Noir Nook: Magnificent Characters – Rose Given, Cry of the City (1948)

Noir Nook: Great Characters – Rose Given, scream of the city (1948)

Film noir is teeming with memorable characters, and within that vast collection, ladies and gentlemen, I have many favorites. This month’s Noir Nook shines a spotlight on one of them: the gorgeous Rose Given in scream of the city (1948).

In this 20th Century Fox feature, Richard Conte stars as Martin Rome, who was charismatic, oh so charming and a downright sociopath – we meet him after he died in a shootout during a botched robbery that killed a police officer. was injured. The film follows Martin’s efforts to evade the authorities – led by stubborn lieutenant Vittorio Candella (Victor Mature) – and escape with his young and innocent lover Teena (Debra Paget in her cinema debut). In typical noir fashion, the film follows a labyrinthine path as Martin carelessly employs a cast of characters – including a prison hospital confidante, a nurse and his own little brother – to achieve his goal. Along the way, he snatches some stolen jewels from a crooked lawyer (Berry Kroeger) and tracks down the lady most interested in getting those jewels: Rose Given, memorably played by Hope Emerson.

The heavily built Rose is a former entertainer who, as we learn from another character, had “a great set of pipes.” [but] couldn’t haul music in a wheelbarrow.” Perhaps it’s her lack of singing talent that has led Rose to her current calling — working as a masseuse, going by the nickname Madame Rose (when she’s not teaming up with local gangsters to get into her to break into wealthy customers).

Rose only appears in three scenes, but her entry into the film – at more than an hour – is a visual treat. Martin is brought to Rose’s place of business by an old friend (Shelley Winters) and rings the doorbell. In the distance, at the end of a dark hallway, Rose appears, framed by the open door frame and backlit by the glow of her apartment. She walks down the hall towards Martin (and us) and stops three times to turn on extra lights – these provide extra lighting in the hall, but Rose’s face remains shrouded in darkness until she opens the front door, showing Martin the pacing , and tells him coolly, “I’m sorry. We’re closed.” (Seconds later, however, she recognizes him and invites him in.)

From the moment she steps onto the screen, Rose is mesmerizing. She remains calm – when Martin insists that she was involved in the jewelry heist, she doesn’t bat an eyelid and calmly accuses him of the bluff. When Martin hands her a newspaper proving he killed the lawyer who knew of Rose’s involvement, she rolls up the newspaper (as if she’s about to smack Martin like an annoying fly) and remarks, “I’m glad I did you killed him, Martin. He was a bad man. Very bad.”

In order to give Rose the stolen jewels (kept safe in a subway station locker), Martin has four wishes: a car, $5,000, a way out of the country, and a good night’s sleep. Here Rose shows that she is not a pushover. She claims to only have $2,000. She feigns ignorance when it comes to getting him out of the US. And when Martin proves he’s a worthy opponent, she changes tactics and offers the weary Martin a massage, which suddenly turns into a physical threat – until she finds out that Martin doesn’t have the locker key with him. “I guess not. You’re too smart for that,” Rose says, punctuating her words with a menacing but almost loving caress.

Rose’s second scene is short – less than a minute long – but no less compelling. It takes place at the breakfast table in the morning after Martin has found his desired “good sleep”. Martin doesn’t like eating in the morning (he starts his day with a cigarette), but Rose does, and she leaves no doubt that she enjoys the food. Watching her eat elicits a response somewhere between disgust and admiration; It’s a whirlwind of gastronomic activity as she talks with food in her mouth, cheeks bulging and an elbow on the table, offering Martin a saucer of pancakes, pouring coffee and telling that she loves to cook and wants to buy a house in the country where she can get fresh eggs, milk and cream every day. It’s something you can see.

But it’s not until her last scene that we see what Rose is made of. Here Rose meets Martin at the subway station, where he is supposed to give him the key to the locker where the jewels are kept and she is supposed to give him the money and the opportunity to leave the country. Three guesses as to whether this transaction will go smoothly — and the first two don’t count. It is a delight to watch Rose teach a master class in Moxie; Martin thinks he’s in charge, but he wasn’t expecting Rose, who shows up in a snazzy hat and fur coat as if she’s on her way to a night at the theater. But Rose isn’t here for entertainment. She’s here to get those gems without giving Martin a penny – and when she snatches the locker key from his hand and points a gun at Martin, we’re not the least bit surprised. We even cheer. Unfortunately, things don’t go as she planned for Rose, but let’s just say she doesn’t go down without a fight. Literally.

scream of the city is available for free on YouTube so you can indulge in a replay or discover it for the first time. Definitely keep an eye out for the fabulousness of Rose Given. You will not regret it.

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– Karen Burroughs Hannsberry for Classic Movie Hub

You can read all of Karen’s Noir Nook articles here.

Karen Burroughs Hannsberry is the author of the Shadows and Satin blog, which focuses on films and cast from the film noir and pre-Code era, and is the editor-in-chief of The Dark Sides, a bi-monthly newsletter about film noir. Karen is also the author of two books on film noir – Femme Noir: The Bad Girls of Film And Bad Boys: The Actors of Film Noir. You can follow Karen on Twitter at @TheDarkPages.
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