Father Logan, when Otto calls Logan a wimp for what he thought he did (telling the police on him). Otto in the end is shot and killed.
Father Logan is the ideal priest. The whole movie is based on whether he will with hold the sanctity of the confessional, in which he does. It is amazing how, even when facing persecution stays dedicated. He knows he is bound not to say anything even though he knows the full truth. However this does cause great stress to him. Logan begins to wonder if they will ever find out that Otto really did it, or if he should go on and tell in hopes of saving his life. The movie comes to a dramatic end when finally the truth becomes public. Otto shoots and kills his wife after she tells Inspector Larrue that Logan was really innocent.
The movie also is based heavily on the search for the truth. Inspector Larrue is searching only for the truth, who did it and why, but he is only looking on the surface of things. He fails to dig deeper into problems, thus he pins Logan as the killer. Larrue uses the witnesses to basically solve his case. The search for truth is imperative to the movie
because somebody (Father Logan) knows the truth and is unable to tell it. He can help them get to the truth but because Inspector Larrue fails to look deeper into things this does not happen.
Love, the word alone opens many doors. Love is definitely seen in Father Logan. He shows his love for Otto by not giving him away even after Otto doesn’t take the blame for the killing of Villette. He continues on and tries to help him. Love is also seen between Ruth and Logan. Ruth gives a stunning dialogue of how she used to be and still is deeply in love with Logan. It is hard to tell if he still loved her or not. Being a priest he was married to the Church but he became a priest after returning from the war and
finding out that Ruth was married. It is uncertain if his love remained but it is certain that she still loved him.
There was a few symbols that caught my eye within the movie; one being while Father Logan was walking through the park. The way the scene was shot was so you could see him through statues of Jesus walking to Calvary with the cross. This raises a lot of questions for me. I do think it to be intentional to maybe give the audience a hint as to what the walk is symbolic of, the walk to Calvary. I also noticed how Hitchcock basically turned Logan into a walking symbol of God; not only through the Calvary illusion but through his reverence to his vocation. He not once deviated from what he was called to do; he faced his fate with a strong head. I also saw the symbolism between him and God with how well Logan handled the fact that he might be imprisoned.
As far as acting goes, Montgomery Clift played the role of Father Logan well. He was able to not only create but maintain that priestly attitude throughout the entire film. I was very impressed with his stature and his looks. Ruth Grandfort was a good actress but lacked the ability to hold her attitude through the entire film. She was very storng with emotion during her narrative about her meeting with Father Logan. I felt the strongest actor of the film would have to be Alma Keller. She didn’t say much but I think that is what made her the strongest. Her emotions could be easily detected, and you could sense her sorrow for what Father Logan was going through. Otto Keller, strong actor, but I felt he could have played the role more. He just didn’t have the pizzazz that Clift or Baxter where able to add to their characters.
In conclusion, I would like to say I really enjoyed this movie and enjoyed Hitchcocks ability to stick to the theme.
