Moviecut—Double Confession

source: Double Confession

Double Confession

The best that I can say about the film is that it's a good representation of a busy day at an English seaside resort in 1950. But that detracts from the plot, about a double murder, with Derek Farr being the main suspect. But in between answering the police's questions and facing up to the local bad guy (excellently played by William Hartnell), he still has time to meet a young woman on the beach and enjoy all the fun of the fair, including the pair having their fortunes told. The scenes with Leslie Dwyer as the man with the model boat were intrusive to the point of being cringe-worthy. I gave up on it with 20 minutes to go, though I gather from one review that's when it gets good - though a number of questions are left unanswered.

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.