I confess

I watched yesterday I Confess by Alfred Hitchcock, one of the best film directors ever. I wasn´t sure if I was going to like this movie. It received a lot of criticism and even cencorship in the time it was made. The story is adopted from a French theater play, Nos deux consciences (Our two consciences). Otto Keller is a german refugee in Quebec who kills a lawyer one night while trying to rob some money in his office. He confesses his crime to Father Logan. This priest is later accused of the murder by the police. The idea behind it all is just magnificent: A priest faces charges of murder and denies to reveal the truth because of the secret of confession. But this is not all. A woman appears in the crime scene mysteriously. She tries to help Father Logan with her statement to the police, but she gets it even worse... She was being blackmailed by the murdered and by revealing that she and Father Logan were in love before he became a priest, gives the police an argument against Father Logan, by making them think that he wanted to get rid of him because of the blackmail.

It may seem a little twisted now but in the movie, it is quite pleasant to follow the story. Hitchcock had a lot of problems to produce the film. He had to deal with the church because of the controversy and even the Warner Bros. producers who took over in the end. In the original French play, Father Logan has a 'hidden child' and in the end he is found guilty and hanged, but the Warner Bros. decided to change the end because of the strong censorship at that time (1953). I won't reveal how it ends... You'll have to watch it.


Finally, perhaps the performance of Montgomery Clift is not brilliant at some points. He seems too inexpressive for the dilemma that he has. The script on the other hand is as well fantastic. This has definitely become one of my favorite movies from Hitchcock. Magnificent!

Enjoy it!