I Confess (1953)

 Horseback to Byzantium's second blog entry into:

If you knew what he knew - what would you do?...

I Confess (1953)

Out of all of Alfred Hitchock's masterpieces, this one is probably my favorite. I feel like an insider to a mainstream 1950's movie (though not as mainstream as it should have been), and it's just so amazing. Beautiful and exact black and white cinematography, a haunting score, a unique and supsensful plot (I'm going to be using the word suspensful a lot here) and some great actors come together to make this a wonderful film. Not to mention, it's underrated, so that makes me like it even more, contrarian that I am. But why, you may ask, am I reviewing this for Catholic blog week? If you haven't already guessed from the title and picture, this movie is all about the sacrament of Confession and a priest so brave he wouldn't break the holy sacrament even to save his own neck. Now for a brief summary of the film:

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Fr. Michael Logan, a Catholic priest living and serving his flock in Quebec, finds his faith challenged in a shocking way when one late night, whilst hearing the confession of German immigrant Otto, the man confesses to murdering a local wealthy banker. The seal of confession cannot be broken, and Fr. Logan is weighed down by his knowledge of the murder that he cannot reveal to the police. As if that wasn't enough, soon the stakes are raised. Fr. Logan himself is suspected of the murder and has no way to clear himself, and soon his past life comes back to haunt him and a motive of murder on account of blackmail becomes all too believable.

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Once we showed this to our friend on a sunny afternoon when we felt like watching a movie, and when we mentioned it another day, she sad "Oh, isn't that the one with the hot priest?" Lolll I'm sorry, I just thought that was really funny and true. Anyway....
Since Alfred Hitchcock directed this movie, when I think of it and the moments that struck me, I can literally feel a chill. Some scenes just... were magical, in a dark way. Masterful would be a better word for it. Montgomery Clift is a masterful actor himself, and his eyes are so piercing that the way he looks when Otto reveals he murdered Mr. Rich-mean-banker is just like 'wow'. He carries the role of a man with a noble secret so well. I loooovvveee it when characters have something they just can't tell anyone and you know it's for a good cause and that it will cost them so much but they'll never tell because they're brave and everyone is trying so hard to get them to speak, but they just won't. I say this because I haaattteee it when characters have a secret that they really should tell and it's not that bad and they're just being silly and overly dramatic. I had to get that off my chest.
It seems that Montgomery Clift never changes his expressions noticibly, yet the subtle buildup of tension in the film is unmistakable.

Otto has piercing eyes as well, but creepy piercing eyes instead of beautiful piercing eyes.

So a couple days go by, an investigation ensues, and a tenacious police detective, played by an *excellent* Karl Malden, begins to suspect Fr. Logan for various reasons. He doesn't like to suspect a priest, but Fr. Logan does appear incredibly suspicious when he cannot account for his movements at a certain time of night that happened to be the time of the murder. And a man in a priest's cassock was seen near the scene of the crime by two young schoolgirls. Plus, he has a motive, which I will now tell you about in the messy part of the story. You see, at one time, Fr. Logan was........ IN LOVE!

It was before he became a priest, when he was young and Ruth (Anne Baxter's character) was just as young and almost as beautiful. But Michael (that's his first name) had to join the army and go off to fight in World War II, I believe. All this is showed to us in a mercifully brief flashback that I actually kind of enjoy. It's really dreamy and everyone looks beautiful and the music is lovely. I just close my eyes when they kiss. Long story short, Ruth thinks Logan is dead, and ends up marrying the man she works for, who is actually a very nice man. But Michael Logan WASN'T dead, and he comes back to Canada, looking for Ruth. She, in her joy at realizing her lost love is still alive, spends one entire magical day with him, without telling him she's married. Needless to say, we know this isn't gonna end well.
Caught in the rain, Ruth and Michael take cover under a little gazebo next to a house. They sit down and fall asleep at the table.
When they wake up, they see a man, the owner of the house apparently. He makes some crude insiuations about the two of them and reveals that Ruth is married. This man is the later-to-be-murdered-mean-old-banker... I should just look up his name.
Montgomery Clift looks so darn betrayed at this point, I just can't. He immediately breaks off their little rendezvous like a honorable man, and they don't see each other again, except in passing, because they awkwardly both live in Quebec.

As times goes on and Michael goes to seminary school and becomes a priest, Ruth and Michael's days together are mostly forgotten. Until Mr. Roberts (that's right, I looked it up) comes a-pokin' about Ruth's place, talking about what a shame it would be if her husband found out about a little affair she had with a man. Not just any man, but a priest! And KABAM. Next thing ya know, he's blackmailing her. Doesn't matter that Logan wasn't even a priest then and that nothing actually hanky-panky went on, he blackmails her anyway. 
And there you have Fr. Logan's motive.

I won't spoil anymore of the plot. Since the idenitity of the murderer is revealed early on in the story, this whole film is just suspense and more suspense.

Nothing (that I can think of) about Catholicism is misrepresented here and though Fr. Logan *did* run off to the seminary *after* he was left broken-hearted, it's clear that his heart is, when the film starts, in his vocation as a priest. He has no regrets, as is especially evident in his talks with Ruth. She obviously yearns for him, but he shows no such hankering after the forbidden. His path is laid out before him, and he does not wish to stray from it. God has put him there, and he wishes to serve God. 

Religion isn't mentioned too much in the film, but, as I said earlier, all is correct and as it should be. The center crisis of the film is brilliant and every single actor plays their part perfectly, just perfectly.

Watch for the part near the climax of the film, where Fr. Logan walks down the streets of Quebec, worn down by the secret he holds, and the theme piece of music grows louder and louder until Fr. Logan shows his frustration in one brief moment of exasperation. Absolutely beautiful direction. This is film making as it should be. 

This has been Horseback to Byzantium's second entry into the Catholic Blog Party, hosted by the Pen and the Cross and Bookshire. 
Irene signing out.