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ACF #25: Hitchcock, I Confess
More summer viewings? Here’s my podcast with Eric Cook on Hitchcock’s Catholic movie, I Confess, about the conflict between justice and faith, public and private, secular law and holy men, police investigation and the seal of secrecy in confession.
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Published in Podcasts
Last Fall I went to Latin Mass at the church in Quebec where the movie was filmed.
Gorgeous place.
This one and “The Wrong Man” make an excellent, rather depressing Fifties black and white duo about guilt and innocence. Both are among the lesser-seen Hitchcocks.
The Quebec locations weren’t the only moderately exotic thing about this film for American audiences; the practices of Roman Catholicism were not well known yet among the Protestant majority of the country (the Fifties would end up being a golden age for American Catholics), and many critics think this hurt the film’s reception; too many people had trouble believing the premise.
Like so:
BTW, Archie supposedly being an anti-Catholic Protestant was really a gift to “our” (Catholic) community. Since, oh, the 1910s, Archie had to be NYC’s last white Protestant construction worker or factory worker (the show was vague and its initial premises not maintained with Arahant-like exactitude). The real life Archie would have been Irish, Polish, or Italian. Making him Protestant made no sense, but it got them off the “prejudiced” hook, ’cause it was acceptable to present a bigoted Wasp.
(With the least authentic NYC accent I ever heard.)
I should emphasize right here that the Catholic-Protestant divide here is nothing like Europe’s experience of it, and has been largely amicable for nearly a century or more. The sanctity of the confessional is one of those eye-catching differences between faiths that makes it a good hook for drama.
So America’s religious wars in the 20th c. were something like Protestants–when they believed in God–obsessing over Christmas, the whole Anglo-Mitteleuropa pageant, tree, globes, gifts, & all–unlike the Catholics’ twelve days of Christmas. It’s not nothing, since it asserted that public space America was Protestant.
In the 19th c., there was real discrimination against Catholics, legally, not just socially, & against Catholic schools. But I haven’t heard of much mob violence–I mean the Klan hated Catholics, but you know, they hated most people…–much less war.
It’s nice being American. People might be restless to death but, you know, there’s not gonna be a lot of the actual violent dying we used to call history.
Now, as to confession, that’s an interesting matter. I guess Americans who hear God’s call are moving from Protestantism to Orthodoxy (fewer to Catholicism) precisely because of the insistence in European Christianity on what’s holy, what’s secret, & what’s a mystery. That’s the other side of having more liturgy or ritual. Whereas Protestant America was just simpler Christianity, for a long time it seemed more reasonable & really was more interested in actually doing good things for people. But eventually, most Protestant churches ran out of faith (not that Catholics do much better). So the secrecy turns out to be essential in some mysterious way.
But it doesn’t jibe well with democracy, science, transparency, accountability, openness, sameness. Another reason Americans would rather be Orthodox than Catholic is, Catholicism comes with a pope, & the inequality between Joe Q. Public & the guy with the Latin numeral after his name is too glaring. & hard to stomach, being told what to believe from on high. Like it or not, authority involves some mystery. Which brings us to I Confess–eventually, Christianity wins.
I don’t know what it’s like these days–one doesn’t see a lot of dying people desperate for a priest. But one does see the very old, or the dying, rather desperate, so they may actually be looking for priests. I’m not sure there’s any way to find out whether Americans really are Christian anymore except looking at fear of death…
What to make of Keller’s putative motive? Titus @titustechera points out that the principle of his action is self-preservation above all else. Yet he claims his core motive was pity at seeing his wife work so hard. Is he lying? Is she that overworked? Or is it his sense of fallen station (he says he is grateful for the priest’s having given him less menial chores) in his new condition? Or is it some sort of narcissistic pity? Or an outright lie? And why is this motive mentioned twice in the film? Important–or just a squirrel?
BTW–Would it be payola for Amazon Prime to pay Titus a commission? I’ve rented several films largely so I can enjoy the podcast discussion.
Yes, Keller has pride, wants a new life & feels he has a right to it. Amazon is not yet wise to paying me, I have to admit. Not even Alexa has the answer to why not, though…
@titustechera
I wonder if Amazon affiliate links work for rentals? You should try including a link to buy or purchase the movie in your podcast notes. It would be a service to those of us who do want to watch, but sometimes aren’t sure whether a movie is available in the various places where movies can be streamed. Even if it doesn’t make you much money, it would be a value to listeners.
Thanks for the idea! I’ll give it a try.