When a music-hall dancer is murdered, a moss rose marks the page of a Bible next to her body. Luckily, another chorus girl saw a gentleman leaving the lodgings. She approaches him directly, saying she'll go to the police if he doesn't meet her demands, but he brushes her off contemptuously. When he learns she's dead serious, he tries to buy her off with a thick wad of pound notes. But it's not money she's after; all she wants is two weeks at his country estate, living the life of a lady.
As I lay me down to sleep...
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 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
When her best friend is murdered, "Rose" (Peggy Cummins) reckons she knows who did the killing. Her approach to "Michael" (Victor Mature) gets rebuffed and indeed the police investigation led by "Insp. Clinner" (Vincent Price) seems to further exonerate him, but she persists and finally touches enough nerves to get an invitation to the man's stately home where his mother "Lady Margaret" (Ethel Barrymore) keeps a fine collection of Devonshire flowers. What's that to do with anything? Well by her body there was a bible in which was pressed this very specific type of rose. Just because they have fled the city doesn't stop the body count amounting, and the question for "Rose" is - can she stay alive long enough to discover just who is behind these crimes - and why? Gregory Ratoff manages to get just an hint of charisma from the usually wooden Mature and to merge a little romance into the thrust of this quite intriguing mystery that stays worth following pretty much right until the denouement with a solid effort from Barrymore, too. It's an entertaining eighty minutes of well made and written cinema mystery that I quite enjoyed.
