Double Confession

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Double Confession
"Double Confession" (1950).jpg
Directed by Ken Annakin
Screenplay by William Templeton
Based onAll on a Summer's Day by John Garden
Produced byHarry Reynolds
Starring Derek Farr
Joan Hopkins
William Hartnell
Peter Lorre
Cinematography Geoffrey Unsworth
Edited byCarmen Belaieff
Music by Benjamin Frankel
Production
company
Harry Reynolds Productions
Distributed by Associated British
Release date
  • 1 May 1950 (1950-05-01)
Running time
81 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
Language English
Box office£102,299 (UK) [1]

Double Confession is a 1950 British crime film directed by Ken Annakin and starring Derek Farr, Joan Hopkins, William Hartnell and Peter Lorre. [2] The screenplay by William Templeton is based on the 1949 novel All On A Summer's Day by H.L.V. Fletcher (under the pen name John Garden). [3]

Contents

Plot

Arriving late at night in the (fictional) seaside town of Seagate, Jim Medway heads for his estranged wife Lorna's isolated coastal cottage. As he arrives, he sees prominent local businessman Charlie Durham coming out of the house. With the awareness that his wife had been having an affair with Durham, did Jim Medway kill her, or was it Charlie – or someone else entirely? Jim meets a young woman with a big decision to make in her life; he enjoys her company and wants to spend time with her, but she overhears him telling Charlie that he killed his wife, but plans to tell the police Charlie did so. This makes her decide to leave, but later, when they meet up again, she agrees to spend the day with him, having come to believe that he killed his wife in a moment of madness. She finally tells him that she knows about his wife, and that she realises that because of her death there is no future for her and Jim, but that she wanted them both to have a day to remember. However, she does not approve of his exacting revenge on Charlie by attempting to get the wealthy entrepreneur arrested for murdering Lorna, although he assures her he will not let Charlie take the blame; he only wants to make him suffer for a time. However, Durham's sinister homicidal sidekick Paynter is out to protect his friend by arranging a little "accident" for Medway. As Inspector Tenby slowly gathers clues to solve the mystery, he begins to suspect there is a less obvious culprit.

Cast

Production

The film was made at the Teddington Studios of Warner Brothers in London with extensive location shooting in Bexhill-on-Sea and nearby Hastings in East Sussex. [4] The film's sets were designed by the art director Bernard Robinson.

It was one of two films Ken Annakin made on loan out from Gainsborough Pictures to Associated British, the other being Landfall (1949). Annakin wrote "Neither had very good scripts, nor exciting casting... except for Peter Lorre" who was in Double Confession. Annakin admired Lorre so much he allowed "him to play his role in an offbeat, unconventional way" but "the result was that the film was pulled completely out of joint. Lorre stole every scene and acted like the boss of the casino instead of the henchman!" Annakin says Bill Hartnell, who played Lorre's boss, "was driven, quite justifiably, to bitter anger and even blows. I learned the hard way that a director must guard against allowing a gimmicky actor to add so much ‘shtick’ that he throws the balance of the whole film." [5]

Releases

Double Confession is missing from the BFI National Archive, and is included on the British Film Institute's list of "75 Most Wanted". [6] A complete 35mm print does exist in an independent archive in the UK.[ citation needed ] In February 2013, a restored edition was released on DVD by Renown Pictures in the UK. [7]

Critical reception

In contemporary reviews Kine Weekly said "The film has a very involved story and to make matters worse it keeps breaking off to tour the popular seaside resorts where it was shot. This, together with its colourless 'tarnished lady' love interest, takes much of the sting out of many an intended thrill." [8]

Monthly Film Bulletin wrote "Melodrama with an extremely confused plot involving two murders at a seaside resort. ... The film does not even remain true to its melodramatic plot, but breaks off into touches of stereotyped humour from Kathleen Harrison, and prolonged tours of the various entertainments of the seaside town." [9]

In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 David Quinlan rated the film as "mediocre", writing: "Thriller seems to have bewildered most reviewers: one remarked that it told him more about Bexhill and Hastings than its own plot." [10]

Leslie Halliwell said: "Confused and unlikely melodrama which signally lacks the ancient mariner's eye. " [11]

In The New York Times , Bosley Crowther commented, "it rambles around in maddening fashion for what seems interminable hours while Naunton Wayne as a deadpanned detective tries to figure out who killed whom...It is all very odd and disconnected, especially when Peter Lorre pops in from time to time to behave like a degenerate and offer to kill anybody in the house"; [12] while more recently Allmovie wrote, "The presence of Peter Lorre assured a modicum of American business for the British meller Double Confession...Lorre's role is largely peripheral, but he does supply a few moments of genuine menace"; [13]

Sky Movies wrote, "Director Ken Annakin showed in an earlier film, Holiday Camp [1947], that he liked to be beside the seaside. But, in this superior crime drama, he makes the resort of 'Seagate' appear a very sinister place indeed. The whodunnit plot benefits enormously from Peter Lorre's almost apologetic menace"; [14] and The Digital Fix concluded, "it’s an excellent piece of work. Tightly constructed, exceptionally well-performed and with a wonderful sense of place, Double Confession deserves to find an enthusiastic audience." [15]

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References

  1. ↑ Vincent Porter, 'The Robert Clark Account', Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol 20 No 4, 2000 p492
  2. ↑ "Double Confession". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
  3. ↑ Goble, Alan (1 January 1999). The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN   9783110951943 – via Google Books.
  4. ↑ "Double Confession". REELSTREETS. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
  5. ↑ Annakin, Ken (2001). So you wanna be a director?. Tomahawk Press. p. 42.
  6. ↑ "Double Confession / BFI Most Wanted". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 3 August 2012. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
  7. ↑ "Double Confession [194792] - £7.99 : Renown Films". Archived from the original on 2 December 2016. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  8. ↑ "Double Confession". Kine Weekly . 398 (2242): 23. 20 April 1950 – via ProQuest.
  9. ↑ "Double Confession". Monthly Film Bulletin . 17 (193): 66. 1 January 1950 – via ProQuest.
  10. ↑ Quinlan, David (1984). British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd. p. 303. ISBN   0-7134-1874-5.
  11. ↑ Halliwell, Leslie (1989). Halliwell's Film Guide (7th ed.). London: Paladin. p. 291. ISBN   0586088946.
  12. ↑ "Movie Reviews". The New York Times. 30 March 2022.
  13. ↑ "Double Confession (1950) - Ken Annakin - Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related - AllMovie".
  14. ↑ "Double Confession".
  15. ↑ Fix, Anthony Nield, The Digital. "Double Confession - DVD Review - Film @ The Digital Fix".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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