I Confess (film)
Encyclopedia
I Confess is a drama film
directed by Alfred Hitchcock
, and starring Montgomery Clift
as Fr. Michael William Logan, a Catholic priest, Anne Baxter
as Ruth Grandfort, and Karl Malden
as Inspector Larrue. This was the only film Hitchcock made with these three actors. Biographers say he had trouble with "Method
" actors such as Clift and Paul Newman
, who worked with Hitchcock in Torn Curtain
(1966).
In the book-length interview Hitchcock/Truffaut (1967), Hitchcock said he had hired Anita Björk
as the female lead for I Confess, after seeing her in Miss Julie
(1951). However, when Björk arrived in Hollywood with her lover and their baby, Warner Bros. insisted Hitchcock find another actress.
The film is based on a 1902
French play by Paul Anthelme called Nos Deux Consciences, a play Hitchcock saw in the 1930s. The screenplay
was written by George Tabori
.
The movie was largely filmed on location in Quebec City
with numerous shots of the city landscape and interiors of its churches and other emblematic buildings, such as the Château Frontenac
.
, Father Logan employs a caretaker, Otto Keller (O. E. Hasse), and a housekeeper, Otto's wife Alma (Dolly Haas
), who are German immigrants with very little money, although in their homeland they were more affluent. Otto Keller also works part-time as a gardener for a few householders in Quebec City.
Very late one evening Keller asks if Father Logan will hear his confession. In the confessional
, Keller confesses that he went to try to steal money from a person he gardens for, a rich lawyer called Villette, and in the process he killed him. Because of the binding nature of the secrecy of the confessional
, Father Logan cannot tell the police anything he now knows about this crime.
At the time of the murder, two young girls saw someone leaving the house of the murdered man wearing a cassock
. While this was just Otto's disguise, suspicion falls upon Father Logan himself (who can provide no alibi for the time of the murder, cannot talk about the confession he heard, and cannot name the true murderer), since it gradually becomes apparent that Logan, in his early life before he became a priest, had a girlfriend, Ruth (Anne Baxter), who has always loved him and still does, even though she is now married to someone else.
In flashback
s it is shown that Logan stopped writing to Ruth not long after he went off to war
. After he came back, Ruth and Logan ended up stranded on an island during a storm, and were forced to shelter for the night in a gazebo
. In the morning Villette finds them there, makes offensive comments about Ruth, and is punched by Logan. It turns out that Ruth had married a prominent politician without ever telling Logan, who leaves her and does not see her for years. But Ruth has been blackmailed by Villette, as both she and her husband's lives would be ruined if her relation with Logan were made public, and so she meets him on the night of the murder to ask for advice.
Villette's death is a relief to Ruth, and she tells the police about her meeting with Father Logan to provide him an alibi, but the meeting did not correspond to the time of the murder and in fact suggested a motive. The police then assume that Father Logan killed the blackmailer Villette to protect Ruth and himself, and that there is an ongoing scandalous relationship between the two of them. The situation is made worse by Otto Keller, who lies extensively to the police in order to try to ensure that he is safe from suspicion while Father Logan is convicted for murder.
Father Logan comes very close to being found guilty and executed for a crime he did not commit, a sort of martyrdom. At the end of his trial, he is just barely found "not guilty", but his reputation as a priest is ruined, and the people of Quebec City gathered on the courthouse steps revile him. Otto's wife cannot bear to see this, and starts to shout that it was her husband that killed the man, but Otto pulls out a gun and shoots his wife, to silence her.
Running away, Otto is cornered by the police in the grand ballroom of the Château Frontenac
. The detective who investigated the story, unable to elicit any comment from Father Logan, suspects that Otto is really Villette's murderer, and asks him so. Otto assumes Father Logan broke the secret of his confession, declares his guilt, and tries to shoot Father Logan, who bravely attempts to approach him and reason with him. Instead, Otto himself is fatally wounded by a police sharpshooter. In extremis
Otto calls out to Father Logan to forgive him, and receives absolution.
