SYDNEY CHAPLIN STARS IN THE BRITISH FILM NOIR' CONFESSION'

Poster for THE CONFESSION Year: 1955 Rating: **1/2

Charlie Chaplin's son Sydney Chaplin gets first-billing in a British Film Noir titled CONFESSION aka THE DEADLIEST SIN; the melodramatic alternate references a priest hearing the confession of a killer admitting what he's done, sort of, before he himself is killed right there and then...

And it's all the fault of Chaplin as prodigal son Mike Nelson, returned home from America (having no British accent left), again living with his crippled father and gorgeous sister Audrey Dalton...

She thinks big brother's as clean as the driven snow, providing what others have noticed is similar to Alfred Hitchcock's "cute niece loves her charming yet secretly vicious uncle" SHADOW OF A DOUBT as well as I CONFESS with a targeted priest, leaving Chaplin little to do but look ominous and secretive, especially after sister loses trust since her boyfriend (and both their childhood friend) is the one killed after committing a defensive murder of square-jawed Patrick Allen, who was blackmailing the suitcase-full-of-cash Chaplin in a thriller where the important side-roles die off too quick to matter, and, sadly, what began as a chance for Sydney Chaplin to shine darkly (looking more like he'd be Victor Mature's brother than Charlie Chaplin's son), the picture winds up in the hands of cop John Bentley, who... as the tail wags the dog... would have been better left on the sidelines. 

Sydney Chaplin in CONFESSION aka THE DEADLIEST SIN with Patrick Allen

CONFESSION aka THE DEADLIEST SIN with Patrick Allen

Sydney Chaplin in CONFESSION aka THE DEADLIEST SIN with Patrick Allen

Sydney Chaplin in CONFESSION aka THE DEADLIEST SIN with John Bentley

Sydney Chaplin in CONFESSION aka THE DEADLIEST SIN

Audrey Dalton in CONFESSION aka THE DEADLIEST SIN

John Bentley in CONFESSION aka THE DEADLIEST SIN

Audrey Dalton in CONFESSION aka THE DEADLIEST SIN

Audrey Dalton in CONFESSION aka THE DEADLIEST SIN

Sydney Chaplin in CONFESSION aka THE DEADLIEST SIN

Sydney Chaplin in CONFESSION aka THE DEADLIEST SIN