Alfred Hitchcock Collectors Guide: I Confess (1953)

by Brent Reid
Brent Reid
Post Views: 30
  • Master of Suspense mines his Catholic roots for angst-ridden film noir
  • Conflicted: Montgomery Clift plays priest on the devil’s horns of a dilemma
  • Censored: Clift’s original co-star was dropped for being an unmarried mother
  • Director’s farewell to two decades of Academy ratio and penultimate B&W film
  • From now on, all his features are widescreen and in colour, apart from budget Psycho
  • Last US film to never have its credits, audio, aspect ratio or runtime altered on home video
  • Radio, TV and big screen remakes based on source play help keep the original’s drama alive

Note: this is part of an ongoing series of 150-odd Hitchcock articles; any dead links are to those not yet published. Subscribe to the email list to be notified when new ones appear.

Writing on a Classic: I Confess

Anne Baxter and Montgomery Clift in I Confess aka 私は告白する (1953, dir. Alfred Hitchcock) Japanese poster

Japanese poster (alt), based on: photo, photo (alt; press sheet/alt)

Contents

Production

When a priest is sworn to secrecy

AH’s suspenseful thriller, I Confess, set in the city of Quebec, opens with with the murder of a lawyer by the name of Villette. His killer is a man called Keller, the lay caretaker of a local parish church. Removing his bloodstained cassock, Keller returns to the church on the night of his crime and confesses all to young father Michael Logan – aware that, in the Roman Catholic canonical code, a priest is forbidden to reveal anything that may be told to him in the privacy of a confession booth.

By coincidence, Logan’s former girlfriend, Ruth Grandfort was, at the time, being blackmailed by Villette over her affair with the priest prior to his ordination. Since two children witnessed a man in priest’s garb leaving Villette’s house, and since Father Logan is unable to provide an adequate alibi, the evidence is strongly weighted against him. How Keller is finally brought to justice provides the gripping climax to one of Hitchcock’s most celebrated thrillers. – Japan Warner LaserDisc (1985)

“Technically one of Hitchcock’s most brilliant films.” – David Shipman, The Story of Cinema (1982)

In Alfred Hitchcock’s I Confess, Father Michael Logan (Montgomery Clift), apparently a model of clerical piety, hears a killer’s confession. Eyewitnesses point to a priest as the murderer and the sacrament of penance forbids Logan to speak out – even in his own defense – when circumstantial evidence targets Logan as the prime suspect! Academy Award winners Anne Baxter and Karl Malden co-star as a former flame and a police inspector whose attempts to clear Logan only entrap him further. Filmed in Quebec on locations highlighting that city’s Old World traditions, I Confess races toward a climax that’s unforgettable. And in true Hitchcock fashion, you’ll confess to being hooked all the way. – Warner DVD and BD

TCM, clips

I Confess was based on the 1902 play Nos deux consciences (Our Two Consciences) by Paul Anthelme Bourde, a French writer and colonial administrator. Although little is known about its theatrical history, it originally played at least domestically and in Canada. In most non-English countries, the film’s title was a straight translation but in some it was altered to The Law (or Torture) of Silence, or My Secret (or Sin) Condemns Me. Other adaptions of Bourde’s play are thin on the ground, with just one 1995 French TV movie and a contemporary US radio show:

Hitch was so impressed by Swedish actress Anita Björk’s performance in Miss Julie (1951) that she and Montgomery Clift were first to be announced as leads in I Confess. However, when she arrived in in Hollywood, divorced with her six-year-old son and fiancée Stig Dagerman in tow, she was let go as Warner Bros. feared offending a public that had recently shunned Ingrid Bergman for her extra-marital affair with Italian director Roberto Rossellini. The controversy had destroyed the pair’s film, Stromboli (1950), at the box office, so the more wholesomely married young mother Anne Baxter was cast in Björk’s stead. Excuses given ranged from scheduling conflicts for the actress – a blatant lie – to Warners wanting a “bigger-name star”.

Essays, etc

2023 saw I Confess 70 Years On (alt), an international symposium held in London featuring an array of experts and a 35mm screening; six of their 13 papers have been uploaded for posterity. (Tifenn Brisset’s slideshow)

Preserved transfer

I Confess aka Yo confieso (1953, dir. Alfred Hitchcock) Spanish Warner Bros. DVD

Spanish DVD (rear; US DVD)

Warner Bros. DVD box sets

Warner Bros. DVD box sets

Keen followers of my Hitchcock series will know I Confess is one of very few rarities in his oeuvre whose credits, audio, aspect ratio and runtime have never been altered on home video. Certainly it’s his last American film to be so accorded: all of them suffer various indignities from this point onwards. This particular transfer originates with a fine-grain master positive in superb condition, struck from the original nitrate negative. Apart from varying sub and dub options, and region coding, all DVDs are the same with the “Hitchcock’s Confession: A Look at I Confess” featurette (20:43), Canadian première newsreel (0:59, sound) and theatrical trailer (2:49). Note the German dub (alt) and subs are only to be found on that DVD.

Though far fewer than the literally countless bootlegs of Hitch’s British films, there are still many rip-offs. This time it’s anything not from Warner Bros., eg Italy (Golem, Quadrifoglio BD-R, Sinister Film), Germany (FNM), Spain (New Line BD-R), South Korea (Cine Korea, Cleo Entertainment).

