MOSS ROSE

Peggy Cummins

MOSS ROSE (1947). Director: Gregory Ratoff.

Belle (Peggy Cummins) is a dance hall girl in London who is good friends with a young woman, another entertainer, named Daisy (Margo Woode of Hell Bound). One day Belle discovers Daisy's dead body and sees a man, Michael Drego (Victor Mature), leaving Daisy's room in a hurry. Belle doesn't tell the police what she knows, and Michael assumes she is hoping to be paid blackmail money. But instead she shocks Micheal by asking him to bring her to his estate as a guest. It seems Belle has always wanted to be a "lady" ...

Victor Mature

You might imagine that nothing good can come of this situation -- one also has to keep in mind that heroine Belle becomes an unsympathetic figure in that she's covering up a murder -- but Moss Rose may not be quite as predictable as you might imagine. At the estate Belle interacts with Michael's strange if likable mother, Lady Margaret (Ethel Barrymore of None But the Lonely Heart), and his fiancee, Audrey (Patricia Medina), who is at first quite suspicious of Belle's motives in coming. George Zucco is wasted as the butler, who has but one brief exchange with Belle, and Vincent Price has a little more to do as Inspector Clinner, who is investigating Daisy's murder. Eventually the killer is revealed.

Ethel Barrymore

I believe Alfred Hitchcock had once expressed an interest in doing a film version of Moss Rose -- the title refers to a type of flower pressed in the victim's bible --  and undoubtedly it would have made a far better picture than what we've got here. Price's fans will be disappointed that he has a very subordinate role, although he does have scenes with all of the principals. Cummins makes a good heroine, Medina is fine, and Barrymore walks off with the movie. This is simply not the right kind of material for Mature, who mostly just seems to be reciting lines. The basic material is there for a superior suspense film, but while the picture is absorbing, it has no flair. David Buttolph's musical score helps a bit. Peggy Cummins later stared with Dana Andrews in the classic Night of the Demon.

Verdict: This forgotten movie has some points of interest. **1/2. 

THREE SECRETS

Eleanor Parker and Patricia Neal

THREE SECRETS (1950). Director: Robert Wise.

"Is he going to be surprised! You know what his grounds [for divorce] were? He said I wasn't a woman!" -- Phyllis, on learning that she's pregnant.

A plane crashes on a mountain and the only survivor is a little boy. As rescue workers prepare for the dangerous two mile ascent, three women arrive on the scene, all of them wondering if the child is the one they gave up for adoption. The little boy was born on the same day as their child, and came from the same orphanage. Susan (Eleanor Parker) is afraid her marriage may not survive if her husband (Leif Ericson) learns she had a child out of wedlock. Phyllis (Patricia Neal) was a war correspondent whose husband (Frank Lovejoy) left her because she was never home and wouldn't conform to being a traditional wife; she learns she is pregnant after he remarries. Ann (Ruth Roman) gave birth to a boy fathered by a conscienceless wealthy man who paid the ultimate price for his callousness. Three Secrets concentrates on the emotional turmoil of the women's lives and not on the harrowing details of the rescue of the boy, which would have been a completely different picture. The three leading ladies all give fine performances, with Parker and Neal being especially notable. Katherine Warren is also good as Susan's mother, and Kenneth Tobey appears briefly as an army officer who catches Susan with her soldier boyfriend (Arthur Franz). The film's premise is contrived but irresistible, but some of it has to be taken with a grain of salt. An orphanage might acquire three baby boys on the same day in a big city, but all three women basically arrive there at the same time, and how likely is it that Phyllis will remember Susan, who she barely speaks to, five years later, reporter or no. But these are minor concerns: the picture plays beautifully, is very well-acted and well-directed, and has a very moving conclusion. David Buttolph's score disconcertingly reworks the melody of "I Get a Kick Out of You." Although it's been unfairly compared to it, this is completely different from A Letter to Three Wives. This was remade for television in 1999.

Verdict: Oh a higher plateau than the usual soap opera. ***1/2.

THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS

Harryhausen's "rhedosaurus" attacks Manhattan

THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS (1953). Director: Eugene Lourie. 

Professor Tom Nesbitt (Paul Christian, aka Swiss film star Paul Hubschmind) thinks he's spotted a monster during a blizzard after atomic testing in the Arctic. Of course, he has or there would be no movie. Improbably, Nesbitt is able to convince foremost paleontologist Thurgood Elson (Cecil Kellaway) -- as well as Elson's pretty assistant, Lee (Paula Raymond) -- of the "paleolithic survival's" existence and the hunt for the beast is on. This monster movie, with  stop-motion special effects by Ray Harryhausen, made a ton of money for Warner Brothers, spawned the Japanese imitation Godzilla, and ushered in the dinosaur/bug/creature cycle of the 1950's for better or worse. Despite it's low-budget, it is still a well-made and very entertaining picture. The beast's stomping trek through the streets of downtown Manhattan is impressive, and enough cannot be said regarding the extra impact given the film by David Buttolph's dramatic scoring. Christian, Raymond and especially Kellaway turn in adept performances and Kenneth Tobey and Lee Van Cleef in smaller roles are also solid. Lourie followed this up with The Giant Behemoth and Gorgo. NOTE: For more info on this film and many others like it, read Creature Features: Nature Turned Nasty in the Movies.

Verdict: Maybe not a sexy beast but certainly a lively one! ***.

CHAD HANNA

CHAD HANNA (1940). Director: Henry King.

"Why don't you go back to your pigs -- and stay there!"

In 1841 young Chad Hanna (Henry Fonda) runs off with a small, struggling circus to avoid a sheriff and to court pretty bare back rider Albany Yates (Dorothy Lamour). Caroline (Linda Darnell) also joins the circus to get away from her hateful father (Olin Howlin in a bigger role than usual) and winds up falling for Chad. However, this isn't the usual triangle as both women seem to like and respect one another and there is no stereotypical "bitchiness" between them. Chad Hanna is an amiable comedy-drama detailing the assorted tribulations of the circus as Chad tries to figure out whom he's in love with. Guy Kibbee and Jane Darwell are amusing and excellent as the owner and his wife. Lamour is solid, Darnell gives a lovely performance, and Fonda plays Chad as if the young man were slightly "touched" in the head. Ted North, John Carradine, and Frank Conlon are also notable. Charles Middleton isn't given enough to do as the barely-seen sheriff. Very pleasant and absorbing, and with a memorable score by David Buttolph. Funniest bit has a very hefty Darwell sizing up an elephant and saying "If he ever develops a taste for meat ..."

Verdict: Charming and different. ***.