Moss Rose (1947) User Reviews (34)

Victorian old-dark-house thriller features a Cockney Peggy Cummins

[bmacv · 7/10 · 12 July 2003]

It's that smudge of fog called London under the reign of Victoria. When a music-hall dancer is murdered, a moss rose marks the page of a Bible next to her body. Luckily, another chorus girl (Peggy Cummins) saw a gentleman (Victor Mature) 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.'

And here Moss Rose, which has taken its time working up a head of steam, branches off onto a new siding. The estate contains not only Mature, his fiancée (Patricia Medina) and his formidable old dowager mother (Ethel Barrymore), but also a greenhouse where out-of-season moss roses bloom.

Apart from a few Eliza-Doolittle faux pas, the classes do not clash. Barrymore, in fact, extends Cummins a matey welcome; even Medina tries to put aside her understandable jealousy. The only apple of discord falls when Cummins strays innocently into Mature's boyhood rooms, which Barrymore preserves as a secret shrine.

Cummins finds the pastoral scene (`You'd expect to see a calendar pasted under it!' she exclaims) lives up to all her expectations. Thrown together, Mature has thawed markedly towards Cummins, and she towards him. But their idyll comes under siege with the arrival from London of bumbling Scotland Yard detective and amateur horticulturist Vincent Price, still investigating that pesky homicide. Soon there's another murder, another Bible, and another moss rose....

An old-dark-house costume drama akin to My Name Is Julia Ross or The Spiral Staircase, Moss Rose finds its strength in its actors rather than its direction (by Gregory Ratoff). While Mature stays four-square and Price unctuously fey, Barrymore predictably grande-dames it to the hilt. Cummins is lovely and quite good as a Cockney diamond-in-the-rough, but leaves nothing like the impression she would two years later as Annie Laurie Starr in Gun Crazy. An air of the contrived lingers after Moss Rose, more faded than pungent, but it's cozy and reassuring, too.

As I lay me down to sleep...

[hitchcockthelegend · 7/10 · 21 October 2013]

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

Engrossing if slow-paced Victorian mystery, with some surprises in store

[gridoon2024 · 6/10 · 18 February 2018]

A distinguished cast (including a pre-horror stardom Vincent Price as a police inspector!), a clever "voice recognition test" sequence, and some plot surprises make "Moss Rose" worth your while, although it's quite slow-moving and somewhat derivative. The mystery resolution has some daring psychological implications. **1/2 out of 4.

Well played Victorian murder mystery

[ottoflop · 20 April 2002]

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.

Victorian murder mystery

[blanche-2 · 6/10 · 23 March 2021]

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!"

Peggy Cummins in a dark, gone with the wind, foggy London.

[davidtraversa-1 · 7/10 · 31 July 2011]

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.

Very good historical mystery, with a touch of romantic drama

[ldeangelis-75708 · 7/10 · 3 June 2022]

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.

Righty-Oh Guv-na

[TondaCoolwal · 7/10 · 27 October 2021]

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.

Moss Rose and Joseph Shearing

[PrairieCal · 10/10 · 31 December 2016]

Various internet sources state that the film "Moss Rose" was based on the Joseph Shearing novel, "The Crime of Laura Sarelle." This is simply not true as any reading of that novel will clearly show. The 1947 film "Moss Rose" was based on the 1934 Joseph Shearing Novel, "Moss Rose." And although the film plot varies greatly from the novel, the basic story is quite similar and many of the same character names were used in the film. The novel was based on the 1872 murder of a London prostitute, well before Jack the Ripper appeared on the scene.

Incidentally, Joseph Shearing was one of many pen names used by Marjorie Bowen (another pen name) who was born Gabrielle Margaret Vere Campbell and later married Arthur L. Long. She wrote many thrillers, romances, and novels of the supernatural, all under various pen names.

In any event, the film "Moss Rose" exudes Victorian/Edwardian atmosphere and suspense and is well worth watching. Truly, they don't make them like this any more.

Well cast

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 4 November 2021]

A mystery thriller of the 1940s, typical in look and feel, and heavily indebted to many others like GASLIGHT and REBECCA. This one features Peggy Cummins - sporting a horrendous Cockney accent - as a woman who suspects a local aristocraft, played by Victor Mature, of murder. Instead of going to the police she ends up blackmailing and marrying him instead, and the rest goes from there. A good cast in this one, with Ethel Barrymore playing up her family's reputation and Vincent Price well cast as a suave detective on the case.

