Confession (film)
Encyclopedia
Confession is a 1937 drama film
starring Kay Francis
, Ian Hunter
, Basil Rathbone
and Jane Bryan
. It was directed by Joe May
and is a remake of the German film Mazurka
starring Pola Negri
.
The film was directed by Joey May. Producted by Henry Blanke. And the screen play was written by Julius J. Epstein, Margaret P. Levino, and Hans Rameau. With an estimated $513,000 budget, It started production in March of 1937. Released August 19th 1937 in New York City, New York, but everywhere else it was released on August 28th of the same year. The run time of this Black and White drama film is approx. 87 minutes.
The film is about a young music Warsaw student, Lisa Koslov (Bryan) who is saying goodbye to her mother at the train station. When a man dressed very well hands her two tickets to a concert. Lisa goes to the concert and realizes the man is the great pianist Michael Michailow (Rathbone). She is amazed by him and also flattered. The two go to a fancy restaurant, after Michael asks Lisa to eat with him. Vera Kowalska (Francis) sees them and is so taken by jealousy that she shoots Michael. Kowalska confesses to the murder. The movie then begins to tell the stories in flashbacks. We then find out that Koslov and Michailow had a love affair, which is the root of her jealousy.
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
starring Kay Francis
Kay Francis
Kay Francis was an American stage and film actress. After a brief period on Broadway in the late 1920s, she moved to film and achieved her greatest success between 1930 and 1936, when she was the number one female star at the Warner Brothers studio, and the highest paid American film actress...
, Ian Hunter
Ian Hunter (actor)
Ian Hunter was a British character actor.Among dozens of film roles, his best-remembered appearances include That Certain Woman with Bette Davis, The Adventures of Robin Hood , The Little Princess and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde...
, Basil Rathbone
Basil Rathbone
Sir Basil Rathbone, KBE, MC, Kt was an English actor. He rose to prominence in England as a Shakespearean stage actor and went on to appear in over 70 films, primarily costume dramas, swashbucklers, and, occasionally, horror films...
and Jane Bryan
Jane Bryan
Jane Bryan was an American actress who was being prepared by the Warner Bros. studio to become one of their leading ladies until she married a drugstore magnate in 1940 and retired....
. It was directed by Joe May
Joe May
Joe May , born Julius Otto Mandl, was a film director and film producer born in Austria and one of the pioneers of German cinema....
and is a remake of the German film Mazurka
Mazurka (film)
Mazurka is a 1935 German drama film directed by Willi Forst and starring Pola Negri, Albrecht Schoenhals and Ingeborg Theek. A woman is put on trial for murdering a dancer who ruined her marriage. It takes its name from The Mazurka.-Cast:...
starring Pola Negri
Pola Negri
Pola Negri was a Polish stage and film actress who achieved worldwide fame for her tragedienne and femme fatale roles from the 1910s through the 1940s during the Golden Era of Hollywood film. She was the first European film star to be invited to Hollywood, and became a great American star. She...
.
The film was directed by Joey May. Producted by Henry Blanke. And the screen play was written by Julius J. Epstein, Margaret P. Levino, and Hans Rameau. With an estimated $513,000 budget, It started production in March of 1937. Released August 19th 1937 in New York City, New York, but everywhere else it was released on August 28th of the same year. The run time of this Black and White drama film is approx. 87 minutes.
Cast
- Kay FrancisKay FrancisKay Francis was an American stage and film actress. After a brief period on Broadway in the late 1920s, she moved to film and achieved her greatest success between 1930 and 1936, when she was the number one female star at the Warner Brothers studio, and the highest paid American film actress...
as Vera Kowalska - Ian HunterIan Hunter (actor)Ian Hunter was a British character actor.Among dozens of film roles, his best-remembered appearances include That Certain Woman with Bette Davis, The Adventures of Robin Hood , The Little Princess and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde...
as Leonide Kirow - Basil RathboneBasil RathboneSir Basil Rathbone, KBE, MC, Kt was an English actor. He rose to prominence in England as a Shakespearean stage actor and went on to appear in over 70 films, primarily costume dramas, swashbucklers, and, occasionally, horror films...
as Michael Michailow - Jane BryanJane BryanJane Bryan was an American actress who was being prepared by the Warner Bros. studio to become one of their leading ladies until she married a drugstore magnate in 1940 and retired....
as Lisa Koslov - Donald CrispDonald CrispDonald Crisp was an English film actor. He was also an early motion picture producer, director and screenwriter...
as the Presiding Judge - Mary MaguireMary MaguireMary Maguire was an Australian actress who briefly became a Hollywood and British film star in the late 1930s.-Childhood and Career in Australia:...
as Hildegard - Dorothy PetersonDorothy PetersonDorothy Peterson was an American actress.Peterson was born in Hector, Minnesota of Swedish immigrant ancestry. She made her screen debut in 1930's Mothers Cry, a domestic drama that required the 29-year-old actress to age nearly three decades in the course of the film...
as Mrs. Koslov - Laura Hope CrewsLaura Hope CrewsLaura Hope Crews was a leading actress of the American stage in the first decades of the 20th century who is best remembered today for her later work as a character actress in motion pictures of the 1930s...
as Stella - Robert BarratRobert BarratRobert Harriot Barrat was an American stage, motion picture, and television character actor.-Career:Born in New York, Barrat's theatrical debut was in a stock company in Springfield, Massachusetts...
as the Prosecuting Attorney - Ben WeldenBen WeldenBen Welden was an American character actor who played a wide variety of Damon Runyon-type gangsters in various movies and television shows...
as the Defense Attorney - Veda Ann BorgVeda Ann BorgVeda Ann Borg was an American film actress.Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Borg was the daughter of Gottfried Borg, a Swedish immigrant and Minna Noble. She became a model in 1936 before winning a contract at Paramount Pictures. A car crash in 1939 necessitated drastic reconstruction of her face by...
as Xenia - Joan Valerie as Wanda (credited as Helen Valkis)
The film is about a young music Warsaw student, Lisa Koslov (Bryan) who is saying goodbye to her mother at the train station. When a man dressed very well hands her two tickets to a concert. Lisa goes to the concert and realizes the man is the great pianist Michael Michailow (Rathbone). She is amazed by him and also flattered. The two go to a fancy restaurant, after Michael asks Lisa to eat with him. Vera Kowalska (Francis) sees them and is so taken by jealousy that she shoots Michael. Kowalska confesses to the murder. The movie then begins to tell the stories in flashbacks. We then find out that Koslov and Michailow had a love affair, which is the root of her jealousy.