As Alfred Hitchcock is my favourite director of course I would see I Confess. And on the most part I wasn't disappointed, for my tastes Dmitri Tiomkin's music score is too much of a drone(unusual for Tiomkin) but while not among Hitchcock's finest I Confess is what I consider Hitchcock's most underrated(Stage Fright got that honour before I saw this though). We do know who the killer is right at the start and after the first 40 minutes it is somewhat more talky and not quite as suspenseful as other Hitchcocks, there's also the unfamiliarity at the time of the Catholicism codes. It is strikingly shot, helping a lot with the atmosphere, and the settings and costumes are rendered nicely too. The dialogue is talky but is thoughtfully written and gripping, just don't expect the wit of North By Northwest and To Catch a Thief or black humour of The Trouble with Harry and Family Plot(it's not that type of film) and be thankful that it isn't overwrought and stilted like Under Capricorn, Juno and the Paycock and Paradine Case. The story is quite slow but very atmospheric with a suspenseful(in that you wonder whether Logan will betray the confessional's secrets or not) first 40 minutes and reasonably tense climax, like 39 Steps and North By Northwest it is a classic wrong man story with also the idea of guilt seen in Strangers on a Train. The idea of Logan's dilemma throughout the film is one we can relate to, no matter how unfamiliar it was at the time, and it is relevant today I think. Hitchcock's direction is fine, and so are the performances. I can see why people may not like Montgomery Clift's performance, but I loved his brooding intensity and methodical nature for the difficult role he has to do, a similar style of acting to Paul Newman in Torn Curtain but far more convincing. In fact for any of the actors who did any of the brooding intense roles for a Hitchcock film that aren't Cary Grant or James Stewart, I consider Clift one of the better ones. Anne Baxter is very good as a less likable but just as interesting character, while Karl Malden is perfectly cast and Brian Aherne does menacing and sympathetic rather well. All in all, not typical for Hitchcock but it is a great film and his most underrated. 9/10 Bethany Cox
Review of I Confess