Not much of a Noir

[billartini · 2/10 · 28 April 2022]

My Dad and I are big fans of film noir. Neither of us had seen Moss Rose before, but we're both Victor Mature fans. This film was disappointing. It was clearly a vehicle for Peggy Cummins because Victor Mature was barely in it. Maybe he owed the studio a picture. The story went from unlikely, dragged on, then finally got going. Vincent Price was wasted in this, too. This just didn't work for me.

Where are all you Ethel Barrymore fans?

[JohnHowardReid · 10/10 · 10 December 2017]

Peggy Cummins (Belle Adair), Victor Mature (Sir Alexander Sterling), Ethel Barrymore (Lady Sterling), Margo Woode (Daisy Arrow), Vincent Price (Inspector Clinner), Patricia Medina (Audrey Ashton), George Zucco (Craxton), Rhys Williams (Evans), Carol Savage (Harriet), Victor Wood (Wilson), Felippa Rock (Liza), Patrick O'Moore (Gilby).

Director: GREGORY RATOFF. Screenplay: Jules Furthman, Tom Reed. Adapted by Niven Busch from the 1935 novel by Joseph Shearing. Film editor: James B. Clark. Photography: Joseph MacDonald. Music: David Buttolph. Costumes: René Hubert. Producer: Gene Markey.

Copyright 8 June 1947 by 20th Century-Fox. New York opening at the Roxy: 2 July 1947. U.K. release: 22 September. 7,374 feet. 82 minutes.

COMMENT: One of my favorite mystery thrillers of the 1940s, this is an incredibly lavish production from Fox's "A" unit, brilliantly handled by up-and-down director, Gregory Ratoff. In a gripping plot, raised against a fascinating Victorian background, and laced with deft dialogue, a group of compelling characters are enacted by Price, Barrymore and yes, Victor Mature, giving the all-time best performances of their lives.

Some background on the writer "Joseph Shearing" and the real murder it's based on

[TimesSquareAngel · 6/10 · 14 March 2022]

Joseph Shearing who is credited here as the author of the source novel "The Crime of Laura Sauelle" was actually a British woman born Gabrielle Margaret Vere Long, née Campbell who also wrote under the names Marjorie Bowen and George Praedy among many other pseudonyms.

Also the source novel is not "The Crime of Laura Sarelle" (1941) but "Moss Rose" (1935). Evidently the script was worked on by five different screenwriters including an uncredited contributions from James M. Cain. Darryl F. Zanuck fooled around with the screenplay and the editing post-production and much of the uneven tone and bewildering inconsistencies of characterization stem from the need to tone down the unsympathetic qualities of the heroine and censor the sordid background of the story.

One of Shearing/Bowen/Long's specialties was adapting true crime stories from the Victoiran era into thriller novels. One of these novels was "So Evil, My Love" which was released in 1948 and was based on the 1876 murder of Charles Bravo.

Shearing/Bowen te al. Publshed "Moss Rose" in 1935 and it was based on the murder of genteel prostitute Clara Bruton born Harriet Buswell who was murdered in her lodging house in No. 12 Great Coram Street near Russell Square early on Christmas morning 1872. Buswell was an educated woman from the lower classes who had some education and haunted the Alhambra looking for custumers. On Christmas Eve she picked up a customer who was observed by several witnesses to have a German accent and is described as a "gentleman" by Buswell. She was found the next morning in her bed with her throat slashed from ear to ear and an open bible beside her. One of the suspects who was identified by witnesses was a married German minister who was later exonerated when an alibi was provided. The case was never solved.

Shearing/Bowen adapted the unsolved murder into a novel where Belle Adair, a neighbor of the Harriet muder victim (now called Daisy Arrow) witnesses a German accented man leaving the victim's bedroom and decides to blackmail him. However, whereas Belle Adair/Rose Lynton in the 1947 movie is a cockney dancer who is not a prostitute but is capable of taking advantage of stage door Johnnies to get by while evading taking them home to her lodging house. In the novel, Belle Adair came from a middle class fairly genteel circumstances but fell into disrepute. A sometime dancer in pantos she has descended into indoor prostitution. No longer young, Adair is considering suicide on Christmas Eve but her neighbor Daisy confiscates her knife - the knife that is later used to kill her.

Whereas the Belle/Rose of the film is a lower class girl who dreams of being a lady, the novel's heroine is older and broken down by life and her own bad choices. She has been a lady or ladylike and can pass as genteel in society. Her need to escape her current life and remake herself is more desperately urgent and she is basically spiraling down the gutter. Hence when she finds the German minister who she suspects of being Daisy's killer she blackmails him and convinces him to take her to Germany to be the companion of his ailing mother.