Restored transfer

I Confess (1953, dir. Alfred Hitchcock) UK Warner Bros. Blu-Ray and DVD

UK BD/DVD

Warner Bros. Blu-ray box sets

Warner Bros. Blu-ray box sets

For its move to HD, the previously-used source was scanned in 2k and given a full digital clean-up. It now looks near-immaculate and apart from improving in all the expected areas – detail, grain resolution, audio fidelity, etc – also shows appreciably more information on both sides. Note that like all Warner Archive restorations, it’s exclusive to BD and not available to stream anywhere. The same extras are carried over to the BD but the trailer has also been upgraded to HD. Though the DVDs are region coded, Warner BDs are always region free and all these discs are identical, with the same copious sub and dub options. Screenshots are at Caps-a-holic, Hitchcock Zone and the US DVD and BD here:

Soundtrack

This was the third of four scores composed by Dimitri Tiomkin for the Master, alongside Shadow of a Doubt, Strangers on a Train and Dial M for Murder. Among many other other accolades throughout his incredibly prolific Hollywood years, Tiomkin was Oscar nominated 22 times, winning four, and the recipient of eight Golden Globe Awards. A couple of extracts directly from the film soundtrack are included on:

The only only other recording of this underrated pièce de résistance is a 3½-minute mini-suite of themes conducted by the maestro himself, which first appeared on an EP and album of his re-recorded works. It’s seen several kosher compilation releases over the years and many illicit ones; here are the former:

Miss Julie (1951)

Miss/Fröken/Mademoiselle Julie (1951) Belgian poster

Belgian poster

“Done with brilliant artistry. Profoundly moving.” – Film Daily
“Fascinating. Sjöberg wields a superb directorial hand.” – NY Times
“Triumphant. Will ring powerfully through every movie memory it enters.” – NY World-Telegram
“Remarkable. Greatness evokes greatness… a great author, a great play, a great movie.” – Classics of the Foreign Film (1962)

This haunting tale of emotional repression is the masterwork of director Alf Sjöberg (Torment). Sjöberg, a major force in the Swedish film renaissance, translated Strindberg’s acclaimed play about a noblewoman’s seduction by her coachman into a film of great beauty and depth. The action of Miss Julie flows across a lush estate where servants dance in celebration of Midsummer’s Eve. Their revelry provides stunning contrast to Miss Julie’s anguish and self-denial, following her all-too-brief romantic interlude. Anita Björk (Secrets of Women) portrays the tormented Julie with a sense of tragedy that belies her vibrant, youthful appearance. Ulf Palme is equally superb, in the role of Julie’s lover. Their powerful performances, under Sjöberg’s imaginative direction, made Miss Julie an international success. – US Home Vision VHS (1985)

Swedish filmmaker Alf Sjöberg’s visually innovative, Cannes Grand Prix-winning adaptation of August Strindberg’s renowned 1888 play brings to scalding life the excoriating words of the stage’s preeminent surveyor of all things rotten in the state of male-female relations. Miss Julie vividly depicts the battle of the sexes and classes that ensues when a wealthy businessman’s daughter (Anita Björk, in a fiercely emotional performance) falls for her father’s bitter servant. Celebrated for its unique cinematic style (and censored upon its first release in the United States for its adult content), Sjöberg’s film was an important turning point in Scandinavian cinema. – US Criterion DVD (2006)

Miss Julie is based on Swedish writer and painter August Strindberg’s perennially popular 1888 play Fröken Julie. In addition to countless theatrical productions, including several operas, it’s see many screen adaptations, of which Sjöberg’s version is the most highly regarded. It’s only available on a handful of releases, though all but one are English-friendly and feature a near-immaculate restored transfer. However, despite both US discs being the best overall, they are compromised slightly by Criterion’s ill-advised and short-sighted but thankfully short-lived policy of windowboxing their transfers within the DVD frame. There’s also a bootleg DVD from defunct Brazilian pirates Cult Classic, which is obviously best avoided.

Here are some detailed and perceptive essays on Miss Julie but they’re understandably replete with spoilers, so only recommended if you’ve already seem the film. Although paradoxically, reading them can only further whet you appetite for doing so… The first two are from Criterion’s DVD booklet, while the third is by film scholar Gene Adair, author of the excellent and insightful Alfred Hitchcock: Filming Our Fears (2002).

The Confessional (1995)

The Confessional aka Le confessionnal (1995) UK quad poster

UK quad poster; US

“Ambitious, intricate and ingenious!” – Brian Johnson, Maclean’s

“A stunning, eye-popping visual and sonic treat!” – Brendan Kelly, Variety

After conquering the public and the critics around the world with his spectacular shows and performances, the prolific Robert Lepage signs his first screen work, and once again it is a success. Dense with intrigue, this enigmatic story tells of two brothers’ adventurous quest into the past. After a long stay in China, Pierre Lamontagne returns to his native Quebec city for his father’s funeral, and reunites with his marginal adoptive brother, Marc. Together, they search for Marc’s unknown father, and their journey leads them to investigate Quebec city in the 1950’s… around the obscure set of Alfred Hitchcock’s I Confess. The investigation guides the two brothers to Massicotte, a mysterious high ranking civil servant, who seems to hold the last piece to the family’s cryptic puzzle… A dark family drama in the form of a tense thriller, Le Confessional will entertain as well as fascinate. – Canada Alliance VHS (1996)

Canadian playwright-actor-director Robert Lepage’s visually stunning, time-hopping masterpiece is set against the backdrop of the making of I Confess. Sadly, it’s too-little seen and crying out for a HD presentation as so far it’s only seen release on VHS, a Hong Kong LaserDisc and these:

Note that the original soundtrack is English and French, and the Canadian DVD has subs in both languages. The French and German discs have no subs while the latter has an additional domestic dub.

Interview, opening/clips

Writing on a Classic: I Confess

This is part of a unique, in-depth series of 150-odd Hitchcock articles.

I started Brenton Film because I love film – quelle surprise! The silent era, 1930s and 1940s especially get my literary juices flowing, so you'll see a lot about those. For more, see the About page and read this before emailing.

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