Confession **** (1937, Kay Francis, Basil Rathbone, Ian Hunter, Jane Bryan, Donald Crisp) – Classic Movie Review 12,681

Kay Francis stars as a cabaret singer who murders a renowned composer/concert pianist (Basil Rathbone) in Warner Bros’ entertaining, handsome and stylish 1937 romantic melodrama film Confession. 

Director Joe May’s 1937 film Confession is a preposterous but hugely entertaining, handsome looking and stylishly handled Thirties Warner Bros black and white romantic melodrama film. Kay Francis stars as cabaret singer Vera Kowalska, who is separated from her husband Leonide Kirow (Ian Hunter) and 17-year-old music student daughter Lisa Koslov (Jane Bryan) by horrible renowned composer/concert pianist Michael Michailow (Basil Rathbone), whom she shoots when he makes advances to the girl.

It starts in a European city in the year 1930. Soon, singer Vera is on trial for murder, and has to explain her crime.

The admirable Francis and Rathbone do very well to make the most of what considerable acting opportunities they can find in this beautifully photographed (by Sidney Hickox), excitingly designed (by Anton Grot) and gorgeously costumed movie.

The smart screenplay by Julius J Epstein and Margaret P LeVino is based on Hans Rameau’s script for the 1935 German film Mazurka with Pola Negri. In fact it is a scene-for-scene remake of Mazurka, for which Warner Bros bought the American distribution rights and then shelved in favour of the remake. Confession started shooting in March 1937 on a budget estimated at $513,000, and premiered in New York City on 19 August 1937.

The cast are Kay Francis as Vera Kowalska, Ian Hunter as Leonide, Basil Rathbone as Michael Michailow, Jane Bryan as Lisa Koslov, Donald Crisp as the Presiding Judge, Mary Maguire as Hildegard, Dorothy Peterson as Mrs Koslov, Laura Hope Crews as Stella, Robert Barrat as the Prosecuting Attorney, Ben Welden as the Defense Attorney, Veda Ann Borg as Xenia, Joan Valerie (credited as Helen Valkis) as Wanda, Sam Ash, Maurice Cass, John Davidson, Lawrence Grant, John Harron, Herbert Heywood, Leyland Hodgson, Stuart Holmes, Edward Keane, Peggy Keyes, John Mather, Ferdinand Munier, Paul Panzer, Sam Rice, Myrtle Stedman, Emmett Vogan, Pierre Watkin, Tom Wilson, and Jack Wise.

In 1933 Joe May (Joseph Otto Mandel, from Vienna) and many others working in the German film industry emigrated to the United States where he established himself as director, mainly for Universal Pictures and on B-movies. His most notable US works were Confession (1937), The House of the Seven Gables and The Invisible Man Returns (1941), as well as two Dead End Kids films, You’re Not So Tough (1940) and Hit the Road (1941), and his last film Johnny Doesn’t Live Here Any More (1944).

Confession is directed by Joe May, runs 88 minutes, is made by First National, is released by Warner Bros, is written by Julius J Epstein (English adaptation) and Margaret P LeVino (English adaptation), based on Hans Rameau’s script for the 1935 German film Mazurka, is shot in black and white by Sidney Hickox, is produced by Hal B Wallis (uncredited executive producer), Jack L Warner (uncredited executive producer) and Henry Blanke, is scored by Peter Kreuder, Heinz Roemheld and Leo F Forbstein, and is designed by Anton Grot.

© Derek Winnert 2023 – Classic Movie Review 12,681

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