If you’re looking for a good Hitchcock film that isn’t constantly screened, then check out this 1953 item which failed at the box-office, but contains all the elements of classic Hitchcock. Montgomery Clift gives one of his typically tense and repressed performances as a priest falsely accused of a murder. The setting, Quebec City in the early 1950’s, is represented with more realism than Hollywood usually managed with such “exotic” locales at that time. The main hook, that the priest can’t clear himself because the real murderer has confessed to him under the “seal of the confessional”, might be a stumbling block for today’s audience, but given that understanding, the plot works out logically. The heroine, played by Anne Baxter, comes across as a thoroughly dislikable person, which may have been the main reason the film failed with the public. By the end of the first reel, I was hoping that she would turn out to be the real murderer. Karl Malden gives an odd performance, obviously uncertain how to represent a French Canadian police detective, and uncomfortable with his stilted dialog.
(Hitchcock 1953) I Confess
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