

It's after the 1715 uprising and James Robertson Justice as the Duke of Argyll wants to bring peace to Scotland as he's figured out the Stuarts ain't coming back. But his aide Lord Montrose has a wholly different agenda going and it involves a special if unspecified grudge he has against the MacGregor Clan as headed by Richard Todd.

Anyway in many attempts they just can't seem to capture Todd or intimidate the MacGregors. The Earl of Montrose is played by Michael Gough and his bloodthirsty aide is played with special relish by Geoffrey Keen.

Rob Roy is not quite up to the excellence of Robin Hood and The Sword and the Rose, but Richard Todd is earnest and athletic and every inch a Scottish hero. There was definitely a special eye for the customs and mores of Eighteenth Century Scotland in the making of Rob Roy. And it holds up well after over half a century.

This film is a mixed bag. It has some excellent aspects, but it does tend to drag a bit, and it is a muddle of accents. It is set in the highlands of Scotland during a very complicated time, and does not do a very good job of explaining this complicated political situation. While it probably looked vibrant when it was first put out, today it looks very muddy and boring, like they were filming at the end of February or the beginning of November. There are two parts which are quite funny, the first is when Rob is trying to ask for someone's hand in marriage and his future father-in-law is loudly playing with the reed of a bagpipe. The second is that the new German King of England George the first needed a translator and spoke in a very thick German accent, and spoke in German to highlanders who happened to understand German. It's often compared to the last film about Rob Roy they made, in the early 90s, while I have seen that film, I do not remember it very well, so I can't really compare the two. It seems to me an American imagining of the story of Scotland, and I think that most films about Scotland are American imaginings of Scottish history that they idealize. I think that's because America is a country of immigrants and while there is a civic identity of America, there isn't an ethnic American identity, so often the descendants of these immigrants tend to latch on to a sort of mythic past. It's the same thing in Canada, where I grew up, or at least during the time when I grew up. People would identify as Scottish or Highlanders, but never as the English, although everyone I grew up with was mostly a mixture of these ethnicities.

I quite like 'Rob Roy, the Highland Rogue', though the bland conclusion knocks it down a peg in my books.

There are a number of familiar faces from 1953's 'The Sword and the Rose', with Richard Todd again teaming up with James Robertson Justice, Glynis Johns and Michael Gough. I enjoyed these cast members in that latter film, so little surprise I rate them here too.

Todd leads as Rob Roy himself, to mostly positive feelings. He continues to work well with Glynis Johns (Helen), I would've actually appreciated extra scenes with those two together. I wanted more screen time for Justice (Argyll) too, though his absence does make sense to be fair. Credit to Jean Taylor Smith also, she's decent as Margaret.

The action sequences still look fairly solid, while the 82 minute run time helps keep things fresh - I never felt like it dragged its heels personally. I just didn't presume such a quick resolution, I expected a bigger finale.

One of Disney's better historical pictures with excitement and plenty of action to satisfy moviegoers of all ages. Richard Tod stars in the title role as the rogue clan leader and is primarily a British production, as it was filmed mainly in Scotland and the film contains mostly British actors. Our hero leads raids and uprisings against British troops and the main thrust of the film is his efforts to get amnesty for his MacGregor clan in return for a truce. The main nut is that the English might be so inclined, but not for Rob Roy himself. Lots of battle and chase scenes throughout the picture keep the action moving.

This film is much better than the write-up given it in Maltin's. For some reason the reviewer thought very little of it and gave the film a bad review. As is often the case, you must judge for yourself, because in my opinion it is one of the better family-oriented action films from the Disney studio.

7/10 - The website no longer prints my star ratings.