The Impostor [Strange Confession] *** (1944 Jean Gabin, Richard Whorf, Allyn Joslyn, Ellen Drew, Peter Van Eyck, Ralph Morgan) – Classic Movie Review 11,766

Director Julien Duvivier’s 1944 Universal Pictures American black and white war drama film The Impostor [Strange Confession] stars Jean Gabin as a condemned murderer who escapes when the Nazis bomb his French jail. He takes on the uniform and identity of a French soldier who has died in the war, joins the Free French Forces in French Equatorial Africa and becomes a hero to the Free French, sacrificing himself for his country.

Gabin involvingly fleshes out a fully delineated character in this well-meaning interesting little tale, low on action and attack, but high on quality writing. It is rigorously handled by expert cinema technician Duvivier.

The cast are Jean Gabin as Clement / Maurice LeFarge, Richard Whorf as Lt. Vareene, Allyn Joslyn as Bouteau, Ellen Drew as Yvonne, Peter Van Eyck as Hafner, Ralph Morgan as Col. De Bolvin, Eddie Quillan as Cochery, John Qualen as Monge, Dennis Moore as Maurice LaFarge, Milburn Stone as Clauzel, John Philliber as Mortemart, Charles McGraw as Menessier, Otho Gaines as Matowa, John Forrest as Free French corporal, Fritz Leiber as Priest, Ian Wolfe as Sgt. Clerk, William B. Davidson as Adjutant, Frank Wilcox as Prosecutor, Warren Ashe as Officer, Peter Cookson as Soldier, Leigh Whipper as Toba, Ernest Whitman as Ekoua, Grandon Rhodes as Captain, and George Irving as Prosecutor.

The Impostor [Strange Confession] is directed by Julien Duvivier, runs 92 minutes, is made and released by Universal Pictures, is written by Julien Duvivier, Marc Connelly, Stephen Longstreet and Lynn Starling, is shot in black and white by Paul Ivano, is produced by Julien Duvivier, is scored by Dimitri Tiomkin, and is designed by John B Goodman and Eugène Lourié.

Duvivier collaborated with Jean Gabin for the first time with Maria Chapdelaine in 1934. Duvivier’s Pépé le Moko (1937) made Gabin an international star. Duvivier left to work in the US during World War Two. After the German occupation of France in 1940, Gabin joined Jean Renoir and Duvivier in the US.

Gabin joined the Free French Forces and earned the Médaille Militaire and a Croix de Guerre fighting with the Allies in North Africa. After D-Day, Gabin served with the 2nd armored division that liberated Paris.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,766

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