One Girl's Confession is a 1953 low-budget film noir

Film noir

Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...

 released by Columbia Pictures

Columbia Pictures

Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...

. The movie stars Cleo Moore

Cleo Moore

Cleouna "Cleo" Moore was an American actress, usually seen in the role of a blonde bombshell, in 1950s Hollywood films. She was known as Columbia Pictures's clone of 20th Century Fox's, Marilyn Monroe...

 and was written, produced, and directed by Hugo Haas

Hugo Haas

Hugo Haas was a Czech film actor, director and writer. He appeared in over 60 films between 1926 and 1962, as well as directing 20 films between 1933 and 1962....

 who also plays a supporting part in the film. This film was released on DVD by Sony Pictures in 2010 as part of the Bad Girls of Film Noir Volume II collection.

Background

Cleo Moore plays a waitress in a waterfront bar. One night, she climbs in the bedroom window of her cantankerous old employer and steals $25,000 from under his pillow. The next morning, the police arrive to which she surprisingly confesses her crime saying that her father had been swindled by the hood years before. The money however, is not recovered and she is sent to prison for five years, until good behavior and an even better attitude earn her an early release. While out on parole, she gets yet another job waitressing on the waterfront. The owner of this bar, (played by Hugo Haas), is a foreign scoundrel father figure type. She is a bit un-trusting of everyone since she believes, rightly so, that she will most likely be followed by the police in order to recover the money. The days go by, she meets a nice fisherman, and soon begins to entertain thoughts of helping her new boyfriend with a business loan. Things go awry when her boss nearly loses the bar in a card game, prompting her to tell him she will give him enough money to delay the debtors. She, however, is unable to pick up the cash and draws him a map to the wooded area where she buried the loot. He realizes this is the same girl that stole money from her infamous employer three years ago on this same waterfront dock, and tells her. She trusts him anyway but on his return, he reports bitterly that he cannot find the money and throws her out of his home. Some days later, she finds the bar is under new ownership and the boyfriend is worried about her. Upon closer inspection, the bar is under the SAME ownership and it is reported that the Owner has taken a vacation and moved into fancy new digs, apparently finding the money after all. With vengeance in her heart, she sets out confront him, and her money back. Things however, are not always what they seem......