Double Confession (1950)

First let's deal with the sloppy writing: A man gets off a train at night. He is the sole passenger to leave. He asks the porter the way to the 'white cottage', the porter says it's a twenty minute walk. The man asks about a taxi, the porter says, not at this time of night, the man will have to walk along the cliffs. Fair enough but if a train is going to stop and discharge passengers there is likely to be a taxi(s) looking for fares. Later, when asked what train her arrived on and at what time, the man says he came on the mail train and arrived at 3.30. Is it likely there would be a porter on duty at 3.30 a.m? The man walks along the cliffs and is guided by a old salt checking his lobster nets. The next morning we find not a remote hamlet as we supposed but a busy seaside resort full of tourists. Shooting from the beach, pov of the ocean there are NO cliffs visible. There is, however, an interesting cast led by the wooden Derek Farr and the now forgotten Joan Hopkins. Notable among the support is Peter Lorre, William Hartnell, Naunton Wayne, and Kathleen Harrison and Leslie Dwyer who have absolutely nothing to do with the story despite prominent parts. See it for Lorre.

DOUBLE CONFESSION is a once-lost British slice of film noir, filmed in the coastal resort of Bexhill-on-Sea. The film itself is only partially successful, featuring a very bland and undistinguished leading man in Derek Farr, and is also quite badly written with lots of extraneous sub-plots to pad out the running time. But it also has one of the most wonderful casts in a film from this era.The general vibe here is BRIGHTON ROCK, although there's also a murder mystery aspect to the story as Farr attempts to solve a dual murder: that of his wife, and another chap who happened to fall from a cliff at virtually the same time. Sadly the premise is confusing, mainly because the second cliff-top murder isn't actually shown, and things don't become clear until the very end. The female cast also fare badly, engaged in bland sub-plots that merely slow the pacing down.Still, there are some good set-pieces here and there, not least an attack by speedboat that bears some stylistic similarities to the famous crop-duster attack in NORTH BY NORTHWEST - maybe Hitch got inspiration from this? The rousing climax is also worth waiting for, but the main reason to watch this is the supporting cast which is absolutely packed with familiar faces. William Hartnell and Peter Lorre make a fine tag-team as the villains, but that's only the start. There's Ronald Howard as a journalist, George Woodbridge as a copper, Leslie Dwyer as a random guy enjoying himself at the beach, and the wonderful comic actor Naunton Wayne (THE LADY VANISHES) as the investigating detective. There are also bit parts for future faces like CARRY ON actors Peter Butterworth and Esma Cannon. All in all a great collection of names which makes DOUBLE CONFESSION well worth a watch.

This film looks as if it has been cobbled together by a number of writers neither of whom had seen what the others were writing.There are so many contrivances and coincidences that at times make the film seem ludicrous.There seem to be half a dozen films in one,none of which seem to be connected.However there has to be some entertainment value in watching Kathleen Harrison trying to play beach cricket and Leslie Dwyer playing with his model boat in a three piece suit with his trouser legs rolled up.The main plot is just plain daft enlivened by the chalk and cheese performances and pairing of Lorre and Hartnell.There is one scene in the climax with Lorre at full blast which reminds of the scene between him and Bogart in The Maltese Falcon when Bogart takes his gun away.Unfortunately the antics of Lorre nor brief glimpses of familiar faces such as Esme Cannon and a very young Peter Butterworth cannnot save this mess submerging beneath the waves.

Graham Greene's "Brighton Rock" seems to have been the inspiration for this intriguing but not very coherent suspense story about murder and sundry underworld goings-on at a seaside resort. The narrative gets stuck somewhere between conventional English murder mystery and American-style noir and just never loosens up, and the sight of all those British holiday-makers lounging around on the beach in long dresses and tweed suits just sums up the ludicrous uptightness that plagues the whole concept. Peter Lorre is brought in to jazz up the proceedings in a rather daring role as a henchman who clearly appears to be carrying a torch for his villainous (male) employer.