A reasonably solid Hitchcock thriller, though the ending veers towards rather extreme melodrama. Ultimately this film will succeed or not depending on how much sympathy you have for the central character's dilemma. Presumably at the time this film was made, there was considered to be something vaguely noble in a priest keeping a criminal's confidence - following numerous real-life scandals regarding church cover-ups, I'm not sure how much of this will hold much water for a modern audience. A more in depth exploration of the moral aspect might have been nice, but as it is, this film is more concerned with the nuts and bolts of the plot.
Hitchcock may have been contemplating his earlier days in Munich when he made this taut and exciting film noir, as it is reminiscent of the expressionist films of FW Murnau, particularly in a long flashback, and an impressive near silent performance from German actor Dolly Haas.
Montgomery Clift plays a priest suspected of murder who hears the confession of the real killer but is unable to break the sanctity of the sacrament in order to clear his own name. It's a thriller that's quite close to home for the Jesuit educated Hitchcock and the theme of catholicism and guilt are of course integral to his work.
Hitch didn't like working with Clift as he found him unpredictable and uncooperative (and often drunk), but Clift's palpable anguish really makes the film more emotionally compelling than the director's films often are. Haas and OE Hasse are great in support.
There is a strong visual evocation of the City of Quebec and beautiful b&w photography from Robert Burks. Not absolute Grade A Hitchcock, but different and full of atmosphere.