I Confess (1953) | Presenting Hitchcock Podcast

Gooooood evening. In this months episode of Presenting Hitchcock, Cory and Aaron can’t hold in what they know about “I Confess.”

Picture Title: I Confess (1953)

Written by: George Tabori and William Archibald

Based on the play “Nos deux consciences” by Paul Anthelme

Starring: Montgomery Clift, Anne Baxter, Karl Malden, Brian Aherne, O. E. Hasse, Roger Dann, Dolly Haas, and Charles Andre

Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock

Trailer:

Our Favourite Trivia:

Director Cameo: On the sidewalk at the top of the escalier Champlain, also called escalier casse-cou (breakneck staircase), in the old part of Québec City (Vieux-Québec).

Alfred Hitchcock, who was raised a Catholic, was fascinated with the original 1902 play, as it dealt extensively with the concept of Catholic guilt. This movie had one of the longest pre-productions of any Alfred Hitchcock movie, with twelve writers working on the script for Hitchcock over an eight-year period.

Although William Archibald and George Tabori, who are credited on-screen, were hired to collaborate on the script, Barbara Keon, who is listed on-screen as Production Associate, worked with Alfred Hitchcock on some of the difficult scenes. In the original play, the priest and his lover had an illegitimate baby, and the priest was hanged at the end. These elements had to be eliminated to avoid the wrath of the censor.

The original play was based on the real-life case of Abbe Albert Bruneau, born 1861. He was a somewhat dissolute priest, well-known in local brothels and suspected of several thefts and of burning down his house for the insurance money. In 1894 he was accused of the murder of his colleague, Abbe Fricot, who had been beaten and thrown down the presbytery well. Still protesting his innocence, Bruneau was executed by guillotine later that year.

To prepare for the role, Montgomery Clift spent a week living at a Quebecois monastery. He became friendly with one of the monks there and would often turn to him for advice during filming. Much tension occurred on-set over Montgomery Clift’s insistence on having his acting coach, Maria Rostova, by his side at all times. Alfred Hitchcock found that Clift didn’t listen to him at all.

Alfred Hitchcock created detailed storyboards for each scene. He could not understand Montgomery Clift’s method acting technique and quickly became frustrated with Clift when he blew take after take for failing to follow Hitchcock’s instructions. Clift also apparently drank during the shooting and his eyes appear glazed during the ferry scene. Hitchcock delegated an assistant director and Karl Malden to talk to Clift about it. Anne Baxter said that she found Clift to be very unresponsive in a lot of their scenes together.

Alfred Hitchcock told a New York Times reporter in August 1952 that he chose Québec for filming because “in no American city do you find a priest walking down the street in a cassock.”

Father La Couline from Quebec was hired as a technical advisor for the church. He objected to the length and passion of the kiss between Montgomery Clift and Anne Baxter in their early takes until Anne Baxter reportedly said to him, “But Father La Couline, if you could see how we kiss in Hollywood.”

As a soldier in the Canadian Army during World War II, Michael Logan’s uniform features a Regina Infantry Regiment shoulder patch. Regina is a city in Saskatchewan that is two thousand miles from Québec City, Québec; it’s possible, but extremely unlikely, that Logan would have enlisted in this faraway regiment.

The ship in this film, the “Louis Jolliet”, was originally a car ferry built in 1938. It was converted to exclusively passenger excursion use in 1977, capable of carrying nearly 1,100 passengers and crew. It is still in operation today.

Hitchcock was upset by censorship in Quebec. Quebec authorities, church, and population had been very helpful, and he gave a nice speech at the premiere in Quebec attended with the movie’s stars. Watching it, he was horrified that the Catholic authorities had edited out 2 ½ minutes, in particular, the kiss. After the showing, he refused to talk to the dignitaries and stormed out, vowing never to set foot in Quebec again.

Alfred Hitchcock was disappointed by the lukewarm reception of this movie and later judged it to be heavy-handed and lacking his usual humor and subtlety. He also reckoned that Protestants wouldn’t have totally understood the concept of the sanctity of the confessional.

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Next up, we’ll be discussing “Jamaica Inn”

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