From Crypt of Dark Secrets director Jack Weis, the New Orleans-set Death Brings Roses involves a feather-haired fugitive-cum-mob enforcer (one-timer Alfonso Landa) who picks up protection dough from every watering hole and strip joint in the French Quarter. When his palm isn’t greased right away, he’s not above slapping a “dancer” upside the head with a powder puff — the movie’s lone cinematic touch, however brutish.
A prostitute condemns his cruelty by aiming below the belt: “When you make love, it’s like going to the toilet: no feeling, no emotion, no nothing!” The same can be said of Death Brings Roses, a listless crime story without the points of action to unequivocally qualify it as a crime picture. In an extended cameo, Henny Youngman takes to the stage as himself — take my role, please! — while Broderick Crawford plays a bartender. Oh, the delicious irony! —Rod Lott