Double Confession ** (1950, Derek Farr, Peter Lorre, William Hartnell, Joan Hopkins, Naunton Wayne, Ronald Howard, Kathleen Harrison, Leslie Dwyer, Edward Rigby) – Classic Movie Review 12,844

Ken Annakin’s teasing 1950 British whodunnit crime thriller film Double Confession is based on the novel All On a Summer’s Day by H L V Fletcher, and stars Derek Farr, plus William Hartnell and Peter Lorre, who came to blows.

Director Ken Annakin’s teasing 1950 British whodunnit crime thriller film Double Confession is based on the novel All On a Summer’s Day by the pseudonymous John Garden, and stars Derek Farr, Joan Hopkins, William Hartnell and Peter Lorre.

Inspector Tenby (Naunton Wayne) probes a case of murders at an English seaside resort, while casino boss William Hartnell looks suspicious, Kathleen Harrison looks dopey and Peter Lorre (Lorre? What’s he doing here?) looks as though he could be fed up, as well he might be, though he over-acts entertainingly, menacing moodily and magnificently.

Derek Farr stars as Jim Medway, who arrives late at night at a UK seaside town and goes to his estranged wife Lorna’s isolated coastal cottage, just in time to see prominent local businessman Charlie Durham (William Hartnell) leaving.

Someone has bumped off Lorna. Aware that Lorna was having an affair with Durham, Jim Medway may be the one who has killed her, or was it Durham, or…?

[Spoiler alert] The plot about a man who frames his wife’s lover for her death is complex without being satisfying. But the film is worth it for the vintage cast, especially Lorre but also Hartnell, the extensive location shooting and Ken Annakin’s usual professionalism. Watch for Desert Island Disc’s Roy Plomley as the ticket collector!

The cast are Derek Farr, Peter Lorre, William Hartnell, Joan Hopkins, Naunton Wayne, Ronald Howard, Kathleen Harrison, Leslie Dwyer, Edward Rigby, George Woodbridge, Henry Edwards, Esma Cannon, Mona Washbourne, and Roy Plomley.

The screenplay by William Templeton is based on the novel All On A Summer’s Day by H L V Fletcher, written under the pseudonym of John Garden.

The film was made at Warner Bros Teddington Studios, London, with extensive location shooting in Bexhill-on-Sea and Hastings in East Sussex.

Annakin allowed Lorre 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 recalled that Hartnell, who plays Lorre’s boss, ‘was driven, quite justifiably, to bitter anger and even blows.’

A restored edition of the film, once missing from the BFI National Archive and included on the British Film Institute’s list of 75 Most Wanted, was released on DVD by Renown Pictures in the UK February 2013. And in 2024 it is showing on Talking Pictures TV.

Ken Annakin also made Landfall (1949) for Associated British, starring Michael Denison, Patricia Plunkett and Kathleen Harrison.

The cast are Derek Farr as Jim Medway, Joan Hopkins as Ann Corday, William Hartnell as Charlie Durham, Peter Lorre as Paynter, Naunton Wayne as Inspector Tenby, Ronald Howard as Hilary Boscombe, Kathleen Harrison as Kate, Leslie Dwyer as Leonard, Edward Rigby as the fisherman, George Woodbridge as Sergeant Swanton, Henry Edwards as man in the shelter, Mona Washbourne as fussy mother, Vida Hope as Madam Zilia, Esma Cannon as Madame Cleo, Andrew Leigh as the reserved man, Fred Griffiths as the spiv, Jane Griffith as first girl, Diana Connell as second girl, Hal Osmond as gallery attendant, Norman Astridge as Selby, Roy Plomley as ticket collector, Jennifer Cross as fussy mother’s child, Betty Nelson as girl at shooting gallery, Sidney Vivian as ring stall attendant, and Grace Denbeigh-Russell as nosey woman.

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 12,844

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