Moss Rose

It's amazing the degree of professionalism Hollywood reached in those early decades. The foggy London street scenes are superb, the mansion interiors impeccable, the costumes perfect, the women hairstyles... (are there hairdressers nowadays able to duplicate those Victorian hairstyles?). And of course the acting impeccable. Peggy Cummins off camera voice at the beginning, explaining the situation reveals a child speaking, such is her Betty Boopish voice.

Eventually she appears and throughout the whole film mesmerizes us with her blond Lolita looks and startling acting ability. Precisely with all that Hollywood professionalism it's difficult to understand why, a cockney like Cummins character, that speaks like a regular Eliza Doolittle, all of a sudden loses her typical speaking mode and starts, very naturally, to speak in a normal intercontinental English.

It took Eliza many months of extremely harsh study to get rid of her cockney intonation, but this character does it in a jiffy (without the help of a professor Higgins!!), and nobody questions that miraculous change! The movie is entertaining and very predictable; the end is rushed in, ruining everything previously done, but I imagine it was part of fitting the story within a certain length of time.

I saw "Gun Crazy" before, where I "discovered" Peggy Cummins and found her (in a totally different rol) quite a trouvaille! sort of a Veronica Lake (as petite as her) and unusual, like a Gloria Graham. Lovely with her round mouth, sting lipped childish appeal (and voice!). Nice, cozy movie to watch (we are so familiar with the formula!) when it's raining and dark outside.

Chirpy cabbies and fake fog abound in this Victorian murder mystery which ticks all of the boxes.

Daisy Arrow, a showgirl, is murdered in her room, but her friend Rose (Peggy Cummins) sees a well-dressed man leaving hurriedly. She discovers he is Michael Drego (Victor Mature), an aristocrat, and reports him to Inspector Clinner (Vincent Price). However, at the last moment she deliberately fails to identify him, choosing to use the situation to her own advantage which is - going to his country estate and experiencing the high life. Amazingly he agrees and takes her with him, explaining that she had helped him with a police matter. His mother Lady Margaret (Ethel Barrymore) takes to her, but fiancee Audrey (Patricia Medina) is suspicious of Rose's motives. Suddenly Inspector Clinner turns up. He is investigating the significance of a Bible and a Moss Rose which were found at Daisy's murder scene. The Drego's gardens are known for growing the flowers out of season and, the Bible is a new edition which could have been purchased at the local village book store. Rose tries to keep out of sight but is seen by Clinner who later sends for her. She is about to leave when Michael reveals he has fallen for her and wants to break off his engagement to Audrey. Rose is confused, but later when Audrey finds out she threatens to ruin Rose. Attempting leave again she finds Audrey, dead with a Bible and rose by her. This time Michael is arrested and the distraught Rose is looked after by Lady Margaret.......

The audience will probably have guessed the ending by this stage, but it has to be admitted that the film is entertaining. As others have mentioned, Vincent Price would probably have been better cast as Michael Drego. His distant,dreamy air would have suited the equivocal nature of the character better than Mature's brash approach. This is another of Hollywood's "British" films, but most of the cast manage a passable English accent, with the exception of Mature who goes for the spent-his-childhood-in-Canada cop out. Acting honours however go to the incomparable Ethel Barrymore who portrays Lady Margaret in every guise, from imperious matriarch to blubbering hysteric. The only fly in the ointment is Cummins. Her Cockney accent is the worst, most irritating I've ever heard, and that includes Dick Van Dyke in "Mairy Paw-puns!" For a Brit, Cummins sounds more like an American actress making a very poor attempt at the dialect. Fortunately she doesn't resort to "Strike a light!" or "Yer can't do that there 'ere!" That apart, if you can immerse yourself in the atmosphere, you will enjoy it.

... from 20th Century Fox and director Gregory Ratoff. In turn-of-the-century London, showgirl Belle (Peggy Cummins) is horrified when her best friend and roommate is found murdered. Belle forces herself inside the case, trying to track down the mystery man whom she saw her roommate with the night if her death. Belle finds the man, a wealthy Canadian named Michael (Victor Mature). Belle accompanies Michael back to his family estate in order to solve the mystery, but Michael's disapproving mother (Ethel Barrymore) resents the girl's presence.

Cummins takes some getting used to with her hyper personality and high-pitched cockney accent. Mature is a sleepy-eyed oaf, but his lack of character is necessary for the story's suspense, I suppose. I liked seeing Vincent Price as a quick-witted Scotland Yard inspector. Ethel Barrymore has the most fun, though, and the less said about her here the better. This needs to be shown on Turner Classic Movies (it apparently never has) and in a quality print.

Moss Rose is directed by Gregory Ratoff and adapted to screenplay by Niven Busch, Jules Furthman and Tom Reed from the novel The Crime of Laura Saurelle written by Joseph Shearing. It stars Peggy Cummins, Victor Mature, Ethel Barrymore, Vincent Price, Margo Woode, George Zucco, Patricia Medina and Rhys Williams. Music is by David Buttolph and cinematography by Joseph MacDonald.

Somebody is killing Michael Drego's (Mature) lovers and leaving behind a bible and a compressed dried moss rose. When her dancer friend is one of the victims, Belle Adair (Cummins) thinks she knows who the killer is and sets about blackmailing him for an unusual request...

British set Gothic noir pulsing with maternal pangs and whodunit shenanigans, Moss Rose has much to recommend to the like minded adult. Lets not beat around the bush, though, motivations of the principal players are decidedly weak and the police fare little better in the brain department.

However, once one settles into the atmosphere brought out by MacDonald's (Niagra/Pickup On South Street) beautiful photography - and got tuned into Cummins' brash London accent - then it can sustain interest. It's more successful as a mood piece when out on the London streets than it is at the Drego mansion, though the period design of costuming and sets is most appealing.

Mature often came in for some stick for his acting, but I have sometimes thought much of it was unfair. Here though he is not quite right for the role, it feels like what it is, a name on the poster to draw the punters in. But his performance still works on sombre terms, besides which, Cummins and the wonderful Barrymore pretty much dominate proceedings anyway.

Price fans should note that he isn't in it much, and even then it's late in the picture, but he's suitably stylish and you can't help thinking he probably should have had the Michael Drego role instead! Meanwhile Ratoff (Black Magic) directs without fuss and histrionic filler.

An enjoyable ride with visual treats along the way, with a finale to nudge you to the edge of your seat. 7/10

This is a movie adaptation of a Marjorie Reynolds book that I just recently discovered, and I'm glad I did. It's not very long, but there's enough packed into it to hold your interest. Peggy Cummins does an excellent job in the starring role of Belle Adair (a.k.a. Rose Lynton), a chorus girl in late 19thc London, who becomes amateur sleuth, as she investigates her friend Daisy's murder. The movie co-stars Victor Mature as Michael Drego, whom Belle suspects is the killer. There's also Ethel Barrymore, who plays Michael's mother, Lady Margaret Drego, and Vincent Price, as Police Inspector Climmer.

Wanting to better herself socially, Belle bargains with Michael (whom she gradually decides is innocent): she'll keep quiet about some incriminating evidence, if he'll take her to his family estate, where she can learn to be a lady. Her presence there intrigues his mother and displeases his fiancee, Audrey (Patricia Medina), but for Belle it's like a dream come true, as she enjoys being in such lovely surroundings, wearing nice clothes, learning to ride and just feeling special. (Not to mention, falling in love with Michael and having those feelings returned.) However, trouble looms ahead, as well as another murder.

I won't give the mystery away, but I will say that there's a hint in the story as to whodunit that I should have picked up on.

Anyway, check it out, it's worth it.