La rose du crime

Gabrille Margaret Long, writing under the names of Majorie Bowen and Joseph Shearing wrote many fascinating novels based upon actual murder cases using her own interpretations as to what actually happened and who was really guilty. This novel and film "Moss Rose" is based upon an 1873 murder of a prostitute named Buswell, which was never solved. Other Shearing novels turned into films around this time are "Blanche Fury" and "Mark of Cain ("Airing in a Closed Carriage" based upon the Maybrick case).

Shearings novels are very hard to adapt and the film "Moss Rose" differs very much from the novel. So much so, that outgside of the basic idea it is almost a complete revision of the novel. Nevertheless, this film is very well produced with the sets and costumes capturing the late Victorian ambiance and a outstanding performance from England's Peggy Cummins. She captures the spunky cockney persona of "Belle Adair", while showing the vulnerability of a young woman alone in the world and making her way during an era of very closely defined social classes. Even when she is blackmailing a aristocratic family, she is still likable.

All in all, very well done and well worth watching.

From 1947, "Moss Rose" stars Peggy Cummins, Victor Mature, and Ethyl Barrymore.

Cummings plays Belle Adair, a dance-hall girl who sees a strange man (Mature) leave the room of one of her friends. The woman has been murdered, a moss rose sitting in an open Bible next to her. Belle sets out to find the man, one Michael Drego.

Once she does, she blackmails him. He refuses to give in, so she nearly identifies him when asked by the police chief (Vincent Price) which man she saw. Drego is able to signal her that she wins.

Belle is a little like Eliza in Pygmalion - turns out it's not money this petite Cockney wants. She wants to be a lady, and asks Drego to take her to his country home for a visit. Not sure how he will explain her presence - since he has a fiancee - Drego gives in, says she helped him with something, and is stopping by for a few days.

Michael's mother (Ethel Barrymore) is obsessive about her son, from whom she was separated while he lived with his father in Canada, but she likes Belle. Michael's fiancee feels a bit threatened by her. While Belle is at the house, there is another murder, with another moss rose in an open Bible.

Pretty good, with a vivacious performance by Peggy Cummins. You never for one minute think of her as an evil blackmailer. Mature for me wasn't aristocratic and smooth enough for the character of Michael. He gave a low-key performance, so he was aware his persona had to change from his street-wise roles. However, you can take a man off the street, but you can't take the street out of a man. Ethel Barrymore gives a strong performance.

Nice Victorian atmosphere and lovely costumes. And yes, Peggy Cummins is the same actress from "Gun Crazy!"

... 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.