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I Confess (1953) – full review!

I Confess (1953) – full review!

A couple of things unusual about the beginning of this Alfred Hitchcock film: one of its first scenes features the director’s cameo as he walks across a gap (for steps) between buildings and another shows a dead body (through a window) on the first floor of a building. The rest of this average drama’s story is about who this murder victim is and the eventual realization on the part of the police inspector as to "who done it". As is somewhat typical we (the audience) know who did it and are frequently frustrated as the events go contrary to what we might wish. In fact the main suspect is a Priest played by Montgomery Clift who also knows who did it. However since the guilty party admitted his crime to Father Logan (Clift) in a confessional he is unable to tell Inspector Larrue (Karl Malden A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)) what he wants to know. Another subplot involving Father Logan the fact that his former lover is now a respectable married woman (Anne Baxter The Razor’s Edge (1946)) who was being blackmailed by the victim is added to complicate matters even further such that the Priest becomes the primary murder suspect.

The story takes place in Canada where foreign-born handyman-gardener Otto Keller (O.E. Hasse) murdered Villette (Ovila Légaré) for the $2000 he needed so that he and his wife Alma (Dolly Haas) could make a better life for themselves. The couple is currently living in the church where she also works as a cook-servant and Father Logan resides. After Keller confesses his deed to Father Logan while he’s later relating his crime to his wife he decides not to do what Father Logan advised – to turn himself in. Instead he returns the money and "discovers" the body. Father Logan suspects that Keller has not followed his advice and finds that Inspector Larrue is investigating the crime. Larrue then sees Logan greeting a woman (Baxter) outside the building of the murder scene and begins to believe that the Priest must be involved somehow. Upon further investigation he learns the identity of the woman to be Ruth Grandfort the wife of an elected official (Roger Dann) known socially by his prosecutor Willy Robertson (Brian Aherne Juarez (1939)). Larrue is then able to get both an alibi and a motive for Father Logan from Ruth who almost married Logan before the war. After the war when Logan returned to discover that Ruth was married they were "caught" together by Villette who then blackmailed Ruth. So with Father Logan being unwilling to break his sacred vows to tell what really happened to Villette he is put on trial for the man’s murder.

If you can get over the incredible coincidence that ties Father Logan who heard the real murderer’s confession to a person (Baxter’s character) that has a real motive for wanting Villette dead it’s actually quite compelling if somewhat frustrating (like the contrived ending) at times. The screenplay was written by George Tabori and William Archibald from the play Our Two Consciences by Paul Anthelme.

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