The Secret of Madame Blanche (1933) User Reviews

Despite being tough to believe, this is still a wonderful old fashioned soap opera

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 6 December 2007]

This is a film that probably won't please everyone. Viewers looking for a film with a lot of realism and a plot that is lacking plot holes would probably find it pretty tough going. Plus, those who aren't particularly inclined to watch old fashioned soap operas might also balk at seeing this film. So be it. However, for a lover of classic Hollywood films who accepts all the irony and melodrama without being too critical, the final product is lovely to watch and very satisfying.

Now I must admit that usually a film with this many weepy scenes turns me off a bit, but the writers, directors and Irene Dunne manage to weave a tale so well that my sometime cynical nature was kept in abeyance. Plus, the amazingly awful and evil character played by Lionel Atwill was one of his best roles--one that will definitely make an impression on the viewer. Now I must admit that the impossibility of the final third of the film was at first a bit hard to take, but when the plot wrapped up like it did, I found I just didn't care--I wanted the hokey Hollywood ending and enjoyed it thoroughly. An excellent weepy film--similar to, but in many ways superior to MADAME X and SO BIG! If you liked this film, try Barbara Stanwyck's STELLA DALLAS--another great weepy melodrama.

Dunne and Holmes in teary romantic tale of mother love...

[Doylenf · 6/10 · 6 December 2007]

IRENE DUNNE had THE SECRET OF MADAME BLANCHE. It's the forerunner of all those Madame X stories that gave actresses meaty roles in tear-jerkers. For Olivia de Havilland it was TO EACH HIS OWN. For Lana Turner and earlier, Ruth Chatterton, it was MADAME X. For Helen Hayes it was THE SIN OF MADELON CLAUDET. These were the kind of stories that spanned some twenty years, always about women who were cheated out of mother love--women who fell in love unwisely and were then cheated by circumstances.

LIONEL ATWILL is the rich father whose son (PHILLIPS HOLMES) has fallen in love with a cabaret singer and he opposes the match from the start, threatening to stop giving his son handouts to keep them solvent. The son is destitute when he learns that she's about to have a baby and finally commits suicide. The years fly by and Dunne is now a working woman in London at a not very reputable establishment populated by servicemen. It's World War I and one of the patrons is a young man who makes a fuss over not being given a room. He turns out to be her son and she is soon protecting him from a murder charge.

It's a pretty plot-heavy melodrama with enough twists and turns to keep the viewer interested, but you have to have a taste for these mother/son tear-jerkers to truly enjoy this sort of film.

The final scene with mother and son reunited at a prison after a stormy trial, is reminiscent of MADAME X--but at least here, the son learns the true identity of his mother.

Yet Another Self-Sacrificing Mother

[dglink · 5/10 · 7 December 2007]

Innocent woman meets rich playboy. Innocent woman is seduced by rich playboy. Innocent woman is abandoned by rich playboy. Innocent woman has rich playboy's child. Innocent woman loses rich playboy's child. No-longer-innocent woman ages and prepares to sacrifice all for her child.

An entire genre of motion pictures, which often feature Barbara Stanwyck or Lana Turner, has used this basic plot to wring tears from largely female audiences. In "The Secret of Madame Blanche," Irene Dunne takes a turn at this well-worn routine and maintains her dignity throughout, despite the script's attempts to drown her in clichés. In the role of showgirl, Sally Sanders, Dunne has a few opportunities to show off her fine voice, but the musical selections are poor. The relatively short film, which was adapted from a play, lurches forward from hackneyed scene to hackneyed scene and leaves chasms of time for the audience to fill in. Occasionally, patient viewers will be rewarded with dialog and delivery so rich in camp that they will howl helplessly with unintended laughter, although a mouth-to-mouth kiss between mother and son, perhaps common for the period, induces cringes today. While Lionel Atwill is effective as Aubrey St. John, the selfish controlling father, and Philips Holmes is appropriately weak as his son, the rich playboy, the film offers little beyond the incomparable Irene Dunne slumming in a sub-par vehicle. Coincidences abound, French accents come and go, laws benefit the rich and oppress the poor, and a mother's self-sacrificing love conquers all. What more could one ask for? Perhaps Barbara Stanwyck and "Stella Dallas?"

