True Confession

True Confession (1937)

Genres - Comedy, Romance, Crime  |   Sub-Genres - Screwball Comedy  |   Release Date - Dec 24, 1937 (USA - Unknown), Dec 24, 1937 (USA)  |   Run Time - 85 min.  |   Countries - United States  |   MPAA Rating - NR
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Synopsis by Hal Erickson

Carole Lombard stars as Helen Bartlett, a compulsive liar who always tips the audience to an oncoming whopper by sticking her tongue in her cheek. Helen is married to a Kenneth Bartlett, a scrupulously honest lawyer whose integrity has always held him back professionally. Hoping to help Kenneth get ahead, Helen confesses to a murder she obviously didn't commit, confident that he'll get her off and make his reputation. But things don't go exactly as planned, thanks largely to a mysterious eccentric named Charley (John Barrymore), who assures the heroine over and over that she'll "fry." Once considered a prime example of screwball comedy, True Confession is now regarded by film buffs as one of Carole Lombard's worst pictures: it wasn't much better when remade by Betty Hutton in 1946 as Cross My Heart.

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Keywords

compulsion, confession [criminal], lies, murder, client, husband, killing, truth