On February 12, 1953, filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock presented the premiere of his film at the Théâtre Capitole The Law of Silence, filmed in Quebec. We will highlight these 70e Birthday Sunday at the Clap de Sainte-Foy, in the presence of Renée Hudon, who has a small role in this feature film.
I Confess (The Law of Silence) will be presented for the first time at 3 p.m. in its complete and uncensored version. At the request of the clergy, nine sequences totaling 2 minutes and 35 seconds were shortened by the censorship authorities.
A decision that had infuriated the British filmmaker. Renée Hudon, who was 10 at the time, had witnessed this reaction during the premiere.
“He had said to my father, who served as his translator, ‘I love Quebec, Félix, but I will never go back to that cursed Catholic city,'” said the presenter, now 80.
At 2 p.m., before the screening, Renée Hudon, Louis Pelletier, professor of cinematic history and conservation at the Université Laval and the Université de Montréal and specialist in censorship issues, and Me Marc Bellemare, lawyer and initiator of this event, will come back to major filming, which took place in Quebec.
The event is free. Doors open at 1 p.m. and it’s first come, first served.
Photo Stevens LeBlanc
Renee Hudon
The Code of Silence, starring Montgomery Clift and Anne Baxter, tells the story of a priest bound by the seal of confession who becomes the prime suspect in a lawyer’s murder.
During an audition at Château Frontenac, Renée Hudon received the role of a young girl who, with a friend, surprised the priest at the scene of the crime.
“I wasn’t any smarter or smarter than the others who weren’t chosen, but I spoke English. My grandmother was of Scottish descent and didn’t speak French. I had fun,” she said.
” We have it ! “
A few days later, the production contacted Renée Hudon’s father to confirm that she had gotten the part.
“I can still hear my dad’s voice on the phone saying, ‘We got it. We have it,” she clarified.
Renée Hudon, feeling 70 years younger this week, recalls a very funny, lovely, laughing and joking Alfred Hitchcock.
“His temperament wasn’t the same as adult actors. He was pretty rude to Montgomery Clift and Anne Baxter. I saw his daughter Patricia Hitchcock again about fifteen years ago during an inauguration in Montreal. She told me that her father didn’t like adults, only children,” she said.
Most of the interior scenes of I Confess were shot in Hollywood, with the exception of the Château Frontenac, the Parliament, the old courthouse and the Saint-Zéphirin-de-Stadacona church. All exterior scenes were shot in Quebec City and Île d’Orléans.