Subtle visual references to Christ, the cross, and the crucifix occur frequently throughout the movie. The soundtrack uses the melody from the Gregorian Chant
Dies Irae
throughout.
Alfred Hitchcock's cameo is a signature occurrence in most of his films. In I Confess he can be seen right after the opening credits walking across the top of a steep stairway.
in 1951, and Hitchcock was in the midst of dissolving his partnership in Transatlantic Pictures
with Sidney Bernstein.) The original screenplay, following the source play, had the priest and his lover having an illegitimate baby, and the priest being executed at the end of the film. These aspects of the script were removed due to the Production Code
.
Shooting took place in Hollywood and Quebec in under two months. Hitchcock had planned on using Quebec-area churches at no cost. When the local diocese read the original script by George Tabori
, it objected to the priest's execution and rescinded its permission. When Tabori refused to change the script, Hitchcock brought in William Archibald
to rewrite it.
Hitchcock, as was his custom, created detailed storyboards for each scene. He could not understand Clift's Method acting
technique and quickly became frustrated with Clift when he blew take after take for failing to follow Hitchcock's instructions.
Cognizant of the difficulty non-Catholics would have in understanding the priest's reluctance to expose Keller, he said,
because it showed a priest having a relationship with a woman (even though, in the movie, the relationship takes place before the character becomes a priest).
The film was entered into the 1953 Cannes Film Festival
.
I Confess was a favorite among French New Wave
film makers, according to filmmaker/historian Peter Bogdanovich
.
Film critic Father Peter Malone, MSC, has described I Confess as "the most Catholic film of Hitchcock's films."
on September 21, 1953 with Cary Grant
in Montgomery Clift's role.
, a 1994 film which dramatizes the filming of I Confess as the backdrop for a thematically-related story.
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...
directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
, and starring Montgomery Clift
Montgomery Clift
Edward Montgomery Clift was an American film and stage actor. The New York Times’ obituary noted his portrayal of "moody, sensitive young men"....
as Fr. Michael William Logan, a Catholic priest, Anne Baxter
Anne Baxter
Anne Baxter was an American actress known for her performances in films such as The Magnificent Ambersons , The Razor's Edge , All About Eve and The Ten Commandments .-Early life:...
as Ruth Grandfort, and Karl Malden
Karl Malden
Karl Malden was an American actor. In a career that spanned more than seven decades, he performed in such classic films as A Streetcar Named Desire, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, On the Waterfront and One-Eyed Jacks...
as Inspector Larrue. This was the only film Hitchcock made with these three actors. Biographers say he had trouble with "Method
Method acting
Method acting is a phrase that loosely refers to a family of techniques used by actors to create in themselves the thoughts and emotions of their characters, so as to develop lifelike performances...
" actors such as Clift and Paul Newman
Paul Newman
Paul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver and auto racing enthusiast...
, who worked with Hitchcock in Torn Curtain
Torn Curtain
Torn Curtain is a 1966 American political thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Paul Newman and Julie Andrews.-Plot:On a cruise ship en route to Copenhagen, Michael Armstrong , an esteemed American physicist and rocket scientist, is to attend a scientific conference...
(1966).
In the book-length interview Hitchcock/Truffaut (1967), Hitchcock said he had hired Anita Björk
Anita Björk
Anita Björk is a Swedish actress.Born in Tällberg, Dalarna, Anita Björk attended Dramatens elevskola in 1942-45....
as the female lead for I Confess, after seeing her in Miss Julie
Miss Julie (1951 film)
Miss Julie is a 1951 Swedish drama film directed by Alf Sjöberg and starring Anita Björk and Ulf Palme, based on the play of the same name by August Strindberg. The film deals with class, sex and power as the title character, the daughter of a Count in 19th century Sweden, begins a relationship...
(1951). However, when Björk arrived in Hollywood with her lover and their baby, Warner Bros. insisted Hitchcock find another actress.
The film is based on a 1902
1902 in literature
The year 1902 in literature involved some significant new books.-Events:* April - Mark Twain purchases a home in Terrytown, New York.* June 4 - Mark Twain receives an honorary doctorate of literature degree from the University of Missouri....
