{"id":36129,"date":"2016-07-18T22:38:19","date_gmt":"2016-07-19T05:38:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/?p=36129"},"modified":"2016-07-18T22:38:19","modified_gmt":"2016-07-19T05:38:19","slug":"challenge-week-28-i-confess","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2016\/07\/challenge-week-28-i-confess\/","title":{"rendered":"Challenge Week 28: I Confess"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s pretty well-known among my friends and acquaintances that I’m a huge Alfred Hitchcock fan, so assigning me a Hitchcock film I hadn’t seen was a kind of a gimme. This, I believe, was one of two American Hitchcock films I hadn’t seen (now the only remaining American one is The Paradine Case<\/em>, but I have basically everything pre-1934 to catch up on). While I Confess<\/em> isn’t usually considered top-drawer Hitchcock, I still expected to enjoy it, and I did.<\/p>\n

Montgomery Clift is a priest who hears the confession of a murderer, but confession is sacred and even when he himself is implicated in the murder, he cannot reveal the truth to save himself. It’s not really a MacGuffin, but is pretty straightforward – Hitchcock is sincere here, which I enjoyed.<\/p>\n

\"tf-otto\"<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Clift is much more of a Method actor than Hitchcock usually cast, but his quiet intensity works for the taciturn priest who tries to protect those around him, including Anne Baxter, who had loved him before he became a priest and whose reputation is on the line – the murdered man had been blackmailing her over her relationship with Clift’s priest.<\/p>\n

I will say that it takes a bit of the edge off when you realize that really, even if the priest did reveal the confession, it’s his word against the murderer’s – you could argue that people would be more likely to believe the priest, but if you believe a priest is capable of murder, you’re probably fairly willing to believe he’d lie to get away with it. So really, not giving up the murderer may not have been TOTALLY self-sacrificial, since he likely figured it wouldn’t have helped anyway. The way it actually plays out is more satisfying that I expected.<\/p>\n

\"tf-courtroom\"<\/p>\n

I always enjoy seeing Baxter, and Clift is swiftly moving up my list of classic actors to seek out more regularly, but I have to say, what really cemented this in my head as a Hitchcock film was the cinematography and camera work. Right from the very beginning, the compositions are striking, and there are several shadows-at-night shots that are breathtaking. Of course, Hitch could do stuff like this in his sleep, but he’s pulling from a very noirish tradition here stylistically, and that’s never a bad thing for me.<\/p>\n

A safe recommendation perhaps, but a very welcome one, as I’ve been very eager to get to these last few Hitchcock films, and I appreciated the opportunity to knock this one off my list.<\/p>\n

\"tf-crucifix\"<\/p>\n

Stats and stuff…<\/h3>\n

1953, USA<\/em>
\ndirected by Alfred Hitchcock, written by George Tabori and William Archibald<\/em>
\nstarring Montgomery Clift, Anne Baxter, Karl Malden, Brian Aherne<\/em><\/p>\n

I’m ranking all my Challenge films on Flickchart (as I do all the films I see), a movie-ranking website that asks you to choose your favorite between two movies until it builds a ranked list of your favorites. Just for fun, I will average out the rankings and keep a running tally of whose recommendations rank the highest. When you add a film to Flickchart, it pits it against films already on your chart to see where it should fall. Here’s how I Confess<\/em> entered my chart:<\/p>\n

I Confess<\/b> > Raging Bull
\nI Confess<\/b> > Bound
\nI Confess < Magnolia<\/b>
\nI Confess < The Matrix Reloaded<\/b>
\nI Confess<\/b> > Waitress
\nI Confess < Thirst<\/b>
\nI Confess < Transamerica<\/b>
\nI Confess<\/b> > A Day at the Races
\nI Confess<\/b> > The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
\nI Confess < Standing in the Shadows of Motown<\/b>
\nI Confess<\/b> > Road to Morocco<\/p>\n

Final ranking #780 out of 3677 films on my chart (79%)<\/p>\n

It is now my #13 Alfred Hitchcock film, my #3 Montgomery Clift film, my #3 Anne Baxter film, my #2 Karl Malden film, my #43 Crime Drama, and my #14 film of 1953.<\/p>\n

