''Madame X'' is a 1929 American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines, popularly known ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super- ...

directed by

Lionel Barrymore Lionel Barrymore (born Lionel Herbert Blythe; April 28, 1878 – November 15, 1954) was an American actor of stage, screen and radio as well as a film director. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in ''A Free Soul'' (1931 ...

, and starring Ruth Chatterton as a fallen woman who longs to be reunited with her son. The film is based on the 1908 play ''

Madame X ''Madame X'' (original title ''La Femme X'') is a 1908 play by French playwright Alexandre Bisson (1848–1912). It was novelized in English and adapted for the American stage; it was also adapted for the screen twelve times over sixty-fiv ...

'' by

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

Alexandre Bisson Alexandre Bisson (9 April 1848 – 27 January 1912) was a French playwright, vaudeville creator, and novelist. Born in Briouze, Orne in Lower Normandy, he was successful in his native France as well as in the United States. Remembered as a signi ...

(1848-1912).

Plot

Jacqueline Floriot (Chatterton) is thrown out into the street without any money by her jealous husband Louis ( Lewis Stone) when he discovers she had been carrying on an affair. She is not even allowed to see their four-year-old son, and sinks into depravity. Twenty years later, she has become the mistress of Laroque ( Ullrich Haupt), a cardsharp. When he finds out that her husband is now the attorney general, Laroque decides to blackmail him. Desperate to shield her son from her disgrace, she shoots and kills her lover. By chance, the lawyer assigned to her turns out to be her own son, on his first case. He is puzzled and frustrated when she refuses to defend herself in court. During the trial, her husband shows up in support of his son. When she sees that he recognizes her and is about to speak out, she makes an impassioned plea, not for mercy, but for understanding of what drove her to murder. As she had intended, the hidden message silences Louis. When Jacqueline faints from the strain, she is carried into a private chamber. There, she kisses her still-unaware son and dies.

Cast

* Ruth Chatterton as Jacqueline Floriot * Lewis Stone as Louis Floriot *

Raymond Hackett Raymond Hackett (July 15, 1902 – July 7, 1958) was a stage and screen actor. He had been a child actor on the Broadway stage and was the brother of Albert Hackett. He was born in New York City the son of Maurice Hackett and Florence Hackett (n� ...

as Raymond Floriot *

Holmes Herbert Holmes Herbert (born Horace Edward Jenner; 30 July 1882 – 26 December 1956) was an English character actor who appeared in Hollywood films from 1915 to 1952, often as a British gentleman. Early life Born Horace Edward Jenner, (some sour ...

as Noel *

Eugenie Besserer Eugenie Besserer ( – May 29, 1934) was an American actress who starred in silent films and features of the early sound motion-picture era, beginning in 1910. Her most prominent role is that of the title character's mother in the first talki ...

as Rose, the Floriots' servant * Mitchell Lewis as Colonel Hanby * Ullrich Haupt as Laroque *

Sidney Toler Sidney Toler (born Hooper G. Toler Jr., April 28, 1874 – February 12, 1947) was an American actor, playwright, and theatre director. The second European-American actor to play the role of Charlie Chan on screen, he is best remembered for his ...

as Dr. Merivel *

Richard Carle Richard Carle (born Charles Nicholas Carleton, July 7, 1871 – June 28, 1941) was an American stage and film actor as well as a playwright and stage director. He appeared in more than 130 films between 1915 and 1941. Carle was born in Som ...

as Perissard *

Claude King Claude King (February 5, 1923 – March 7, 2013) was an American country music singer and songwriter, best known for his million selling 1962 hit, " Wolverton Mountain". Biography King was born in Keithville in southern Caddo Parish sou ...

as Valmorin, the prosecutor

Notes

The story had been filmed

before Before is the opposite of after, and may refer to: * ''Before'' (Gold Panda EP), 2009 * ''Before'' (James Blake EP), 2020 * "Before" (song), a 1996 song by the Pet Shop Boys * "Before", a song by the Empire of the Sun from ''Two Vines'' * "Befo ...

by Goldwyn Pictures in 1920 with

Pauline Frederick Pauline Frederick (born Pauline Beatrice Libbey, August 12, 1883 – September 19, 1938) was an American stage and film actress. Early life Frederick was born Pauline Beatrice Libbey (later changed to Libby) in Boston in 1883 (some sources stat ...

. This was four years before the merger of Goldwyn with two other film studios that led to MGM. MGM inherited the screen rights to the story following the 1924 merger. No music is heard under the opening or closing credits of ''Madame X'', which was the result of a short-lived practice in which studios expected the local theater musicians to provide live accompaniment to the opening credits of sound films. Because keyboardists and

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

s were still working in the theaters in the late 1920s providing music for silent films still in distribution, live music was a way to make the screening more of a special event and not a purely "canned" presentation."Madame X"

Turner Classic Movies Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of ...

. Retrieved February 25, 2014. Barrymore consciously avoided the song-and-dance formula that dominated early sound pictures, treating ''Madame X'' as a dramatic play. To emphasize the film's credentials as a serious drama and avoid any music hall associations, MGM premiered the film in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Sam H. Harris Sam Henry Harris (February 3, 1872 – July 3, 1941) was a Broadway producer and theater owner. Career Sam Harris was born on Manhattan's Lower East Side to poor Jewish parents. After a stint as a cough drop salesman and boxing manager, Harris' ...

Theater, a legitimate stage venue that was rented for the occasion.

Considered for Academy Award nomination

;Considerations * Best Directing: Lionel Barrymore *

Best Actress Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress aw ...

: Ruth Chatterton However, these were not official "nominations." According to AMPAS, "there were no announcements of nominations, no certificates of nomination or honorable mention, and only the winners (*) were revealed during the awards banquet on April 3, 1930. Though not official nominations, the additional names in each category, according to in-house records, were under consideration by the various boards of judges."

References

External links