French play by Paul Anthelme called Nos Deux Consciences, a play Hitchcock saw in the 1930s. The screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
was written by George Tabori
George Tabori
George Tabori was a Hungarian writer and theater director.-Life and career:Tabori was born in Budapest as György Tábori, a son of Kornél and Elsa Tábori. His father died in Auschwitz in 1944, but his mother and his brother Paul managed to escape the Nazis. His son Peter Tabori and again his son...
.
The movie was largely filmed on location in Quebec City
Quebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...
with numerous shots of the city landscape and interiors of its churches and other emblematic buildings, such as the Château Frontenac
Château Frontenac
The Château Frontenac, currently known as Fairmont Le Château Frontenac, is a grand hotel in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. It was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1980...
.
Plot
Father Michael Logan (Montgomery Clift) is a devout Catholic priest in a church in Quebec City. To take care of the church and the rectoryRectory
A rectory is the residence, or former residence, of a rector, most often a Christian cleric, but in some cases an academic rector or other person with that title...
, Father Logan employs a caretaker, Otto Keller (O. E. Hasse), and a housekeeper, Otto's wife Alma (Dolly Haas
Dolly Haas
Dorothy Clara Louise "Dolly" Haas was a singer and an entertainer who often appeared on Broadway.-Life and work:...
), who are German immigrants with very little money, although in their homeland they were more affluent. Otto Keller also works part-time as a gardener for a few householders in Quebec City.
Very late one evening Keller asks if Father Logan will hear his confession. In the confessional
Confessional
A confessional is a small, enclosed booth used for the Sacrament of Penance, often called confession, or Reconciliation. It is the usual venue for the sacrament in the Roman Catholic Church, but similar structures are also used in Anglican churches of an Anglo-Catholic orientation, and also in the...
, Keller confesses that he went to try to steal money from a person he gardens for, a rich lawyer called Villette, and in the process he killed him. Because of the binding nature of the secrecy of the confessional
Priest-penitent privilege
The priest–penitent privilege, also known as the clergy privilege, clergy–penitent privilege, confessional privilege, and ecclesiastical privilege, is an application of the principle of privileged communication that protects the contents of communications between a member of the clergy and a...
, Father Logan cannot tell the police anything he now knows about this crime.
At the time of the murder, two young girls saw someone leaving the house of the murdered man wearing a cassock
Cassock
The cassock, an item of clerical clothing, is an ankle-length robe worn by clerics of the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Anglican Church, Lutheran Church and some ministers and ordained officers of Presbyterian and Reformed churches. Ankle-length garment is the meaning of the...
. While this was just Otto's disguise, suspicion falls upon Father Logan himself (who can provide no alibi for the time of the murder, cannot talk about the confession he heard, and cannot name the true murderer), since it gradually becomes apparent that Logan, in his early life before he became a priest, had a girlfriend, Ruth (Anne Baxter), who has always loved him and still does, even though she is now married to someone else.
In flashback
Flashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
s it is shown that Logan stopped writing to Ruth not long after he went off to war
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. After he came back, Ruth and Logan ended up stranded on an island during a storm, and were forced to shelter for the night in a gazebo
Gazebo
A gazebo is a pavilion structure, sometimes octagonal, that may be built, in parks, gardens, and spacious public areas. Gazebos are freestanding or attached to a garden wall, roofed, and open on all sides; they provide shade, shelter, ornamental features in a landscape, and a place to rest...
. In the morning Villette finds them there, makes offensive comments about Ruth, and is punched by Logan. It turns out that Ruth had married a prominent politician without ever telling Logan, who leaves her and does not see her for years. But Ruth has been blackmailed by Villette, as both she and her husband's lives would be ruined if her relation with Logan were made public, and so she meets him on the night of the murder to ask for advice.
