Thrown out of her home by a jealous husband, a woman sinks into degradation. Twenty years later, she is charged with killing a man bent on harming her daughter. The daughter, unaware of who ... Read allThrown out of her home by a jealous husband, a woman sinks into degradation. Twenty years later, she is charged with killing a man bent on harming her daughter. The daughter, unaware of who the woman is, takes the assignment to defend her in court.Thrown out of her home by a jealous husband, a woman sinks into degradation. Twenty years later, she is charged with killing a man bent on harming her daughter. The daughter, unaware of who the woman is, takes the assignment to defend her in court.
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It has been years since I viewed this film but it had such an impact on me when it appeared in 1981. The story paralleled so close to a very similar personal/family situation. Yes, this last version was by far the best ever. Tuesday Weld seemed to "not be seen" for a while then she mysteriously appeared in this movie, wow! The fact that it was up to date made it even more real. I recall the scene where she meets Jerry Stiller's character in a very cheap, run-down apartment building. At this point Ms Weld's already in a boozed & drug-induced haze and practically fights for her bottle. The real drama sets in as Stiller's character tries to reach out to her but to no avail. In her drunken stupor she mumbles something about having a daughter & family, no one seems to believe her. I think she even over-doses in a scene. Be sure to take lots of tissue, this is a major tear jerker! A must see and still holds up quite well to this day! I am certain Tuesday Weld received an award and critical acclaim for this role and deservedly so. Get the DVD if it exists!
Alexandre Bisson's turn-of-the-century warhorse of a stage weepie has served movie producers well, with three silent and four talkie versions to date. The latest is a TV film where the set-up resembles Ross Hunter's glossy Lana Turner vehicle of 1965 (reviewed by me) and that screenplay's writer gets a credit.
Tuesday Weld is a 'flying waitress' (stewardess) from San Diego named Holly who marries an aristocratic would-be politician with a bitchily snobbish and protective mother. The guy to whom she guiltily succumbs while hubby's neglecting her in DC dies by falling downstairs, precipitating her exile to avoid bringing scandal on the clan-- also like the Hunter production. Twist is that an infant daughter, not a son as in Bisson's original, grows up to be a lawyer and defends her mom (unknowingly) in a murder trial many years later. Thus the mother-son charge of the previous films is lost, and the gay frisson with it; instead, we have faint feminist overtones.
Granville Van Dusen doesn't look or sound patrician as the weakling husband who acquiesces in his wife's disappearing act, and her fling with his friend is unmotivated. Dark, gaunt Eleanor Parker is Big Momma in her latter-day harpy mode, as seen most spectacularly in 'An American Dream'; but here her lines are lackluster, and she does not match the venomous hauteur of Constance Bennett putting down and expelling Lana. The 1981 production is soapy when it should be madly melodramatic: there is a touch of the Danielle Steels or Barbara Taylor Bradfords in the script's polish job by Edward Anhalt, who also pops up as the trial judge.
The action begins in 1956, but Weld's coiffeur and maquillage are not of the Fifties. She was touted as a kid model who'd finally become a Real Actress in 'Pretty Poison', but her squeaky, querulous manner as Holly does not impress alongside Lana Turner's post-Stompanato, dues-paid grandeur.
The nice Danish doctor-protector of the 1965 entry becomes a nice Irish ditto, played by Jeremy Brett with the hectoring raillery that would soon fit him to be Sherlock Holmes. To inject a faint sense of time passing, Holly later has an interlude with a draft-dodging drug dealer in Munich. Her fatal liaison with a Spanish conman (no match for 1965's Burgess Meredith) and the courtroom sequence are hasty and flat. So is her death scene in the cell. The TVM loses its nerve where Hunter's production pulled out the emotional stops and finished in a kind of lush bleakness. As so often, the tube has diminished its material.
Tuesday Weld is a 'flying waitress' (stewardess) from San Diego named Holly who marries an aristocratic would-be politician with a bitchily snobbish and protective mother. The guy to whom she guiltily succumbs while hubby's neglecting her in DC dies by falling downstairs, precipitating her exile to avoid bringing scandal on the clan-- also like the Hunter production. Twist is that an infant daughter, not a son as in Bisson's original, grows up to be a lawyer and defends her mom (unknowingly) in a murder trial many years later. Thus the mother-son charge of the previous films is lost, and the gay frisson with it; instead, we have faint feminist overtones.
Granville Van Dusen doesn't look or sound patrician as the weakling husband who acquiesces in his wife's disappearing act, and her fling with his friend is unmotivated. Dark, gaunt Eleanor Parker is Big Momma in her latter-day harpy mode, as seen most spectacularly in 'An American Dream'; but here her lines are lackluster, and she does not match the venomous hauteur of Constance Bennett putting down and expelling Lana. The 1981 production is soapy when it should be madly melodramatic: there is a touch of the Danielle Steels or Barbara Taylor Bradfords in the script's polish job by Edward Anhalt, who also pops up as the trial judge.