I Confess<\/em> was recommended by David Anderson, a friend from the Flickcharters group on Facebook.<\/p>\n

A few more screenshots…<\/h3>\n

\"tf-body\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-dark-streets\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-looming-shadow\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-right-direction\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-streetcenter\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-confession\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-Malden\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-telephone\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-kiss\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-incredulous\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-table\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-baxterclift\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-hall\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-breakdown\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s pretty well-known among my friends and acquaintances that I’m a huge Alfred Hitchcock fan, so assigning me a Hitchcock film I hadn’t seen was a kind of a gimme. This, I believe, was one of two American Hitchcock films I hadn’t seen (now the only remaining American one is The Paradine Case, but I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36149,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3027],"tags":[285,3185,3183,2441,3184],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/tf-feat3.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":826,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2007\/11\/pushing-daisies-and-hitchcock\/","url_meta":{"origin":36129,"position":0},"title":"Pushing Daisies and Hitchcock","author":"Jandy","date":"November 29, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"So, what is up with all the Hitchcock references on Pushing Daisies lately? Two weeks ago, I thought the dog breeder's death scene was vaguely reminiscent of Psycho, what with the black and white, the window looking over a nondescript city, the violin music, the shots of a knife NOT\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Film"","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1547,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2008\/10\/guess-which-shows-doing-hitchcock-again\/","url_meta":{"origin":36129,"position":1},"title":"Guess Which Show’s Doing Hitchcock Again?","author":"Jandy","date":"October 17, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Yep, Pushing Daisies is at it again! This week's episode \"Bad Habits\" boasts a death-by-clocktower-fall that may be suicide or may be murder. In any case, it's quite Vertigo-esque. That makes twice they've done Vertigo, twice (at least) for Psycho, and once for The Birds. I vote they do Rear\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Television"","block_context":{"text":"Television","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/television\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/vlcsnap-51367.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":32980,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2013\/08\/top-ten-alfred-hitchcock-films\/","url_meta":{"origin":36129,"position":2},"title":"Top Ten: Alfred Hitchcock Films","author":"Jandy","date":"August 21, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Alfred Hitchcock, celebrating what would have been his 114th birthday last week, is undeniably my favorite director. I've seen almost all of his filmography, barring a few scattered ones here and there and most of the silents, and even though there are a few I'm not that crazy about (looking\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Film"","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/feat-Hitchsilhouette.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":23443,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2011\/07\/50dmc-6-least-favorite-film-from-favorite-director\/","url_meta":{"origin":36129,"position":3},"title":"50DMC #6: Least Favorite Film from Favorite Director","author":"Jandy","date":"July 4, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The 50 Day Movie Challenge asks one question every day, to be answered by a few paragraphs and a clip, if possible. Click here for the full list of questions. Today's prompt: What is your least favorite film from your favorite director? My overall favorite director is Alfred Hitchcock, perhaps\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Film"","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/50-Day-Challenge-06.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":31498,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2012\/05\/preserving-the-fragments-the-white-shadow\/","url_meta":{"origin":36129,"position":4},"title":"Preserving the Fragments: The White Shadow","author":"Jandy","date":"May 16, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"[This post is a contribution to the third annual For the Love of Film blogathon and fundraiser, which will be running from May 13-18. This year, hosts Marilyn Ferdinand, Farran Smith Nehme and Roderick Heath have dedicated the week to Alfred Hitchcock, whose early (non-directorial) work The White Shadow will\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Film"","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/whiteshadow11.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":473,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2007\/06\/afis-100-years100-movies-2007-edition\/","url_meta":{"origin":36129,"position":5},"title":"AFI’s 100 Years…100 Movies — 2007 Edition","author":"Jandy","date":"June 21, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The American Film Institute released an updated version of their 100 Years...100 Movies list of greatest American movies. Apparently they're going to do that every ten years. I only saw the tail end of the special last night--did any one else catch it? I think I saw the top fifteen\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Film"","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36129"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36129\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}