ROSES ARE RED (1947)

Twentieth Century Fox agreed to distribute this tidy sixty-seven-minute noir with a lead cast of temporary popularity. Giving the viewer some common ground is a supporting cast of more familiar faces whose careers were gaining momentum, Jeff Chandler, James Aurness (Arness), Joe Sawyer, and Charles McGraw. The title refers to a murder case where the victim is found with a single rose in her hand. It does not make up the crux of the film, however. Sawyer is first seen smelling the rose at the crime scene. He sniffs up the aroma with great nostalgia as he recalls, as a child, his mother's rose garden. Lovely. 

The ridiculous premise of identical twins from different mothers is the most confusing element. I am spending more time on the storyline to perhaps help with this. Don Castle, at times looking like a cross between Rory Calhoun and Robert Taylor, plays the dual role of the latest D.A. and a criminal with the exact same appearance. Establishing both characters with matching mustaches, hair color, and style makes for one gullible audience. If that is not confusing enough, pretty Peggy Knudsen and Patricia Knight play, respectively, the good guy's fiance and the bad guy's wife. Of similar height, hairstyle, clothes, and hooked up—in reality—with the same guy, it may take a few minutes to sort things out. Knudsen, a crack newspaper reporter, appears to be wearing wax lips when not talking. The ladies have no trouble identifying their man, however, as each has a kiss that is more distinct than fingerprints.

A wheelchair-bound mob boss is filled in about the new D.A. by the crooked cop and rose-smeller, Sawyer. He informs him that the new D.A. will not “cooperate” like the last D.A., who was apparently voted out for that very reason. After bad Castle is released from prison, he spots a photo of the new D.A. in the newspaper and recognizes himself. Posing as the real D.A., he visits the mob boss in the hope of convincing him he could play the new D.A. since he is the same person. However, the boss is not fooled. He recognizes bad Castle from a program cover for his performance in Othello by The Prison Players with a talented supporting cast! Obviously, bad Castle has the acting chops to pull it off. They initiate a prison revolving door plan and manipulate the judicial system.

A mob goon, Chandler, abducts the real D.A., taking him to a secluded location for a few days until the fake D.A. is ready to roll. Good and bad Castle finally meet, typically with a blank wall or door jamb between them in the background. When the opportunity arises, good Castle jumps corrupt Castle, knocks him out, and places him in an upright position as Chandler's automobile pulls into the drive. The D.A. exchanges clothes with the unconscious twin. How timely. How ridiculous, dressing a limp body in less than a minute. It is called "Suspension of Disbelief." Through his own initiative and maybe just for fun, the goon unknowingly shoots the corrupt Castle. After pushing the real D.A.'s car over a roadside embankment, Chandler knocks good Castle down the embankment to make it all appear as though he was thrown clear of his car. While recovering in the hospital the real D.A. keeps his kidnapping and bad driving skills vague to the authorities and his girl while a smug Sawyer looks on.

Knudsen, however, smells something rotten in this Castle. Later at gunpoint, he reminds her of their first kiss. As they kiss again, she knows he is the real deal. Well, he is at least alive. The real D.A. assumes the persona of the dead D.A. for Sawyer's sake. Oh, brother! Knight unexpectedly drops by his office and expects a familiar kiss from her husband. Upon leaving, she lets Sawyer in on what a kiss means to her as they motor away. A little too personal for Sawyer. His face turns red as a rose. I imagine. The real D.A. is now her fake husband. Or something. She disappears from the film for a while. The audience is not too concerned since they are way ahead of the script.

The jailbird accused of the murder agrees to turn state’s evidence on his crime family. Meanwhile, the mob boss will pay Sawyer to get out of the country but he turns the table and threatens the boss at gunpoint in his own plan to come out smelling like a rose. With an armed wheelchair Ernst Blofeld would envy, the mob boss mortally wounds Sawyer. Police arrive to haul off the dead and charge one with the illegal use of a wheelchair. Knight is called in to sign papers and divest herself from her dead husband. As she goes out the door, she reminds Knudsen that Castle's kissing needs some practice. Well, of all the nerve!