Il fallo di Madelon Claudet

Talk about a tour-de-force! I lost track of how many times I said to the television screen, "Give her her Oscar!" while watching The Sin of Madelon Claudet. Everyone knows how critical I am of the Academy Awards, but Helen Hayes absolutely deserved her Best Actress trophy. In her first talking picture, she's given an incredible range of situations and emotions, and she convinces everyone that they're watching her life instead of her performance.

Helen starts the film as a good girl, but gets corrupted by an evil male influence. Her boyfriend Neil Hamilton convinces her to run away from home and live in sin with him, but when he's called away to America to care for his sick father, she fears he'll never return. He doesn't, and Helen has a baby. In a touching scene full of more realism than you'd expect in 1931, Helen refuses to hold her newborn, muttering, "I wish it were dead." One of the nurses places the baby in Helen's arms, and Helen looks upon her child. She falls in love, and for the rest of the film, she sacrifices everything for her son.

From refusing to give up her child so she can make a respectable marriage, to becoming wealthy Lewis Stone's mistress, everything she does is for her child. She hides her son on the side while living the high life with Lewis, coming to visit him secretly and supporting him with pocket money Lewis gives her. That arrangement doesn't last long, unfortunately, and Helen is forced to live through many more tragedies before the end of the movie.

The Sin of Madelon Claudet is a cautionary tale for good little girls. Your life can be ruined by running off with your boyfriend and living in sin. While that message feels a little melodramatic by today's standards, it's actually still true. One little mistake that feels harmless or exciting at the time can lead to an unbearable chain of events; perhaps the timelessness is what makes this film a classic. Helen's performance is fantastic, and you'll get to see Robert Young in one of his first parts, the one that propelled him to stardom. You'll also get to see Alan Hale, Charles Winninger, and Jean Hersholt in small roles. And who would have thought the usually tired Lewis Stone would play someone incredibly sweet and romantic?

Which do you talk about first? The saccharine, weepy tale of a mother's sacrifice? Or Helen Hayes' superb performance despite the claptrap about a woman who enables the son she gave away to become a great doctor? I'll go with Hayes. As Madelon, she goes from the naively adoring bride of a bounder to the mistress of a criminal nobleman to a fallen woman of the streets to a pathetic bag lady,each phase of her life revealing fresh nuances. No question she deserved the Oscar she won, if only for making the melodrama make sense and coping with direction that was clumsy even for 1932. Worth watching to see an amazingly gifted actress in her prime.

Parents-sacrificing-themselves-for-their-children's-happiness stories were a dime a dozen in the 1930s, and this one gave Helen Hayes, already known at the time for her stage work, a film vehicle in an attempt to lure her to Hollywood. It didn't take, and Hayes didn't go on to make many notable movies, but she did manage to win two Oscars for her film work, a supporting trophy in 1970 for "Airport," and, 39 years earlier, her first, a Best Actress award for "The Sin of Madelon Claudet."

The movie is standard melodrama stuff, relentless and shameless in its tugging of the heartstrings, but, like many Oscar-winning performances from the Academy's early years, it's easy to see why Hayes impressed voters at the time. The film's histrionics seem dated today, but Hayes is pretty good, and her acting style, much more natural than many of her contemporaries who still had one foot planted firmly in silent films, is refreshing. Toss in the fact that she physically transforms over the course of the movie from fetching young thing to broken down crone, and no wonder the Academy went for her. They still go gaga over that kind of stuff today.

Grade: B

The two leads were my main reason for seeing 'The Sin of Madelon Claudet'. Helen Hayes (am more familiar with her later roles, so seeing her as young as she is here was really interesting) was a truly fine actress and wholly deserving of being one of the few Triple Crown winners. Have also a high opinion of Lewis Stone and he specialised in the sympathetic, dignified parts that require authority. The subject matter, a bold one for the time, also interested.

Although it won't be, and isn't, for all tastes (with it being too melodramatic and stagy for some), 'The Sin of Madelon Claudet' struck me as a good and quite powerful film and handles its difficult subject well. It is not perfect by all means, but in regard to a lot of early talkies from this period there have been a heck of a lot worse with stage play to early film adaptations wildly varying in particular. One thing in particular is enough to make 'The Sin of Madelon Claudet' watchable at least.

Beginning with what isn't so strong, it is very melodramatic and some of the melodrama goes overboard later on. Particularly towards the end, which was like being drowned in syrup (am aware what it was trying to do, it was just too much for my tastes that's all).

Did find the dialogue too talk heavy and creaky and some of the pace could have been tightened.

Hayes however is an absolute revelation in a difficult role, and her Oscar was a deserving one. She is incredibly moving here while showing grit and determination, never did it feel stagy or over-acted to me. Her character also grows and matures, one that was rootable. Stone is sympathetic and dignity personified and the protectiveness is not over-bearing. Robert Young is suitably youthful and Jean Hersholt does noble very well. The direction didn't feel static or fatigued and plays to the actors' strengths.

Similarly found the message admirable and that it wasn't laid on too thick, also in a way still relevant today. It's very nicely filmed and the production values are not too simple or over-elaborate. Really admired its tackling of its brave subject and found much of the film poignant and far from sugar-coated, so serving its purpose well as a tear-jerker.

Concluding, not great but good and has power. See it primarily for Hayes. 7/10.

Helen Hayes is well worthy of the Oscar she won for her performance in this one. The role required her to play a young lover, single mother, wealthy socialite, prisoner, prostitute, and beaten-down old woman, and she did so brilliantly. I found her beautiful and a great actor, particularly at a time when overacting was the norm. The scene where she responds with a humorous puffy facial expression to a question about what someone is like is priceless. Her suggestions of lasciviousness using only her eyes are also great; while the movie is pre-Code and has a suggestive title, it's quite tame. We're all rooting for because she's been driven to such depths quite unfairly, and because she's made the incredible sacrifice of separating herself from her son, so that he can pursue being a doctor, unencumbered by her shame, which back then would have stopped him. It leads to a pretty syrupy ending, but was balanced for the most part, and the supporting cast is also strong.