Why did the film make the changes to Belle and the suspect? They couldn't have a prostitue be the heroine of the story due to the Hays Code so she was only a chorus girl. The character increasingly becomes less amoral and more helpless which is inconsistent with her behavior earlier in the film. She goes from scheming doxy to wide-eyed ingenue/victim.

Changing the German minister to a half-English country gentleman who was raised in Canada becomes necessary for several reasons - the Hays Code wouldn't approve a story of a minister consorting with and murdering prostitutes like Jack the Ripper. Also, in 1947 we had just come off of World War II and Germans were associated with Nazis and evil. Making our hero German (maybe played by Helmut Dantine or Francis Lederer?) would point to his villainy - so his nationality and religious vocation had to be changed. Victor Mature also couldn't do accents well, so the Canadian upbringing solves that problem.

Add in the too many cooks working on the screenplay and Zanuck's meddling and you have a recipe for disaster. As it is, the solid atmospheric direction by Gregory Ratoff, Peggy Cummins' charm and a fascinating supporting cast make for a diverting if obvious murder mystery that doesn't hold together well when analyzed after the fact but is very watchable as it unreels.

Idiotic

[boblipton · 3/10 · 22 July 2023]

Peggy Cummins is a stage performer with a cockney accent and a vocabulary to match. She spots Victor Mature coming out of her friend's rooms late one evening, and the next morning, she is found dead with a bible with a moss rose pressed in it. She meets with Victor Mature to threaten him with exposure. At first, he is contemptuous, but when police inspector Vincent Price has him in to discuss the case, and Miss Cummins is supposedly to identify him by his voice, he accedes to her demands. She won't take five hundred pounds, but will take two weeks at his country estate, where she meets his mother, Ethel Barrymore, and his fiancee, Patricia Medinia.

Quite obviously an A picture -- other performers include George Zucco and Rhys Williams -- it's claimed that 20th Century-Fox lost more than a million dollars on this. I can understand why. Its pace is glacial, and this hash of shopgirl fiction makes no sense; if Miss Cummins thought Mature murdered young women, her actions make very little sense. I suppose that's why I don't write for the movies, like the screenwriters of this, the usually excellent Niven Bush and Jules Furthman did.

Period mystery thriller...

[AlsExGal · 7/10 · 14 January 2023]

... 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.

Reasonable US rendition of Victorian London crime

[Marlburian · 6/10 · 28 April 2023]

All the cast did a reasonable job in portraying characters of the late Victorian period in England. However, the poster shown here on IMDB is very American, giving the impression of Victor Mature's character being an American gangster.

Mature was always self-deprecating about his acting abilities, but he does well enough here in a "gentleman" role that contrasts favourably with his tough-guy and "muscular" performances. But in the light of the denouement possibly he's too burly and virile, and an effete actor might have been more appropriate.

For its time (1947), the film does make several "racy" allusions, with men picking up dancers as they leave the theatre - one is thwarted when he tries to accompany the girls upstairs into her lodgings. And Michael's fiancee points out to Belle/Rose that, rather than spending so much money on clothes for her, he could have purchased her affections for two shillings (about £42 in 2023 - quite a low price (not that I know much about such transactions), with the implication that Bella/Rose came cheap.

Good Gothic Thriller

[jromanbaker · 7/10 · 27 April 2023]

Gregory Ratoff was a good actor and also a very capable director. His version of ' Oscar Wilde ' competing with ' The Trials of Oscar Wilde ' in 1960 was in my opinion the better film, despite the fact that it clearly had a lower budget. As an actor he was superb in ' All About Eve ' and he was not afraid of competing with Bette Davis in various excellent scenes. ' Moss Rose ' is a Gothic thriller set in a murky 19thc London, followed by a sort of castle manor in the countryside. Peggy Cummins struggles with a ' common voice ' but she acts well, and Victor Mature is a man suspected of killing and Cummins becomes an amateur detective. But it is Ethel Barrymore who gives the chills, and she walks with regal excellence through the film. Enjoyable, improbable in plot, but I wanted to believe it all as I watched it. The 1940's was an excellent decade for these dark, and mild Gothic films. Some may confuse them with Film Noir, but they were higher pitched and closer to the horror genre of the period.

