Double Confession

Ken Annakin's "Double Confession" is an offbeat, extremely well-done suspense movie, fortunately revived almost 75 years later via YouTube.

Set at a seaside resort where day-trippers enjoy themselves, it is far from the film noir genre, though would-be film buffs have lumped every post-war crime movie artificially into that artificial niche as a marketing hook. Derek Farr is wonderful in his low-key, wholesome acting as the antihero one is inclined to root for. Joan Hopkins is a winning presence opposite him as an unwed mother who provides the movie with warmth, while local superstar Kathleen Harrison intermittently provides needed comic relief in her slapstick fashion.

On the villains side, William Hartnell is very subtle in creating a bad guy who seems so civilized yet is hateful, while loose cannon Peter Lorre is more than a scene stealer in his effortless creation of a perverted henchman. Best of all, the all-time great cameraman Geoffey Unsworth, early in his distinguished career, offers truly atmospheric location photography.

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.

Despite seeing many British 1940s/50s films. this was the first time I had seen "Double Confession".The cast reads like a veritable whose who of well known actors/actresses working in 1950.I have seen Derek Farr playing very anodyne parts in films like "Quiet Wedding" (1941) & its companion film "Quiet Weekend" (1946) but given the right casting he could turn on his thespian power playing the lead in this film.Ronald Howard (who plays the newspaper editor) was 32 when he made this film and looks every inch his father's son.His father being of course the great actor Leslie Howard.Naunton Wayne (in one of his outings without Basil Radford - Charters & Caldicott) plays the police inspector who actually drinks whiskey while on duty!Another film Naunton played solo in 1950 was "Highly Dangerous" with Margaret Lockwood.Kathleen Harrison plays her usual working class role seemingly trying to "pick up" Leslie Dwyer on the beach.Edward Rigby adds his usual colourful local accented character.The only surprise to me was Joan Hopkins whom Derek Farr befriends at the beach resort.I saw a documentary recently and many women who had illegitimate children felt compelled to renounce motherhood for them and send them off for adoption , if it would have caused a family scandal if they had kept them.Joan plays such a mother agonising over this type of moral dilemma.She does have lovely diction and it is always a pleasure to hear beautifully spoken English which actresses were taught in their drama academies at the time.

Unlike the two previous reviewers, I notice the mass of user ratings on IMDb rated this 7.3/10 which is good and I too rated it 7/10.I agree the plotting is a bit confused and could have done with better editing but I enjoyed this film nevertheless.

Another from the list The Best British Noirs of All Time that I wasn't crazy about.

Derek Farr stars as a man, Medway, who travels to see his wife who is staying in a place called The White Cottage.

When he arrives, he sees a man leaving, so he hides. The next day she is found dead, as is another man.

Farr visits his wife's lover (William Hartnell) and informs him that he, Medway, killed his wife but plans to tell the police that he did it.

Peter Lorre plays Hartnell's sidekick, who will do anything to help his boss.

To be honest I lost interest. And I admit I became a little confused.

There are better lists than the one I have used to watch these films. Disappointing.

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.