Father Logan comes very close to being found guilty and executed for a crime he did not commit, a sort of martyrdom. At the end of his trial, he is just barely found "not guilty", but his reputation as a priest is ruined, and the people of Quebec City gathered on the courthouse steps revile him. Otto's wife cannot bear to see this, and starts to shout that it was her husband that killed the man, but Otto pulls out a gun and shoots his wife, to silence her.
Running away, Otto is cornered by the police in the grand ballroom of the Château Frontenac
Château Frontenac
The Château Frontenac, currently known as Fairmont Le Château Frontenac, is a grand hotel in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. It was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1980...
. The detective who investigated the story, unable to elicit any comment from Father Logan, suspects that Otto is really Villette's murderer, and asks him so. Otto assumes Father Logan broke the secret of his confession, declares his guilt, and tries to shoot Father Logan, who bravely attempts to approach him and reason with him. Instead, Otto himself is fatally wounded by a police sharpshooter. In extremis
In extremis
In extremis or extremis may refer to:* In extremis, a Latin phrase meaning "in the farthest reaches" or "at the point of death"* In Extremis , an album by Thinking Plague* In extremis , a 2000 film by Ettienne Faure...
Otto calls out to Father Logan to forgive him, and receives absolution.
Subtle visual references to Christ, the cross, and the crucifix occur frequently throughout the movie. The soundtrack uses the melody from the Gregorian Chant
Gregorian chant
Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic liturgical music within Western Christianity that accompanied the celebration of Mass and other ritual services...
Dies Irae
Dies Irae
Dies Irae is a thirteenth century Latin hymn thought to be written by Thomas of Celano . It is a medieval Latin poem characterized by its accentual stress and its rhymed lines. The metre is trochaic...
throughout.
Alfred Hitchcock's cameo is a signature occurrence in most of his films. In I Confess he can be seen right after the opening credits walking across the top of a steep stairway.
Production
I Confess had one of the longest "preproductions" of any Hitchcock film, with almost 12 writers working on the script for Hitchcock over an eight-year period. (Hitchcock had taken time off for the wedding of his daughter Patricia HitchcockPatricia Hitchcock
Patricia "Pat" Hitchcock O'Connell is a British-born American actress and producer.-Early life and career:Born in London as the only child of film director Alfred Hitchcock and film editor Alma Reville, the family moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1939, as her father would quickly make his mark...
in 1951, and Hitchcock was in the midst of dissolving his partnership in Transatlantic Pictures
Transatlantic Pictures
Transatlantic Pictures was founded by Alfred Hitchcock and longtime associate Sidney Bernstein at the end of World War II in preparation for the end of Hitchcock's contract with David O. Selznick in 1947...
with Sidney Bernstein.) The original screenplay, following the source play, had the priest and his lover having an illegitimate baby, and the priest being executed at the end of the film. These aspects of the script were removed due to the Production Code
Production Code
The Motion Picture Production Code was the set of industry moral censorship guidelines that governed the production of the vast majority of United States motion pictures released by major studios from 1930 to 1968. It is also popularly known as the Hays Code, after Hollywood's chief censor of the...
.
Shooting took place in Hollywood and Quebec in under two months. Hitchcock had planned on using Quebec-area churches at no cost. When the local diocese read the original script by George Tabori
George Tabori
George Tabori was a Hungarian writer and theater director.-Life and career:Tabori was born in Budapest as György Tábori, a son of Kornél and Elsa Tábori. His father died in Auschwitz in 1944, but his mother and his brother Paul managed to escape the Nazis. His son Peter Tabori and again his son...
, it objected to the priest's execution and rescinded its permission. When Tabori refused to change the script, Hitchcock brought in William Archibald
William Archibald (playwright)
William Archibald was a Trinidadian-born playwright, dancer, choreographer and director, whose stage adaptation of Henry James' The Turn of the Screw was made into the 1961 British horror film The Innocents....
to rewrite it.
Hitchcock, as was his custom, created detailed storyboards for each scene. He could not understand Clift's Method acting
Method acting
Method acting is a phrase that loosely refers to a family of techniques used by actors to create in themselves the thoughts and emotions of their characters, so as to develop lifelike performances...
technique and quickly became frustrated with Clift when he blew take after take for failing to follow Hitchcock's instructions.
