I Confess Reviews

I confess I cried a bit towards the end

At first this seems slow-moving for today's tastes. But, after a while, I found myself very attached to the characters and moved by the emotional content of the film.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Clift hanger

It may be one of Hitchcock's minor masterpieces and fairly melodramatic at that, but the sheer scale of the acting and suspense is worth the watching. The plot is also a little fanciful in that we know who did it from the outset but wonder why his whole attitude changes when the priest is suspected. But forget all that, the sheer vigour of the action and direction is superb, and as in all Hitch's films, the cinematography is stunning.

Clift is worth it

Difficult to classify as a Hitchcock movie (I am always convinced that one day we will find out that he didn't direct some of his films, and then all the critics will have to backtrack on their comments over the years) especially as Montogomery Clift stars in this one - I suspect not one of Hitch's favourite actors. Clift himself seems uncomfortable in his role as the Quebec priest who hears a murderer confess to his crime but cannot reveal the name to the police, even when he himself comes under suspicion, but he is watchable as always and Karl Malden also puts in a good performance as the detective. The setting is rather different as well which makes a welcome change and overall this is an underrated film which deserves wider recognition. There is a quite interesting 20 minute bonus film about the movie, but one final point; this is marked down as a children's film on the website - shurely shome mishtake?

That's Montgomery Clift, honey

I gave this 5 stars. All of them are for the beautiful and mesmerising screen presence that is Montgomery Clift.

I'm sure the film had lots of things going for it but to be honest I only had eyes for Monty.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Confess what?

ou never find out why the guy who killed the man killed him, not one clue to his motive lies in this film-totally unsatisfied.

Sparkling performance from Monty!

This film may be over 50 years old but Montgomery Clift is still the master of the tortured soul persona. Not the best from Hitchcock but for Monty fans it's a must. Only Richard Chamberlain (Thorn Birds) looks as good in a cassock!

Catholic guilt Hitchcock style

Finely characterised, superbly constructed, well acted. Only the final quarter lets it down - there's something about court cases which seems to zap all pace, momentum and credibility out of a narrative, and this one injects a certain cheapness to the proceedings. It tends to make a film out of nothing, really, complicating an otherwise surefire tragedy (nobody doubts that Clift would have let himself be hanged in order to maintain his Catholic professionalism) with the introduction of a witness, one who happens to be in the thick of it because she is also a love interest, and whose revelation midway through makes the seriousness and intimacy of the script all the more dramatic.

excellent drama on a test of character

A priest hears a confession to a murder but is bound not to speak of it even when the murder investigation starts to point at him. Hitchcock superbly ratchets up the tension and Montgomery Clift is superb.