Moss Rose

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.

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.

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.

... 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.

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.