Madame X (1929)

Director:

Lionel Barrymore

Writers:

Alexandre Bisson (play)
Willard Mack (writer)

Release Date:

17 August 1929 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Ruth Chatterton gives the greatest performance of her career in the sensational all-talking portrayal of Madame X.

Plot:

A young lawyer unknowingly defends his mother who abandoned him when he was three.

Plot Keywords:

Paris France | Murder | Blackmail | Trial | France

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars.

Cast

Ruth Chatterton	...	Jacqueline Floriot
Lewis Stone	...	Louis Floriot
Raymond Hackett	...	Raymond Floriot
Holmes Herbert	...	Noel
Eugenie Besserer	...	Rose, Floriot's Servant
John P. Edington	...	Doctor
Mitchell Lewis	...	Colonel Hanby
Ullrich Haupt	...	Laroque (as Ullric Haupt)
Sidney Toler	...	Dr. Merivel
Richard Carle	...	Perissard
Carroll Nye	...	Darrell, a Naval Officer
Claude King	...	Valmorin, the Prosecutor (as Claud King)
Chappell Dossett	...	Judge

Also Known As:

Absinthe (USA) (TV title)

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Secret of Madame Blanche (1933)

This thing's got whiskers, both leads better elsewhere.

I hesitate to add a note of dissonance to any of my beloved early talkies, but in this case it's most called for. Any contemporary viewer exploring ancient films may be swayed to try such a film with Oscar nominations and wide availability. Please don't. Early Oscars were voted on by studio heads only, and are no indication of popular support. Additionally, MGM and the WB studios' products so dominated the TV syndication market that most film buffs can't name any thing William Powell did before the Thin Man. [Mr. Powell had a career as a heavy even before he uttered his first word on screen.]

I found the material of the story to be that of old, turgid melodramatics. At the time M-G-M began making talkies, Louis B. Meyer and Irvin Thalberg actively sought to produce THEATRICAL productions on film, and therefore, this is not cinema. When Ruth Chatterton pauses at the door to tell Lewis Stone (almost moaning) to "tell our boy when he grows up that you (Stone) wouldn't let his mother see him one last time", talking pictures hit their lowest ebb. Outdoor scenes aren't recorded properly and at 95 minutes it's not hard to guess this is just a stage play on film.

I know I stand alone in my loathing. Variety, in 1929 said "Works like this...elevate the name of pictures, and tell the world there is an art in film making." MADAME X grossed over $1.2 million worldwide against a negative cost of $600,000. I say, works like this so dissuade modern viewers that hundreds of films lie in vaults rotting away. Please pass on this one.