I Confess (1953)

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Directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

Starring Brian Aherne, Anne Baxter, Montgomery Clift, O.E. Hasse, Karl Malden.

Based on the turn-of-the-century play Our Two Consciences by Paul Anthelme, Hitchcock's I Confess is set in Quebec. Montgomery Clift plays a priest who hears the confession of church sexton O.E. Hasse. "I...killed...a man" whispers Hasse in tight closeup--and, bound by the laws of the Confessional, Clift is unable to turn Hasse over to the police. But police-inspector Karl Malden has a pretty good idea who the guilty party is: all evidence points to Clift. It seems that the dead man had been blackmailing Anne Baxter, who was once in a factually innocent, but seemingly exploitable compromising position with Clift. Tried for murder, Clift is released due to lack of evidence, but he is ruined in the eyes of the community. Then it is Hasse's turn to make that One Fatal Error. I Confess is frequently dismissed as a lesser Hitchcock, due mainly to the quirky performance of Montgomery Clift (who, it is said, steadfastly refused to take direction). Today, four decades removed from its on-set intrigues, the film has taken its place as one of the best of Hitchcock's "between the classics" efforts. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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Reviews and discussions

I Confess (1951, USA, Alfred Hi ...
by CinemaRian in CinemaRian Blog

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"I Confess is one of Hitchcock's weakest films. It takes a premise that was probably old in 1951 and does absolutley nothing new with it. Here's the premise: a man confesses to Father Logan, a Catholic priest (Montogomry Clift, in a sensitive performance that's the best thing about the film) that he commited a murder. Unfortuanley for the priest, a woman is in love with him, which through the machinations of the plot, make the police seem to think that Monty did it. You know exactly what's going to happen next. The first half hour of the picture is actually very good, as it seems that Hitchcock is going for more of a character study of Father Logan than an actual thriller. But once the plot starts moving the movie goes downhill, as Hitchcock goes to the same "Wrong Man" well he went before (and would go again) with much better sucess. Making things worse is the fact that the movie was severly censored by the Production Code. The clause that forbad negative portrayals of clergy ... " [More]

Cinema Still Loves Nazis
by SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com

hasn't rated it.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. [What do you think?]
"Upset that the Third Reich doesn’t appear in either this summer’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull or Hellboy II: The Golden Army? Of course you are. Nazis have featured in many great Hollywood films, from Casablanca to Schindler’s List. They’ve been the focus of one of the best documentaries of all time (Triumph of the Will). They show up in the best musicals (The Sound of Music), the best action films (Raiders of the Lost Ark), the best science fiction films (Star Wars, sort of), the best comedies (The Great Dictator, sort of), the best dramas (Judgment at Nuremburg), the best foreign films (Rome, Open City) and even the best animated shorts (Der Fueher’s Face). In fact, without the Nazis, cinema might not have had so many great war films, POW films or other kinds of films necessitating a personification of evil. Of course, like many others I would wish for them to have never existed, because millions of lives are more important than any number of classic movies ... " [More]

Peter Bogdanovich Interviews Al ...
by Ovation in Alfred Hitchcock

hasn't rated it.

"Peter Bogdanovich Interviews Alfred Hitchcock The legendary interview from 1963 PB: You never watch your films with an audience. Don't you miss hearing them scream? AH: No. I can hear them when I'm making the picture. Do you feel that the American film remains the most vital cinema? Worldwide, yes. Because when we make films for the United States, we are automatically making them for all the world--because America is full of foreigners. It's a melting pot. Which brings us to another point. I don't know what they mean when they talk about "Hollywood" pictures. I say, "Where are they conceived?" Look at this room--you can't see out the windows. We might just as well be in a hotel room in London, or anywhere you like. So here is where we get it down on paper. Now where do we go? We go on location, perhaps; and then where do we work? We're ... " [More]

Review by All Movie Guide

All Movie Guide

lost interest.

A middling effort from Hitchcock, apparently attempting to adapt to the faux-documentary style then fashionable for crime stories, it features an interesting, turn by Clift. The film literalizes the symbolism of Catholic clergy as the representatives of Christ, with Clift's priest taking on the guilt for a murder due to the sanctity of the confessional. It's difficult to understand why the director chose to shoot such a musty contrivance of a play with the trappings of naturalism. Although, in The Wrong Man (1957), he was somewhat more effective with this style, his lack of interest in the normal range of human behavior hampered these films. Clift, who often chose to play characters seeking martyrdom, is well cast here, and provides what interest the film has in an underwritten part. It might have been better if the director had considered emphasizing the visual record of Clift's response to his public torment a la La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc (1928). ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide

Tags: blackmail , confession-criminal , killing , priest , religion
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