La femme X

Other versions of this women's picture I have seen are creaky. This one is not melodrama, or doesn't play like it. It is drama, thanks to its title character.

Gladys George is a sadly neglected actress who worked steadily for her short life. She was attractive but, as in this movie, willing to look like a sloven if the script called for that. Her gravely voice was unique. And what skills as an actress!

The rest of this is more stylishly directed than other versions of "Madame X." But the other performers are mediocre.

This is a must-see for a performance that truly ought to have won an Academy Award for Ms. George.

To understand "Madame X" you need to realize it was based on a 1908 French play by Alexandre Bisson (1848-1912) that reflected 19th Century morality. It was filmed in 1916, 1929 (Ruth Chatterton directed by Lionel Barrymore), 1937 (this version), 1954, 1966 (Lana Turner), and 1981. The 1937 version reflects a slightly different morality, not only more recent, but also examined from an American POV rather than the European. Watching it in the 21st century, one has to take all these influences into account.

Gladys George (1904-54) plays Madame X and gives an excellent performance, her career best, and probably among the top 50 performances ever given on film. It's uncanny how she ages 20 years not only in appearance, but in manner, voice, etc. To modern audiences it may look a little over the top, but for the 1930s and set in the early 1900s, it isn't.

George was nominated for an Oscar for "Valiant is the Word for Carrie" (1936) but is probably better known as Jimmy Cagney's moll from "The Roaring Twenties" (1939) or Humphrey Bogart's dead partner's wife from "The Maltese Falcon" (1941).

Warren William (1894-1948) plays George's husband, a wealthy lawyer too proud to forgive Madame X her trespass, sending her away and setting in motion the sad story. William is best known for his role as d"Artagnan in "The Man in the Iron Mask" (1939) and as the first Perry Mason in a series of mid 30s films. His work here is quite good.

John Beal (1909-97) plays George's son, who thinks his mother is dead. Beal made nearly 100 films between 1933 and 1993, usually as a second male lead in B films. He's best known for his role as Judge Vail in TV's "Dark Shadow" (1970-71). He is effective in this role, meant for Tyrone Power, and his final scene with George is a real tear jerker.

Reginald Owen (1887-1972) as a friend of the family and Henry Daniell as a sleaze-bag blackmailer both do their usual good jobs in supporting roles.

Sam Wood directs. He hit his stride in the 30s with this film and "A Night at the Opera" (1935), "A Day at the Races" (1937), and "Goodbye Mr. Chips" (1939). He's also known for "Kings Row" (1942), "Pride of the Yankees" (1942) and "For Whom the Bell Tolls" (1943).

In addition to George's bravura performance, the film has some good looking transition effects and shows the passage of time in a creative way, at least by 1930s standards. The sex and violence are merely hinted at, yet nonetheless effective.

Bottom line - a memorable tear jerker with a truly great performance.

Gladys George is "Madame X" in this 1937 version of the famous story - it's 1937, and this is already the second remake. The first was in 1929. The film also stars Warren William, John Beal, and Henry Daniell.

MGM pared down this production after a deal fell through which would have brought Tyrone Power in as Jacqueline's adult son and Shirley Temple in "The Wizard of Oz" from Fox and taken Gable and Harlow to Fox for "In Old Chicago." Harlow's death killed the deal, and I think all of the actors involved were better for it, except, of course, for Harlow. Power got to star in the important "In Old Chicago" instead of a supporting role; Judy Garland ended up as Dorothy; and Gable was able to stay away from another disaster film after "San Francisco."

There are story differences from the 1966 Lana Turner film, and I'm not sure which version is more accurate to the book. One thing that is definitely more accurate is Jacqueline's addiction to absinthe in the 1966 version, which isn't mentioned in 1937. Since the 1929 version has the alternate title of "Absinthe," I guess it was part of that script, and most likely the book a well. In this version, Jacqueline is thrown out by her husband (Warren William) for infidelity, and the boyfriend is murdered by another woman; William doesn't have a mother who engineers the exile to avoid a scandal after the accidental death of a man pursuing Jacqueline. The rest of the story is about the same.

Warren William by this time was playing flirtatious detectives - this role really hearkens back to the days when he played a villain, and he's very good. Henry Daniell is excellent as the blackmailer. John Beal, as Jacqueline's son, is so handsome in a Tyrone Power-esquire way, and he has a big, melodramatic monologue in court toward the end of the film. He does a great job, though of course the acting style today seems over the top. I had the pleasure of meeting him many years ago, and he was a lovely man. Though he never achieved stardom, he worked constantly through the '30s and '40s in film, constantly in television through the '50s, and through the '60s to the '90s, alternated between stage, film, and television.

This brings me to Gladys George, who wound up in supporting roles shortly after this film. George is magnificent as Jacqueline. A beautiful woman and great actress, she certainly showed in this film what she was capable of. She went on giving wonderful performances until her sad death in 1954 from a stroke, complicated by cirrhosis of the liver. Difficult personal problems definitely affected her career, but she left a fine legacy, "Madame X" being but one.

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!

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!