A "B" picture all the way, this 1953 Columbia release was written, produced, acted in, and directed by Hugo Haas, a Czech refugee who produced 12 extremely low budget films in the 1950s with his own independent production company.
Haas often utilized the talents of Cleo Moore, the "blonde bombshell" who Columbia initially groomed to become the next Marilyn Monroe. She never made it big and eventually retired from the movies and subsequently had a lucrative career as a real estate agent.
One Girl's Confession is an entertaining crime drama which hinges on two important twists, one as the inciting incident and the other as the basis of the "dark moment" crisis of the Second Act.
Moore plays waitress Mary Adams who robs her employer (who she maintains swindled her father out of his fortune years earlier) in the amount of $25,000 (worth $261K in today's dollars).
The twist is that after Mary makes off with the money, she buries it and then confesses to the police she was responsible for stealing it. She ends up getting a 1-10 sentence after refusing to divulge where the money is.
Now I never heard of such a scenario before where the criminal is willing to give up their freedom for so long so they can cash in their ill-gotten gains at such a later date.
As it turns out Mary is paroled after three years for "good behavior." I kind of doubt she could have gotten off early like that without revealing where she hid the cash.
Once paroled, Mary finds a job in another bar/restaurant owned by compulsive gambler Dragomie Damitrof (Haas). Mary is constantly rebuffing aggressive men who keep hitting on her including the boss.
When Damitrof loses all his assets including the restaurant in a card game, Mary agrees to give him $5,000 so he can cover a bad check and forestall the debtors.
Supposedly Mary is grateful to her boss for giving her a job but why doesn't she dig the money up herself instead of having Damitrof do it?
Damitrof is easily in a position to do that and when he returns and claims the money wasn't where Mary said she had buried it, soon enough Mary comes to the conclusion that he swindled her.
When Mary confronts the inebriated, passed out Damitrof in his swanky new apartment, she ends up hitting him over the head with a bottle, believing that she's killed him.
Twist #2 arrives when Damitrof's girlfriend tells him that indeed he never found the money and then in an incredible string of good luck, wins all his money back in a card game to the tune of $48,000.
The twist isn't over. Mary believing Damitrof to be dead digs up her stolen cash and donates all of it to an orphanage. After confessing to the "murder," the police kick her out of the station house after discovering that Damitrof is still quite alive.
Of course, the Hollywood production code would never allow a crime to go unpunished. Here Mary's "punishment" is the loss of the money. Her consolation prize: handsome fish wholesaler Gardener (Burt Muslin). All's well that ends well.
I enjoyed One Girl's Confession. Most of the acting is robotic except for Haas who captures the spirit of a real gambling addict. Most "B" pictures are bad but this one will oddly keep your interest throughout.
Haas often utilized the talents of Cleo Moore, the "blonde bombshell" who Columbia initially groomed to become the next Marilyn Monroe. She never made it big and eventually retired from the movies and subsequently had a lucrative career as a real estate agent.
One Girl's Confession is an entertaining crime drama which hinges on two important twists, one as the inciting incident and the other as the basis of the "dark moment" crisis of the Second Act.
Moore plays waitress Mary Adams who robs her employer (who she maintains swindled her father out of his fortune years earlier) in the amount of $25,000 (worth $261K in today's dollars).
The twist is that after Mary makes off with the money, she buries it and then confesses to the police she was responsible for stealing it. She ends up getting a 1-10 sentence after refusing to divulge where the money is.
Now I never heard of such a scenario before where the criminal is willing to give up their freedom for so long so they can cash in their ill-gotten gains at such a later date.
As it turns out Mary is paroled after three years for "good behavior." I kind of doubt she could have gotten off early like that without revealing where she hid the cash.
Once paroled, Mary finds a job in another bar/restaurant owned by compulsive gambler Dragomie Damitrof (Haas). Mary is constantly rebuffing aggressive men who keep hitting on her including the boss.
When Damitrof loses all his assets including the restaurant in a card game, Mary agrees to give him $5,000 so he can cover a bad check and forestall the debtors.
Supposedly Mary is grateful to her boss for giving her a job but why doesn't she dig the money up herself instead of having Damitrof do it?
Damitrof is easily in a position to do that and when he returns and claims the money wasn't where Mary said she had buried it, soon enough Mary comes to the conclusion that he swindled her.
When Mary confronts the inebriated, passed out Damitrof in his swanky new apartment, she ends up hitting him over the head with a bottle, believing that she's killed him.
Twist #2 arrives when Damitrof's girlfriend tells him that indeed he never found the money and then in an incredible string of good luck, wins all his money back in a card game to the tune of $48,000.
The twist isn't over. Mary believing Damitrof to be dead digs up her stolen cash and donates all of it to an orphanage. After confessing to the "murder," the police kick her out of the station house after discovering that Damitrof is still quite alive.
Of course, the Hollywood production code would never allow a crime to go unpunished. Here Mary's "punishment" is the loss of the money. Her consolation prize: handsome fish wholesaler Gardener (Burt Muslin). All's well that ends well.
I enjoyed One Girl's Confession. Most of the acting is robotic except for Haas who captures the spirit of a real gambling addict. Most "B" pictures are bad but this one will oddly keep your interest throughout.