Moss Rose

Gregory Ratoff’s Moss Rose stars Peggy Cummins as Belle Adair, a chorus girl who witnesses wealthy English gentleman Michael Drego (Victor Mature) exiting the apartment of fellow dancer Daisy Arrow moments after, it’s later revealed, the girl has been murdered. Belle sees this as her moment finally to become a proper lady, so she negotiates with Drego: she’ll remain silent if he takes her home to live with him, his fiancée, and his mother Lady Margaret (Ethel Barrymore). Things become even stickier when Police Inspector R. Clinner (Vincent Price) comes calling, after which another murder occurs. Often unfairly criticized for its casting (of Cummins, but also of Mature), the film features an effective Gothic ambience suitable for its Victorian setting, a score that adds brassy intensity at just the right moments, and often gorgeous cinematography, perhaps most notably during Belle and Michael’s initial meeting on Waterloo Bridge. Cummins works hard and brings tremendous enthusiasm to the role, but Barrymore, as is so often the case, dominates every scene in which she appears: her character’s transformation — first subtle, then explosive — as more information is exposed is extraordinary.