Starless and bible black

[ulicknormanowen · 20 February 2024]

A good Gothic murder mystery ,in Victorian times , now in foggy London town ,now in the stately but maleficent mansion in the country where the mother kept her beloved son's room as it was when he was a child.

The overpossessive mom gives Ratoff's movie a Hitchcockian touch ,recalling "Marnie" " the birds" "notorious " to name but three ;besides blonde (and extremely photogenic ) Peggy Cummins is the perfect heroine a la Hitchcock ;do not miss her best part "gun crazy" in which she is absolutely sensational .The ladies blow Mature off the screen -he 's not really the romantic young man- , it's all the more obvious since Ethel Barrymore is terrifying , while remaining smooth and friendly : really an impressive performance in the last sequences .

Ratoff's following work "black magic" ,involves Cagliostro (extraordinary Orson Welles) ,Marie-Antoinette and Dr Mesmer in the neckless affair and is worth watching too.

It compares favorably with "my name is Julia Ross" "gaslight" or "footsteps in the dark" !

Box office casting

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 30 March 2013]

For his second film following service in the Coast Guard during World War II, Victor Mature takes the male lead role in a Victorian Gothic murder mystery Moss Rose. In this English setting Americans Victor Mature, Vincent Price and Ethel Barrymore are cast. Only Mature fell back on that old standby to make Americans players Canadian to explain the lack of British accent.

Mature's part calls on him to be properly menacing and romantic to social climbing Peggy Cummins who suspects he murdered her friend to get out of an embarrassing entanglement as he is set to wed the socially prominent Patricia Medina. But Cummins is also intrigued by his upper class living and she a chorus girl in a music hall show as was her late friend decided to impose herself on Mature and mother Ethel Barrymore on their country estate where the Moss Rose seems to flourish with the tender loving care of Barrymore and the estate gardener.

Vincent Price and Rhys Williams are the Scotland Yard detectives on the homicide case and they have another before the film is over and almost a third. Mature was the box office for this film and it was why he was cast in the male lead, but truly Price would have been a lot better in the role.

Moss Rose does maintain a nice brooding atmosphere throughout and the best performance in the film is that of Ethel Barrymore. But I can't say more.

Peggy Cummins Gives Fetching Performance

[PamelaShort · 10/10 · 7 July 2014]

Moss Rose is a good example of sometimes less is best. Without a complicated and tedious storyline, this neatly plotted 1947 mystery thriller moves at a fine pace, holding ones interest until the end. Thanks to Peggy Cummins who excels in her resplendent performance of the Cockney chorus girl who cleverly blackmails her way into an upscale English manor. Victor Mature is suave as the blackmailed , suspected murderer along with the airy Ethel Barrymore playing his doting mother and the grand matriarch of the manor. Vincent Price's role is small but he is quite capable as the polite but persistent Scotland Yard detective who has a predilection for moss roses. This intriguing Twentieth Century Fox drama is set in the Victorian era and the costumes and sets are well done along with the foggy London and English country scenes do well to enhance the atmosphere. I don't want to write a synopsis of this film and give away the surprise ending to the reader, but will say , Moss Rose still holds up well with any thriller film from it's era. If you are a fan of this genre , try to catch a look at this one. You will be pleasantly captivated by the fetching Peggy Cummins.

Cool it Ethel, you gave the game away!

[Claresteers · 6/10 · 3 January 2022]

Atmospheric Edwardian melodrama, made enjoyable by Dickensian style London fog, over the top characters and twists and turns, If only Ethel Barrymore had played it cooler, the denouement could have been a real shock. As it was, quite early on her manner screamed 'I'm the villain of the piece!" Initially I thought Cummins was Australian and her voice frankly made ones ears bleed, lovable though she was even when being underhand,

Read the novel, skip the flick

[jery-tillotson-1 · 2/10 · 25 June 2022]

In 1934, "Moss Rose" was published under the pen name of 'Joseph Shearing' but whose real monicker was Gabrielle Margaret Long who also used numerous other psuedonymns in a celebrated career in which she penned nearly 160 novels and story collections.

As Joseph Shearing, the author wrote several brilliant masterpieces of evil and murder based upon actual historical murder mysteries. For "Moss Rose," a famous 19th unsolved murder case of a London prostitute was used for an extraordinary thriller that dazzles the reader with its rich atmosphere, plotting and characterization.

