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.

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.

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.

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.