Try to catch this sometime on TCM

[Poseidon-3 · 5 December 2001]

This is a close cousin of the classic (and often-filmed) "Madame X", but with some minor plot differences that make it worth watching. Fans of Lana's 1966 "Madame X" and the other versions may be curious about its predecessors and similar movies. In this one, Dunne gives a warm, heartfelt (and as is often the case with her) a startlingly contemporary and comfortable performance. Her work in the '30's tends to transcend the span of time and come off fresh now, SEVENTY YEARS later!! When her character ages, this quality is almost totally lost as she is buried in make-up and unnecessarily old-ladyish garb, wig etc.... (The most her character can conceivably be is 50 or so, but she looks like Bette Davis in "A Pocketful of Miracles"!!) Her mannerisms take over until it appears that Molly Shannon from SNL has stepped in to play the part! However, her early scenes, where her romance blossoms with the rich young man who loves her, are the best. She glows. Her scene with her little baby boy is also worth the price of admission alone. The child is adorable and the scene is spontaneous and beautiful. Like most of these tales, the deck is stacked WAY against the leading lady and it gets to be almost ridiculous, but the film is most definitely worth watching as a curio. The screenwriters Hackett and Goodrich were often called upon to translate plays and books to the screen. This was their first try and they do a decent, if occasionally trite and contrived job (this was a different era of film making, though.) It is laughable to think that Irene Dunne has no Academy Award, yet Paltrow, Tomei and Sorvino do..... Crazy!

Stick with it: gets better as it moves

[audiemurph · 6/10 · 3 September 2012]

It may be difficult to get past the premise of "Madame Blanche": movies always require a suspension of belief to some degree, but I had a very hard time with this one. I can't swallow the idea that Irene Dunne would give up her career to marry Phillip Holmes' snivelling, substance-free, work-allergic wimp of a man, after knowing him for about 8 seconds. Did young people in the 30's really marry so quickly without getting to know their potential spouses?

Anyway, Holmes quickly justifies are suspicions. His father disinherits him, so angry is he that Holmes has married so far below his station. Holmes does nothing to make us feel any sympathy for him, but Irene Dunne loves him so! A real unappealingly weak character, he is.

The dialogue is so insipid and without drama in the first half of the film that I seriously wondered whether I had the will to see it through.

Happily, there is much improvement in the second half. Dunne's soldier-son, played by Douglas Walton, starts off as weak and selfish a person as his father (Holmes) was, but he does grow up and change nicely, and is somewhat appealing. Dunne is fabulous and convincing as an older woman - actually, impressively so - it is hard to recognize her as an attractive younger woman in her "old age" make-up!

Lionel Atwill is absolutely evil as Holmes' brutally heartless father. The best scene in the film actually occurs in the first half: look for the close-up, upper-bodies -only shot of Dunne and Holmes in what will be their final parting; the entire shot is beautifully and slightly and softly out of focus, and is quite effective and touching.

Overall, this is a mixed bag, but if you love early sound films just for their own sake, or are a fan of Irene Dunne, then you will appreciate this little soap opera.

Dunne shines in mother son tearjerker.

[st-shot · 7/10 · 3 January 2014]

Displaying the saddest (brown?) eyes in film Irene Dunne soldiers her way through one setback after the next in The Secret of Madame Blanche. Dealing with three generations of an upper crust family Dunne finds all kinds of ways to sing the blues over a twenty year period.

Silver spoon playboy Lenny St. John falls hard for showgirl Sally (Dunne) and in no time they are hitched. Dad Aubrey (Lionel Atwell) will have none of it and he browbeats sonny to end it who does so in the most extreme fashion by committing suicide. Aubrey, distraught by the realization that his money will be orphaned with no one to carry on his name has a detective shadow the pregnant Sally who after giving birth to a boy, sings for a living in a Paris pick-up joint. Aubrey abducts the child after slandering her and pulling some strings to get full custody. Years pass when her soldier son turns up at her bar makes a scene and gets involved in a murder. Madame Blanche in turn selflessly takes the fall instead.

On stage Dunne is more Chevalier than Mistinquette but when she deals with the family St. John she delivers powerfully in scene after scene as well as age convincingly. Atwell as old man Aubrey also registers powerfully with an intractable condescending cruelty. As Sally's son Holmes Philips chips in commendably as well playing at first a loutish dough boy before moving on to some tender moments with Dunne.

