Madame X is one of the perennial tearjerkers that has been revived again and again since its original incarnation as a play around 1910. The casting of John Forsythe in the pivotal role of the title character's husband is a big hint at what's in store in this shrink-wrapped Ross Hunter production. But it works chiefly due to a moving performance by Lana Turner which takes about thirty minutes to kick in.
*** THIS PARAGRAPH CONTAINS POSSIBLE SPOILERS*** Until then, Turner seems inappropriate as a young newlywed. Later, when her icy mother-in-law (Constance Bennett) forces her into lifelong, anonymous exile after a scandal involving a high society ladies man (Ricardo Montalban), she finds herself rejected and abandoned, whereupon Turner comes to life as a lost, desperate, aging, alcoholic wretch wandering the globe trying to forget her past, her husband and most of all her little son. Burgess Meredith is appropriately hissable as a con artist who meets her in a sleazy Mexican hotel, learns of her past, and schemes to make money from her tragedy by using her to blackmail her wealthy ex-husband.
Constance Bennett, who came out of retirement to play the nasty matriarch, contributes much-needed zing to the routine expository section. Gone is the slinky, throwaway charm of her youth; in its place is a lacquered reptile, all class and style, some slink, but no soul. It was her last film; she died shortly after this production wrapped. And it was Lana Turner's final bow as a serious leading lady; after this she did nothing of note. How sad that so many studio-era American movie stars had to call it quits in early middle-age, just when many of them were learning how to act! In any event, by 1966 Madame X was considered old fashioned and irrelevant, panned by critics and largely ignored by audiences. It works well on the small screen because production values, spectacle and visual artistry were never the essence of this story anyway. If by the last moments you haven't already dismissed it as contrived melodrama, the finale is heartrending.
*** THIS PARAGRAPH CONTAINS POSSIBLE SPOILERS*** Until then, Turner seems inappropriate as a young newlywed. Later, when her icy mother-in-law (Constance Bennett) forces her into lifelong, anonymous exile after a scandal involving a high society ladies man (Ricardo Montalban), she finds herself rejected and abandoned, whereupon Turner comes to life as a lost, desperate, aging, alcoholic wretch wandering the globe trying to forget her past, her husband and most of all her little son. Burgess Meredith is appropriately hissable as a con artist who meets her in a sleazy Mexican hotel, learns of her past, and schemes to make money from her tragedy by using her to blackmail her wealthy ex-husband.
Constance Bennett, who came out of retirement to play the nasty matriarch, contributes much-needed zing to the routine expository section. Gone is the slinky, throwaway charm of her youth; in its place is a lacquered reptile, all class and style, some slink, but no soul. It was her last film; she died shortly after this production wrapped. And it was Lana Turner's final bow as a serious leading lady; after this she did nothing of note. How sad that so many studio-era American movie stars had to call it quits in early middle-age, just when many of them were learning how to act! In any event, by 1966 Madame X was considered old fashioned and irrelevant, panned by critics and largely ignored by audiences. It works well on the small screen because production values, spectacle and visual artistry were never the essence of this story anyway. If by the last moments you haven't already dismissed it as contrived melodrama, the finale is heartrending.