I Confess (film)
I Confess is a 1953 American film noir directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Montgomery Clift as Catholic priest Father Michael William Logan, Anne Baxter as Ruth Grandfort, and Karl Malden as Inspector Larrue.
I Confess
Nos deux consciences
1902 play
by Paul Anthelme
Alfred Hitchcock
- February 12, 1953 (Quebec City)[1]
95 minutes
United States[2]
English
$2 million (US)[3]
The film is based on a 1902 French play by Paul Anthelme titled Nos deux consciences (Our Two Consciences), which Hitchcock saw in the 1930s. The screenplay was written by George Tabori.[4]
Filming took place largely on location in Quebec City with numerous shots of the city landscape and interiors of its churches, especially St. Zéphirin's[5] and other emblematic buildings, such as the Château Frontenac.
Reception[edit]
The film received mixed to negative reviews from critics. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times faulted an "obviously padded" and "a suspenseless script," explaining that "only the most credulous patron will be worried for very long that the hero will not be delivered from his dilemma by some saving grace. And this realization well unburdens the situation of any real suspense." Crowther's review concluded that "Mr. Hitchcock does manage to inject little glints of imagery and invent little twists of construction that give the film the smooth, neat glitter of his style. Shot on location in Quebec, it has a certain atmospheric flavor, too. But it never gets up and goes places. It just ambles and drones along."[10] Variety wrote that the film was "short of the suspense one would expect and overlong on talk," although it did note "a number of top-flight performances."[11] Richard L. Coe of The Washington Post wrote in a negative review that the film "asks for more than the usual suspension of disbelief" because "the priest is not helpless, a fact which the writers and director attempt to forget at the cost of the film's credibility from the earliest reel. It would certainly seem that so young a priest's superiors would have had more to do with his problem, if not at first, surely before the matter came to public trial ... So promising an idea as is the use of the confessional in framing a murder case and respectful as the picture appears to be of matters ecclesiastic, the basic conception is false. The result is a tricked-up picture unworthy of the suave master of movie thrillers."[12] John McCarten of The New Yorker was also negative, writing: "Presumably, this is meant to be a kind of mystery drama. What it actually amounts to, though, is an exposition of the difficulties a priest can get into by keeping the secrets of the confessional inviolate. The theme is prinked up with murder and romance, but neither, as represented here, makes for suspense or entertainment ... it is possible that Montgomery Clift, who plays the part, was ill-advised to portray the priest as a sort of bemused juvenile, plainly too abstracted to lead one lamb, let alone a flock."[13]
A mixed review in The Monthly Film Bulletin declared the film "rather less successful than Strangers on a Train and a good deal more so than anything else Hitchcock has done since the ill-fated Rope ... The final chase through the huge Chateau Frontenac seems a touch that Hitchcock could not resist: out of keeping with the generally somber tone of the film, it provides a showily melodramatic climax. The unresolved split between the straightforward thriller technique and the more penetrating psychological study of character, indeed, makes itself felt as a weakness at intervals throughout the film."[14] The Chicago Tribune also was mixed, declaring that "While it has scenery and carefully allotted bits of tension, the film is crowded and devious plot-wise and doesn't rank with Director Hitchcock's previous bests. The finale is slightly overdone, even if it does manage to bring in a famed hotel."[15]
Philip K. Scheuer of the Los Angeles Times wrote one of the positive reviews, and declared that Hitchcock "has fashioned an absorbing screen drama, one of the solidest and most expertly made of recent weeks. In his careful treatment Hitchcock has gone deeper into human relationships than is usual with him, relying less on the physical chase or on theatrical props like trains and merry-go-rounds than on the interplay of faith and doubt to create his famous brand of suspense."[16] Harrison's Reports wrote: "Living up to his reputation as a master of the suspense film, Alfred Hitchcock has fashioned a powerful dramatic entertainment in I Confess. ... It is not a cheerful picture, but it holds one tense throughout."[17]
The film was banned in Ireland because it showed a priest having a relationship with a woman (even though, in the film, the relationship takes place before the character becomes a priest).[18]
The film was entered into the 1953 Cannes Film Festival.[19]
I Confess was a favorite among French New Wave filmmakers, according to filmmaker/historian Peter Bogdanovich.[20]
Film critic Sarah Ortiz has described I Confess as "the most Catholic film of Hitchcock's films."[21] In 2012, The Guardian called the film "A forgotten albeit flawed masterpiece".[22] On Rotten Tomatoes, I Confess holds a rating of 81% from 31 reviews.[23]
Adaptations[edit]
I Confess was adapted to the radio program Lux Radio Theatre on September 21, 1953, with Cary Grant in Montgomery Clift's role.