“Confession originally had a psychological strike against it in that it was a remake of Pola Negri's outstanding German success, Mazurka - and it may well be inferior to that now virtually forgotten film. (Negri thought Warners had bought it for U.S. release and that a comeback for her was assured; she was quite bitter when she found it was to be suppressed and remade.) Although in many ways a typical Kay Francis ‘Madame X'-derived vehicle, Confession still has a stylized, European look to it. The costumes and decor are much more carefully created than usual, the narrative structure - in a Wellesian manner - is unusually complex for this kind of film; and the photographic treatment, with its extreme mobility of the camera and its frequent forays into near-expressionism (especially the last scene) is most impressive. If not the best, it is certainly the most ambitious Hollywood film of German director Joe May, who started out as Fritz Lang's boss, remained one of the key German directors of the silent period, and followed Lang to Hollywood where he didn't repeat his success, but did make such interesting films as The Invisible Man Returns and The House Of Seven Gables. The Rathbone character, by virtue of the complex construction, seems to veer between villainy and sympathy. It's a fascinating film undeserving of its obscurity.”