Taking place between fin de siècle and World War One the film is both sharply costumed (Adrian) and set designed (Cedric Gibbons) providing a lush look and background for Dunne's tragic Sally in this well mounted if at times far fetched tearjerker.

An Irene Dunne Tearjerker

[JLRMovieReviews · 7/10 · 26 April 2017]

Irene Dunne falls in love with a well-bred gentleman, who is not suited for anything but to spend his daddy's money. They marry, but the marriage doesn't last long, when he goes back to his father, played unmercifully well by Lionel Atwill. But after Lionel gives him an ultimatum and feeling put in a no-win situation, his son commits suicide, thereby setting up the stage for pregnant Irene alone in the world, forced to do what she has to. But Lionel quickly has his grandson taken from her and in his sole custody. Fast forward, the son, played by Phillips Holmes, is a soldier who happens to come across her establishment, a bar with rooms to let! You know the rest. Or do you? This is far from dull and does get rather melodramatic before the final fade-out, pulling no punches and no subtlety. While not entirely one of Ms. Dunne's best, this certainly entertains.

Irene Dunne scores...

[elpep49 · 9/10 · 6 December 2001]

another winner is this Madame-X-type film about mother love. She plays a classy stage performer who marries the spoiled son (Phillips Holmes)of a selfish rich man (Lionel Atwill). The son commits suicide after the father cuts him off and Dunne then loses the baby to the evil old man. She fends for herself over the next 20 years in French bars. A curious set of coincidences reunites mother and son during WW I. Anyway, Dunne is wonderful--as usual--as the mother and gets to age (as in Cimarron) into a spunky old lady. Irene Dunne remains one of the most underrated stars of the 30s, excellent in drama, comedy, or musicals. She's also one of the most likable.

The sublime Irene Dunne at low ebb

[Handlinghandel · 4/10 · 11 January 2008]

This is a truly silly film in which Irene Dunne falls in love with Phillpis Homes. She is a performer; so that won't do with his fine family. She thinks she can get his father to reconsider. But we know better: The father is the always scary Lionel Atwill! She's lucky he doesn't mummify her on the pot.

The actor who plays her son, many years later, is pallid and odd looking. And the screenwriters (and censors) seem to have forgotten who is related to whom and how at the climax.

Dunne is charming but she has a terribly corny plot to work with. She ages well. When she is an older woman, going under the name of the title, she is tougher than usual. Maybe Barbara Stanywck could have done more with this role. But it's pretty doubtful.

You will bawl or laugh at this...I bawled.

[amandakls · 8/10 · 13 April 2005]

I am an Irene Dunne fan but had only seen her comedies, so I was surprised to see her in this one night after I got home from work. I read the other review and thought it was rather harsh. This IS from a different film-making era, so if it seems trite, that may be to our jaded modern sensibilities. I was totally rooting for Dunne's heroine until the very end...and the part in which she discovers that the horrible soldier is her very own son that was stolen away from her...."Oh, my baby boy, what have they done to you?!?"...I mean, it will rip your heart out!!!! I get misty just thinking of it. You have to love the melodramatic twists and turns, and of course, I always appreciate a happy ending...even though he's in jail, you know they'll be alright!!!

Glossy melodrama spins out of control due to an excess of soap.

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 2 April 2019]

It's more glossy mother love drama in this pre-code soap opera that shows Irene Dunne in some glamorous outfits but on occasion overacting in old age makeup. She's a glamorous show girl who falls in love with Nils Asther, marries him, and is forced to deal with his overly possessive father (Lionel Atwill). After at-will forces his son to end things with Dunne, takes the coward's way out and Atwill gets custody of their newly born son. By coincidence (just like happens in so many of these movies), mother and son are unknowingly reunited years later, and when the son (Douglas Walton) accidentally kills the father of the girl he nearly got in trouble with, Dunne takes steps to protect him.