In 1947, a movie version was made, starring Peggy Cummins as the cold-blooded dancer, Belle Adair who discovers the corpse of a murdered neighbor and glimpses the killer before he leaves the sleazy rooming house where Belle lives. She also finds a German Bible From there, Belle plots a future where she will blackmail the suspect, a German pastor, and escape her life of misery and poverty. What she doesn't plan for is a shocking ending.

If you're a great admirer of this extraordinary novel, then the movie version will come as a shock because of its transformation from its original brooding, haunting quality The studio produced atmosphere of nineteenth century London is okay but the totally unnecessary addition of several main characters and the complete change of the shocking ending doesn't do us readers any favors.

If you can get a hold of this hard-to-find classic, then read it first, as I have many, many times, and then sit back and compare it to the movie. You might enjoy both, but to me this novel demands a remake where the creators follow the novel and thus showing us modern Joseph Shearing addicts what could be done with a literary masterpiece.

Mother love from a different angle.

[mark.waltz · 8/10 · 14 June 2020]

This is an intense version of Joseph Shearing's novel that deals with the murder of a working-class girl and neighbor Peggy Cummins suspicion that well-to-do Victor Mature is a guilty party. She basically blackmails him and gets a fine wardrobe and eventually an invitation to stay with him at his mother Ethel Barrymore is home. He is engaged to the sophisticated Patricia Medina who quickly becomes jealous of her and wants to push up the marriage. More murders occur (disguised as suicides or accidental deaths), and eventually the shocking truth is revealed, leading to the Revelation that just because someone lives in high society doesn't mean that they are of high sanity.

Cummins is very good as the heroine, perhaps a bit amoral on the surface but well intended and determined to improve not only her situation but her manners and way of speaking as well. Barrymore steals the scenery as the outwardly gracious matriarch, but in a scene where she discovers Cummins in a private room, all is spilt as she basically turns into Mrs. Danvers has she goes through her sons childhood belongings, and revealing the family history to the naive poor girl.

Excellent set design and dramatic music makes this a very detailed Gothic tale of murder, mother-love and the revelation of how easy it is to go over the edge when one is obsessed with something. Vincent Price and Rhys Williams appear in smaller roles as the police inspectors involved in the case, and George Zucco, another veteran film villain, is wasted as Barrymore's butler. However, the good outweighs the bad, and this is mesmerizing from start to finish. The ending left me with chills.

Flowers not in season

[AAdaSC · 7/10 · 29 October 2017]

Cockney Music Hall dancer Peggy Cummins (Rose) is travelling on a train and reminisces about her life and, in particular, the recent occurrences which cue the film into a flashback sequence. We start with her friend and co-dancer Margo Woode (Daisy) and Woode's relationship with upper class Victor Mature (Drego). Cummins wants to be a lady and live the lifestyle afforded to those in high society. We follow her dream as detective Vincent Price investigates murder. And where are these moss roses and bibles appearing from?

This is a thriller that successfully keeps you guessing as to who the murderer is. The only nuisance with the film is Cummins and her cockney accent. First of all, it's rubbish. Secondly, she keeps slipping in and out of it throughout the film – what is she doing? I always find that Ethel Barrymore creeps me out and she does the same in this film as she plays the role of Mature's mother. Her face is weird. The rest of the cast are all fine and the settings and locations provide a rewarding atmosphere. The ending is pretty standard stuff, especially if you have seen numerous films of this sort. However, it is still an entertaining journey through foggy London and a wealthy estate.

I guess the moral of the story has something to do with there being nothing wrong with aspirations to be somewhere else in life, but you may have to resort to underhand tactics and there could be a bit of murder to get through before you can realize the dream. Maybe just stick to Shoreditch – I believe it's pretty trendy these days.

Hilarious English accents

[Janet1612 · 1/10 · 10 June 2022]

I love old B&W films and this started really well, plus a Murder mystery. As a bonus Victor Mature and Vince Price.

Oh my goodness the attempts at cockney and English accents is absolutely hilarious. Thses actors have never heard a cockney accent in their lives.

Peggy Cummings is so bad bad as the lead. She flutters here eyelashes, moves her eyes many times, and tawks lark that. I've never seen her in anything else and going by this performance I'm not surprised. Although Irish you'd think she'd know an east London accent

Barrymore looks odd, is a dreadful actress here, overacting the facial expressions and eye movement. Creepy and very funny.

I'm sure there's a good plot here but the terrible accents and OTT acting is a very funny distraction. Even Price speaks like Stephen Hawkin's voice box.

Mature is great as usual and the actress playing his finance (Audrey) was the best thing in the film.