The action begins in 1956, but Weld's coiffeur and maquillage are not of the Fifties. She was touted as a kid model who'd finally become a Real Actress in 'Pretty Poison', but her squeaky, querulous manner as Holly does not impress alongside Lana Turner's post-Stompanato, dues-paid grandeur.
The nice Danish doctor-protector of the 1965 entry becomes a nice Irish ditto, played by Jeremy Brett with the hectoring raillery that would soon fit him to be Sherlock Holmes. To inject a faint sense of time passing, Holly later has an interlude with a draft-dodging drug dealer in Munich. Her fatal liaison with a Spanish conman (no match for 1965's Burgess Meredith) and the courtroom sequence are hasty and flat. So is her death scene in the cell. The TVM loses its nerve where Hunter's production pulled out the emotional stops and finished in a kind of lush bleakness. As so often, the tube has diminished its material.
All of the production values surrounding the outstanding performance of Tuesday Weld in the role of Holly Richardson make this production far better than any of the versions that predated it. I think it was a great improvement over the Lana Turner portrayal of the fifties. Ms. Weld stepped into this role at the very last minute and brought a dimension and strength to the character that far surpassed earlier attempts.
The fact that "Madame X" has been made four times is testament to the lure of its high melodrama. The 1966 version was hugely successful while this television version pretty much disappeared into oblivion.
There's little need to compare these versions. Lana Turner had a strong screen presence but as an actress was terribly limited. Throughout her career she seemed to reprise the same artificial, humorless, wooden persona.
Tuesday Weld too has a strong screen presence, noticeable from her very first appearances in the fifties, but she would develop into a first rate screen actress as well. One would be hard pressed to find such an odd career. There seems to be little argument as to her radiant beauty and nobody seems to doubt her dramatic talent either. Yet in her prime she only gained big starring roles in television movies. If Weld is under appreciated, its largely because these movies are rarely, if ever seen, and are in fact so hard to find (in particular "Madame X").When by rights she should have been playing leading film roles, she was giving of her best in material way below what she deserved. Despite the mediocre material, and "Madame X" is certainly no exception, she always acted with great subtlety and intelligence.
"Madame X" gives her much scope, since she gets to play the character from innocent young mother, through middle aged alcoholic, to old woman. It's a virtuoso turn; never flashy, always credible. It's simply great acting worthy of the highest award.
Director Robert Ellis Miller all in all has done a fine job. The movie has a slightly Douglas Sirk feel to it as far as the visuals are concerned. The supporting performances are adequate (Eleanor Parker) to good (Cariou, Stiller and Van Dusen), but this its Weld's movie from the first to the last frame.
There's little need to compare these versions. Lana Turner had a strong screen presence but as an actress was terribly limited. Throughout her career she seemed to reprise the same artificial, humorless, wooden persona.
Tuesday Weld too has a strong screen presence, noticeable from her very first appearances in the fifties, but she would develop into a first rate screen actress as well. One would be hard pressed to find such an odd career. There seems to be little argument as to her radiant beauty and nobody seems to doubt her dramatic talent either. Yet in her prime she only gained big starring roles in television movies. If Weld is under appreciated, its largely because these movies are rarely, if ever seen, and are in fact so hard to find (in particular "Madame X").When by rights she should have been playing leading film roles, she was giving of her best in material way below what she deserved. Despite the mediocre material, and "Madame X" is certainly no exception, she always acted with great subtlety and intelligence.
"Madame X" gives her much scope, since she gets to play the character from innocent young mother, through middle aged alcoholic, to old woman. It's a virtuoso turn; never flashy, always credible. It's simply great acting worthy of the highest award.
Director Robert Ellis Miller all in all has done a fine job. The movie has a slightly Douglas Sirk feel to it as far as the visuals are concerned. The supporting performances are adequate (Eleanor Parker) to good (Cariou, Stiller and Van Dusen), but this its Weld's movie from the first to the last frame.
I grew up watching the Lana Turner version of Madam X. Then in 1981 when this film first came out on TV I was right there. I really loved this version because I think Tuesday Weld was a better actress. And the film was in color too. I would say to anyone if you haven't seen this movie your have missed a great film. It is a tear jerker for sure, and every time I am in the mood to cry I watch this movie. I have this movie on VHS tape (got it in the in the 80's or 90's) and I watch it from time to time and never get tired of it. I have family that borrow the movie too all the time. We Love it!! I completely recommend this version of Madam X.
Did you know
- TriviaTuesday Weld replaced Susan Blakely.
- ConnectionsEdited from Tous les héros sont morts (1968)
Details
- Runtime
- 1h 40m(100 min)
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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