The Madonna's Secret

Francis Lederer is a successful painter who uses Linda Stirling as a model, but only her body, the face is that of a model from a previous life in France. That model ended up murdered, but Lederer was cleared all of charges, and he moved to the US with his mother. After Stirling begs him to paint her face too, he does. And she ends up murdered as well, in a similar fashion as the French model. Theater columnist Edward Ashley knows about Lederer's past and points the police to him, but they can't make a case. Stirling's sister Ann Rutherford tries to investigate and becomes a model for Lederer herself. Meanwhile a portrait hanging in a gallery has attracted the attention of wealthy socialite Gail Patrick. But when Lederer refuses to sell it to her, she gets him to paint her portrait. The murders are not yet done...

This movie is a competent Republic noir/mystery, that has a slight Gothic feel to it due to the painting angle. Lederer does a nice mentally tormented artist, and Rutherford is great, backed by a solid cast. The story is nothing too special, and neither is the identity of the killer (the suspect pool is rather shallow), but the movie isn't dull, altho it is a bit talky in parts... And it has a memorable torch singer meets knife-throwing act scene at a nightclub. That lady has nerves of steel!

The DoP for this movie was John Alton. Needless to say this movie looks the part (helped by the great looking print I saw). Beautiful shadows, coming from all angles, but also done tastefully and subtly. Director William Thiele does a nice job too, and the cast & crew make this a movie that rises above its Republic standard. Good stuff, recommended! 7/10

Not sure if this strictly a noir film as it runs as a mystery as well. Some evidences of film noir would be the dramatic cinematography, a character that is somewhat of a Femme Fatale, a feeling of hopelessness in the current status quo, and of course, the criminal element that pervades most scenes. Against it being noir would be that this film is not about the average man, but a well to do artist. Also, the fate angle doesn't seem quite pronounced here. The acting is great throughout with special kudos for Francis Lederer and his creepy accent. The cinematography is uniformly superb. Of course, any film shot by John Alton is special. This is a rare film and currently only shown at film festivals. Hopefully it will show up on DVD someday.

"The Madonna's Secret" is a pretty good film. Had it offered more red herrings and possibilities, it would have been even better.

James Corbin (Francis Lederer) is a famous painter who is hiding out in America. Why is he hiding? Because back in Europe one of his models was murdered and he was tried for this crime. Although acquitted, his reputation has been ruined. He is still painting however and once again he's fallen in love with his model...and she soon is found dead!! Once again he's arrested but they have to release him because he had an alibi. But a reporter insists that Corbin in guilty and convinces the recently murdered model's sister (Ann Rutherford) to become the next model to get the goods on Corbin. However, she and another model both soon fall in love with the guy! Are they destined to die as well? And, most importantly, who is doing this and why?

I think the plot was very, very clever and I enjoyed the movie. But it had a few things that should have been done a bit better. First, having Rutherford's character fall in love so easily, considering her sister just died and he might have done it, seemed unbelievable. Second, there just weren't many possible killers introduced during the course of the movie and I correctly guessed their identity almost immediately. A few red herrings definitely would have added to the suspense. Still, despite a few problems here and there, a dandy picture.

This is one of these murder mysteries where we, the audience, are clued in from the start. It's up to the stars to decide whether or not tortured artist "Corbin" (Francis Lederer) is responsible for a murder in Paris (for which he was acquitted) and another in the US. Both women had been his model as some stage, so the finger well and truly points in his direction. It falls to the murdered girl's sister "Linda" (Ann Rutherford) to pose as his latest model whilst he paints both her portrait, and that of the wealthy "Ella" (Gail Patrick) - who might be next for the chop? It's actually quite a wordy exercise, this, with no stand out efforts and little by way humour or jeopardy. Moves along quickly though, and the production is pretty competent. Not a film you'll remember but not one you're likely to hate either.

The Madonna's Secret (1946)

** (out of 4)

Artist James Corbin (Francis Lederer) has his latest model murdered and it strikes one man (Edward Ashley) strange that a previous model died the same way. The second victim's sister (Ann Rutherford) decides to go undercover as a model to try and prove that the artist is the murderer. THE MADONNA'S SECRET features some good performances and nice cinematography but that's about it as the story itself is rather tiresome and director Wilhelm Thiele just doesn't add too much suspense to the material. In fact, I'd say that the entire film has a very weak energy level that really keeps the viewer from getting too caught up in the material. The screenplay itself really doesn't have too much going for it as there are way too many long dialogue sequences that just go no where and end up hurting the film more than helping. As I said, the performances are actually pretty good and they help keep the film moving. Lederer was very believable as the troubled artist and I really liked how the actor could make you not trust him one second but then change your mind the next. Ashley makes for an entertaining good guy and Rutherford gets to shine in a role away from Andy Hardy. John Litel is good as the main cop on the case and Leona Roberts is also good as the artist's mother. I will admit that the final twist in the story is a good one and something that I didn't see coming.