Madame X

This glossy remake of an attorney (Keir Dullea) defending a woman accused of murder, not knowing it's his mother is a grand soaper. Lana Turner gives a bravura performance going from ravishing beauty to a haggered drunken sot all in the name of mother love. Veteran actress Constance Bennett is equally good as her conniving mother-in-law. Also in the cast are John Forsythe, Ricardo Montalban and Burgess Meredith as two unsavory characters. Lovely Virginia Grey is also present. Of course no Ross Hunter film would be complete without sumptuous production values, lavish wardrobe and lush surroundings.

LANA TURNER knew a good part when she saw it. And there was even a courtroom scene that she could savor while she recalled her own real- life courtroom drama a decade earlier. She digs into the script with all of her being and gives one of the strongest performances of her career. Unfortunately, her co-star, John Forsythe, is all but invisible in a thankless role. But because the story was an old chestnut that had been done many times before, Hollywood seemed to turn its back on her work and she received not even a nomination for this, one of her best roles.

At 45, she was really too old for the early scenes depicting her as the young bride of a wealthy political candidate, but her make-up is expert and she looks radiant. She is soon to be undone by her mean mother-in-law, a youthful looking Constance Bennett (who, incidentally, just had a face lift before starting the film, much to Turner's distress). The plot has Turner getting involved with a playboy (Ricardo Montalban) who gets too serious before she decides to ditch him. She rejects him and an accidental fall down a steep stairway ends in his death and leads to the mother-in-law's scheme to get rid of the unwanted Turner by sending her into exile and making her give up custody of her young son.

The suds get thicker as Turner turns into a lonely woman who can never forget her past and the son she left behind. After an irrelevant episode with a concert pianist who wants to marry her (Curt Jurgens), she hits the skids and ends up boozing it up in Mexico with an unscrupulous Burgess Meredith. At this point in the film, Turner really does the kind of emoting that should have guaranteed at least an Oscar nomination. She pulls no punches in revealing with gut wrenching honesty what she has become under the influence of alcohol, bitter self-contempt and loneliness. It almost comes as a relief when she reaches for a gun and shoots Meredith when he plans to use her for his own ends.

Her acting is further strengthened by some courtroom scenes that show the ravages that her wasted life have done to her once lovely facade. And her expression in court, when she realizes that the young lawyer defending her is her own son, says more than a thousand words of script. There are moments throughout the film where she does some of her best acting since PEYTON PLACE.

She is wonderfully supported in the final scenes by some excellent work from Keir Dullea, who shows great sensitivity in his dealings with the woman he only knows as Madame X. His final line: "I loved her from the moment I first saw her" is guaranteed to make the eyes tear after Turner's emotional courtroom outburst. Constance Bennett is efficient and cold as her mother-in-law but John Forsythe has such an underwritten role as Turner's busy husband that his performance is as wooden as any he has ever given. Luckily for him, he found his niche on television.

By all means, if you're in the mood for a good tear-jerker and would like to see Lana at her best, this is one that you can't miss. The background score by Frank Skinner adds greatly to the story's effectiveness in wallowing in those soapy suds, reminding one of the days when Max Steiner would have been called upon to do exactly that for a Bette Davis film.

Lana Turner, party gal supreme, was a fine actress whose personal life detracted from her fine on-camera work. "The Bad and The Beautiful" "Peyton Place" "Imitation Of Life" and this film "Madame X" are all examples of fine acting. Lana Turner after the Stopanato Murder was given a new lease on her career by Ross Hunter at Universal, and the result was "Imitation of Life" a huge success for Universal and Turner who had an ownership percentage in that hit. Hunter and Turner and Universal reprised in "Portrait In Black" and hit another great home run with a remake of "Madame X" also at Universal. Simply put Lana Turner is outstanding in this film and the last 30 minutes of Madame X has Lana Turner performing as only the best actresses could. Lana Turner should have been nominated, but I gather her party ways, the hangover of the Stompanto murder, etc..left a sour taste with some Academy voters. Fine support by Keir Dullea and terrific seeing Constance Bennett in the role of Lana's wicked Mother In Law. Ms Bennett died soon after filming.

This is a fine Film with Lana Turner robbed of a Nomination.

"Madame X" is one of the best movies I have ever seen. I would recommend it to every movie goer, not just Lana's fans. She manages to portray to perfection a very, very complex character, and she certainly deserved an Oscar. I liked in particular her scenes with another fine actor, John Van Dreelen, who shared with Lana some very nice, romantic moments. The actor actually said in an interview that his chemistry with Lana was as good on-screen as it was off-screen, and this does a lot of good to the film. I also bought the magnificent book "Madame X", by Michael Avallone, which was published in 1966. I recommend it to everyone, because it was adapted after the original screenplay of Jean Holloway. Thanks to the book, I managed to discover the scenes that were cut from the film, such as the scene where Holly is trying to get a job at an expensive French shop, and also a scene where Christian, the pianist (Van Dreelen), is giving her a hint that they should marry, because the whole press was discussing about them during his concert tour. So, in order to avoid gossip and scandal, he thought they ought to marry. This was his first proposal to her, while they were driving an automobile - and that is why in one of the sequences with them in the car, Lana's character seems preoccupied about something. The novel reveals that she was very much in love with this artist, who became her God or guardian angel, but whom she had to leave, so that neither he, nor her first husband (played by John Forsythe) would find out who and where she really is. A great book and a great film! I bought the original DVD from France and it was an excellent purchase. The music is also superb, and the soundtrack was released separately in 1967. I only wish there were kept more scenes from "Madame X", because the film is much too short to understand the complexity of the plot. Still, I highly recommend it, even if it is a very sad film, a real tear-jerker.

I admit that the first time I saw this film, I had gone through a box of Kleenex by the end. The second time around, it was a full-length soap opera, but a really good one. And the third time, I thought how silly it was. But all in all, I have to admit that Ms. Turner gave a beautiful and moving performance, and worked well with Ricardo Montalban. In fact, I would have liked to see them work together more.

As one reviewer said, Ms. Turner is supposed to be of the lower class, but that is hard to imagine. Perhaps if Shelly Winters played the role, yes. But Ms. Turner to me, rather then being of lower class, gives the impression of being too beautiful, too playful and too liberal to be part of what appears to be a powerfully conservative and old money family. And realizing this, she descends into that lower class,not because she is, but because her broken self-esteem tells her that is where she aught to be. This self-destruction is more of what makes this film interesting, and to me makes her reuniting with her son almost irrelevant. Overall, when I think of how unimportant this film is, there are certain moments that are hard to forget, and for this reason I give it a 6+.