Cognizant of the difficulty non-Catholics would have in understanding the priest's reluctance to expose Keller, he said,
Reception
The film was banned in IrelandCensorship in the Republic of Ireland
Ireland rarely exercises censorship though the state retains wide-ranging laws which allow for it, including specific laws covering films, advertisements, newspapers and magazines, as well as terrorism and pornography...
because it showed a priest having a relationship with a woman (even though, in the movie, the relationship takes place before the character becomes a priest).
The film was entered into the 1953 Cannes Film Festival
1953 Cannes Film Festival
-Jury:*Jean Cocteau *Louis Chauvet *Titina De Filippo *Guy Desson *Philippe Erlanger *Renée Faure *Jacques-Pierre Frogerais *Abel Gance *André Lang...
.
I Confess was a favorite among French New Wave
French New Wave
The New Wave was a blanket term coined by critics for a group of French filmmakers of the late 1950s and 1960s, influenced by Italian Neorealism and classical Hollywood cinema. Although never a formally organized movement, the New Wave filmmakers were linked by their self-conscious rejection of...
film makers, according to filmmaker/historian Peter Bogdanovich
Peter Bogdanovich
Peter Bogdanovich is an American film historian, director, writer, actor, producer, and critic. He was part of the wave of "New Hollywood" directors, which included William Friedkin, Brian De Palma, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, Michael Cimino, and Francis Ford Coppola...
.
Film critic Father Peter Malone, MSC, has described I Confess as "the most Catholic film of Hitchcock's films."
Featured cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Montgomery Clift Montgomery Clift Edward Montgomery Clift was an American film and stage actor. The New York Times’ obituary noted his portrayal of "moody, sensitive young men".... |
Fr. Michael William Logan |
| Anne Baxter Anne Baxter Anne Baxter was an American actress known for her performances in films such as The Magnificent Ambersons , The Razor's Edge , All About Eve and The Ten Commandments .-Early life:... |
Ruth Grandfort |
| Karl Malden Karl Malden Karl Malden was an American actor. In a career that spanned more than seven decades, he performed in such classic films as A Streetcar Named Desire, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, On the Waterfront and One-Eyed Jacks... |
Inspector Larrue |
| Brian Aherne Brian Aherne Brian Aherne was a British actor of both stage and screen, who found success in Hollywood.-Early life and stage career:... |
Willy Robertson |
| Roger Dann | Pierre Grandfort |
| Dolly Haas Dolly Haas Dorothy Clara Louise "Dolly" Haas was a singer and an entertainer who often appeared on Broadway.-Life and work:... |
Alma Keller |
| Charles Andre (actor) | Fr. Millars |
| O.E. Hasse O.E. Hasse Otto Eduard Hasse was a German film actor and director.- Biography :Hasse was born to Wilhelm Gustav Eduard Hasse, a blacksmith, and Valeria Hasse in the village of Obersitzko, Province of Posen, Imperial Germany and gained his first stage experiences at highschool at Kolmar together with his... |
Otto Keller |
Adaptations
I Confess was adapted to the radio program Lux Radio TheaterLux Radio Theater
Lux Radio Theater, a long-run classic radio anthology series, was broadcast on the NBC Blue Network ; CBS and NBC . Initially, the series adapted Broadway plays during its first two seasons before it began adapting films. These hour-long radio programs were performed live before studio audiences...
on September 21, 1953 with Cary Grant
Cary Grant
Archibald Alexander Leach , better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was an English actor who later took U.S. citizenship...
in Montgomery Clift's role.
See also
Le ConfessionalLe Confessional
The Confessional is a 1994 mystery / drama film directed by Robert Lepage.The film is set in Quebec City, in two distinct time periods. In the present day, Pierre Lamontagne searches for his brother Marc to help unravel a family mystery...
, a 1994 film which dramatizes the filming of I Confess as the backdrop for a thematically-related story.