Too many cliches makes this preposterous melodrama intriguing but outlandish and often silly. Dunne, for the most part, is extremely sincere, but truly goes into a dimension of realizing who Walton is. Atwill gives a Sly and strong performance, but the younger actors (Asther and Walton) play such weak characters that it becomes a chore to watch them. I wish there was more of Una Merkel as Dunne's drunken pal who gets some very funny lines in the opening scene but quickly disappears.

it is obvious when Dunne goes into the hospital to have her baby, that nothing was done to make her look pregnant. The MGM gloss is of course very prevalent, and there are some nice music hall production numbers as well. But it is obviously a very dated and overdone story, with at least half a dozen similar films that I can think of made during the last years before the Hays code came in. So you can add Irene Dunne to the list of other long-suffering mothers who became Madame X's, including Ruth Chatterton and Gladys George in the MGM films by that name (and years later Lana Turner of course), Helen Hayes, Ann Harding, Bette Davis, Barbara Stanwyck and Kay Francis, just a few of the actresses I could think of offhand.

Creepy father-in-law.

[gkeith_1 · 10/10 · 21 December 2016]

Spoilers. Observations.

Creepy pop in law. He steals the baby. How dare he? He doesn't know how to raise male children, without spoiling them and making them into total wastrels.

Irene Dunne always lovely. Here, she falls for a puny, dorky rich kid, son of the above mentioned stupid idiot. He has no career, and apparently no education. Pop won't give him any more money, so he offs himself and leaves his wife, Irene, to raise the baby as best she can.

Irene comes back from performing in a sleazy entertainment spot, finding the grandfatherly slimeball getting custody of her beloved baby boy. Irene goes to grandpa's home to almost beg him to see the baby, but Grandpapa Dearest says no dice.

Irene goes on to toil for many years in rathole after rathole, entertaining and becoming what looks sort of like a madam in a brothel, or as she describes later, a restaurant with rooms upstairs.

Looks like the young WWI soldier wants to take HER upstairs, but actually he wants a room for himself and his teenage girlfriend who has run away from her parents.

More spoilers. Fast forward. Girlfriend goes home. Girlfriend's father comes looking for soldier who stole away his daughter. Dad wants to beat the living stuffing out of soldier. All of a sudden, kerblam. Gunshot. Soldier has gun in his hand, and the father is succumbed on the floor.

Girlfriend had given Irene name of soldier. Irene realizes it is her long lost baby son. She tells police she did the deed, and that the soldier got away.

Courtroom scene. Irene has confessed to the crime, to protect her son. Judge figures out the connection. Soldier is in the room, and he realizes Irene is his long lost mother, about whom he was told by creepy grandpa that she was no good. Grandpa, Irene's pop in law, is also in room, and cringes/realizes that she was the young woman married to his son against his wishes.

Judge says Irene is innocent. Next scene, Irene visits soldier in jail. He didn't get capital punishment or a very long sentence; apparently, the verdict was self-defense, manslaughter or something like that. He only gets around two years.

Irene baked him a chocolate cake, but wasn't allowed to bring it into the jail. Her son loves chocolate cake.

Wooden

[gbill-74877 · 5/10 · 22 March 2019]

Not a whole lot to recommend about this one - the story is based on a common premise from the period, and the dialog and acting are wooden, particularly in the first half. It's interesting (and a little maddening) to reflect that the males from all three generations of this wealthy family act quite poorly to working girls. Irene Dunne is earnest in all of the melodramatic phases of the story, if a little muted. A better film of this type is 'The Sin of Madelon Claudet' (1931).

Falling for a wastrel

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 4 August 2018]

If I had been Irene Dunne in The Secret Of Madame Blanche I might have thought twice about eloping with charming wastrel Phillips Holmes.. Sadly she met his ironfisted father Lionel Atwill only after they were married.

Dunne plays a singer and does get to show her vocal talents in this film which is always appreciated. Holmes who does nothing, but spend dear old dad's money in various hedonistic pursuits. Of course dad does not even try to channel Holmes into some useful profession where he could have an income. What he wants and frankly I thought this a hoot, he wants to have him get a seat in Parliament with of course an arranged marriage with a woman of the proper station.

Atwill has really no redeeming qualities as a father. He just wants to dominate his kid. Eventually he forces Dunne to give her child over to him to be raised in the image. As the kid grows up to be Douglas Walton he truly is a chip off the old Atwill/Holmes block.

Fast forward to the World War I years and Walton while AWOL gets himself in a big jackpot and he also meets Dunne with no idea she's his mom. Atwill told him she was dead.

I won't go any farther except to say that the whole thing has a Madame X quality to it. It does work out better for the principal cast members.

The Secret Of Madame Blanche is a property very unlikely to be remade. Still the cast led by Dunne, Holmes, Atwill, and Walton does pull it together.