Moss Rose (1947)

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

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.

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.

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.

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.