Madame X

I loved the decency of this movie. The issues were sensitive for the time period. But, the story did show that there is a price to pay for every mistake. Although the mother/wife was briefly involved in an adulterous relationship it was not glorified or flaunted. It was a mistake that she spent the rest of the movie hiding and paying for.

There were some unexpected plot turns. At different points in the movie, I was able to sympathize with each member of this tragic family. Every character was believable. I found a reason to like or dislike each one of them. I loved how this movie made each villain a victim. It was very easy to follow each character through their lives. Although the mother/wife had many faults, the love for her son makes you love her and feel for her.

A woman (Gladys George) is forced to leave her baby to avoid scandal when her husband (Warren William) throws her out for being unfaithful. Her son grows up thinking she is dead. Twenty years later she kills a blackmailer who threatens to expose her secret. The son (John Beal) is now an attorney and is assigned to represent the woman, with no idea that she's his mother.

Gladys George is amazing in one of her best roles. Good supporting cast includes Reginald Owen, Henry Daniell, and George Zucco. Ruth Hussey has a single but important scene. It's always nice to see her. Only weakness in the cast is John Beal. He's out of his depth and it shows. Best of all the film versions of Madame X. It's one of those "power of a mother's love" tearjerkers that were so popular in the 1930s.

If you haven't seen any of the Madame X s, this one is probably the one you should see first. (The one from 1929 is probably the worst.)

It is the story of a woman who gives up her child for the sake of his reputation, and disappears from his life. Only to meet again in the end of the film.

Lana Turner did a version in 1966. And then in the 1980s a TV movie was made!

In Paris, neglected blonde Gladys George (as Jacqueline Fleuriot) decides to end her affair with a handsome young man. She has decided to patch up her marriage to wealthy lawyer Warren William (as Bernard Fleuriot) and attend to their son. Alas, the timing for Ms. George's turnabout is bad. Another woman discovers the couple and causes an explosive scene. Barely making it home ahead of the police, George learns her own husband has discovered her dalliance. He throws George out on the streets. She drowns her sorrows in alcohol and is passed from man to man. Now mostly drunk, George lets her identity slip while living with deliciously sleazy Henry Daniell (as Lerocle). To protect her adult lawyer son John Beal (as Raymond Fleuriot) from scandal, George gets herself in trouble with the law...

MGM had already released an "all-talking" version of the warhorse "Madame X" in 1929, which resulted in "Academy Award" nominations for its star (Ruth Chatterton) and director (Lionel Barrymore). They didn't get any "Oscar" consideration, but star Gladys George and director Sam Wood do at least as well as their predecessors. The leading role is one with which several of MGM's big female stars could have acted up a storm. While not in the studio's upper tier, George is definitely up for the task. She probably should have been nominated for a "Best Actress" award. In the story's climatic moments, George and Mr. Beal hit melodramatic heights of mythological proportions, but Mr. Wood and his crew move it along beautifully and George keeps you interested in her degradation and fate.

******** Madame X (10/1/37) Sam Wood ~ Gladys George, John Beal, Warren William, Henry Daniell

Turner Classic Movies showed this a few days ago and, curious to see how it differed from the glossy Lana Turner/Ross Hunter-produced Technicolor version of almost thirty years later, I tuned in. There were a few differences, of course, in the way the familiar plot was developed, but, oh my goodness! Gladys George just blew me away! She towered above the proceedings with a performance that is just amazing.

TCM's host, Robert Osborne, in some concluding remarks after the film's closing scene faded from the tube, advised that Tyrone Power was to have been loaned to appear as Ms. George's son in this version, in a complex deal with 20th Century Fox that involved Clark Gable and Jean Harlow (from the M-G-M side of the ledger) and Shirley Temple and Tyrone from 20th. But Harlow's sudden death caused the deal to fall through (thus permitting posterity to be graced with Judy Garland as Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz" rather than Shirley, whom M-G-M had really wanted for their extravaganza) and Tyrone didn't come to M-G-M until the following year for his relatively small role in "Marie Antoinette."

The result, as far as the 1937 version of this oft-filmed weepie is concerned, was that M-G-M gave it a little less than "A" production values, but the performance of Ms. George in the title role makes that of small consequence, indeed. She's utterly believable, especially as she slides into slatternly alcoholism during the latter half of the picture. Osborne also revealed that, as the years wore on, Gladys became a bit too fond of the bottle in real life, accounting for her relegation to supporting roles. But there's no way she was under the influence when her inebriated scenes were filmed during this production's abbreviated shooting schedule. She's a professional here, at the peak of her powers, and they're close to tremendous, especially in the final, over-wrought courtroom scenes. Lana wasn't half-bad in the remake, but she benefited from the passage of nearly three decades since Ms. George had made the role her own. What a star!