ROSES ARE RED

US, 1947, 69 minutes, Black and white.
Don Castle, Peggy Knudson, Patricia Knight, Joe Sawyer, Edward Keane, Jeff Chandler, Charles Mc Graw, Charles Lane, Paul Guilfoyle, Douglas Fowler, James Arness.
Directed by James Tilning.

Roses are Red is not a bad little thriller, relying on mistaken identity and a plot by criminals to upset the justice system in the city. Don Castle plays a young man who becomes the district attorney of the city as well as a criminal, who has skills as an actor, who is released after four years in prison. The plan by the crime bosses of the city and the police contact is to abduct the district attorney, get the actor to study him and then take his place after the attorney is killed. Also involved is a journalist who is in love with the district attorney and the woman who is the criminals wife. The journalist visits her and does a deal with her about unmasking what has actually happened, especially through kissing the DA and indicating to the criminals who he really is.

The film is quite stylishly made with dramatic flourishes. Clearly, something will go wrong and the criminal is mistakenly shot and the DA escapes but continues the pretence so that he can eventually convict the criminals. There has been an initial murder with a photo in the room – a set up to cast doubt on the minds of the public about the identity with a plan to get a career criminal who does not remember to admit that he killed the woman.

The film is interesting in showing the two men interacting, and then the actual DA pretending to be the criminal pretending, leading to some dramatic showdowns.

For once, the supporting cast is of great interest, quite a number of character actors who were to have careers over the decades and two stars, Jeff Chandler who was a star in the 1950s but died at the age of 42 and, on television, James Arness, Gunsmoke from 1955-1975 with several Gunsmoke television movies in the 1990s.