Moss Rose (1947)

Set in Victorian England, a chorus girl (Peggy Cummins) witnesses a man (Victor Mature) coming out of her girlfriend's (Margo Woode) apartment. When she discovers her girlfriend dead, she sees a way to fulfill a fantasy by blackmailing the man. Based on the novel by Joseph Shearing (a pseudonym for Margaret Gabrielle Vere Long) and directed by Gregory Ratoff (INTERMEZZO). I love murder mysteries and this Victorian mystery has all the elements in place but its screenplay is absurd and unbelievable (I've not read the original novel so I don't know if it's to blame). Victor Mature seems out of place in the Victorian setting and Cummings seems miscast. The one bright spot is Ethel Barrymore as Mature's mother who brings an engaging ambiguity to her performance. The film was well received critically but did a nose dive at the box office. It pretty much killed any chance of a Hollywood career for English actress Peggy Cummins (she'd already been fired from FOREVER AMBER). With Vincent Price, Patricia Medina and Rhys Williams.