Madame X (1966)

So much average

Good movie but grossly overrated

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

If you're looking for a movie to put you to sleep, you couldn't do better than this, last (one hopes) version of Madame X. Not only is it stupefyingly slow and empty (the scarcity of characters emphasised by the huge rooms), the actors seem to be sleepwalking, and the writers were definitely nodding. There are enough holes in the story big enough for elephants to stampede through. A couple of hours after Lana Turner's evil mother-in-law orders her to disappear rather than disgrace the family, she gives her a false passport. How did this Connecticut housewife come up with that? I guess we're supposed to assume that rich people can do anything. On the last day of the trial, Turner hears her attorney's full name for the first time-- apparently she hasn't been paying too much attention. We are never told why Turner, who receives money to live on, descends into near- destitution while becoming an alcoholic. (Liquor isn't that expensive. Or perhaps the money hasn't increased in the twenty-plus years she has been away?) And why does Turner travel to Denmark? Why to Mexico? Why does her mother-in-law hate her so much for having been a salesgirl (which we are not told until the marriage is several years old) and say that she disgraces the family? We have not seen Turner do or say anything ignorant or vulgar.One has to assume that the writers knew they were dealing with something irredeemable, didn't care, and assumed the audience would not care or wouldn't notice. The latter seems reasonable in view of the fact that Madame X is full of not only carelessness but fantasy. We are supposed to believe that nothing changes in the world of fashion-- she and Constance Bennett are shown in the clothes and hairstyles of the time the movie was made when the action is taking place in the early Forties, and the decor in Ricardo Montalban's apartment is Sixties as well. And of course nobody mentions the war. A young lawyer is given, as the first case he ever tries, a murder case. The trial proceeds with arguments and testimony that anyone who has watched a few courtroom dramas would know to be ridiculous. The biggest fantasy pertains to Turner. We are supposed to believe that this matronly woman, 45 if she is a day, is, at the beginning of the picture, in her early twenties. We are supposed to believe, as more than one man demonstrates, that to know her is to adore her, even though she says and does nothing interesting or appealing. In other words, this is a big fantasy for the not-very-bright middle- aged woman who loves TV soap opera. Because that is what Madame X is, a blown- up, hollow version of daytime TV.Incidentally, why is she Madame X and not Mrs. X? She is not French, and none of the picture takes place in France. But the original play was French and the earlier movies were set there, not in, like this movie, New York and Connecticut. But a brand name is a brand name-- Madame X is the famous title, so it must be adhered to. Besides, calling the movie Mrs. X would be too appropriate: the humble, ordinary name would much more accurately describe this movie, which, for all the expensive gowns and jewels, is drab and cheap.

This is a good movie, I liked very much, specially because Lana Turner has an amazing performance in this movie, every step of the movie she is great , she can make you feel exactly what she's feeling.Holly is a middle class woman marries a rich man, soon she's faced with constant trips from her husband Clay. That takes her to engage in a relationship with Phil, but then things go wrong and to protect the sun and grandson her mother-in-law blackmails her to disappear. After that she starts to sink , missing her son and feeling guilty about her previous behavior . That's when she's forced to murder a blackmailer who threatens to expose her and faces trial.This is a real drama , a movie where even she did some wrong things you find yourself hoping that on the end she comes out OK.

This time, in addition to being a glamour puss, Lana gets to deconstruct her image and replace it with a different artifice, which is a lot more fascinating than what's going on with the story. Though the ending is pure tearjerker, it doesn't compare to the waterworks at the finale of "Imitation of Life." And for a juicy wallow in unintentional humor, you can't beat "Portrait In Black" (Navigating the coast highway without ever having driven a car!). But there's enough here to feast your eyes on while plausibility is being stretched to its limit. Though the film purports to cover about twenty years, Miss Turner (and everyone else) looks pure 1966 in every shot. But that's the point of watching this film – endearingly entertaining for all the wrong reasons.

The timing was not very good for "Madame X".It was the sixties and melodrama was not as popular as it was in the previous decade when Douglas Sirk dominated the genre.David Lowell Rich seems to have studied Sirk's works ; by and large ,he is a good student.The Sirkesque cast and credits ,the huge desirable mansion where a distraught Turner runs after that fateful night ,the final trial -which is guaranteed to send the impressionable tearing through two entire boxes of Kleenex;Keir Dullea's speech for the defense when he praises the love a mother feels for her child and Turner herself crying "forgive me ,child, forgive me" make it the most tear-jerker trial in the whole history of cinema.The well known story of Madame X (it's a remake) is some kind of adult fairy tale :there's the Prince Charming (John Forsythe), the marvelous child ,the cruel mother ("you're nothing but a shop girl!Should have stayed on the other side of the counter "): too bad Constance Benett's part is so underwritten;she is obviously an over possessive mother ,she seems to be in love with her son.Just see her look just after she's left the room after her first meeting with her new daughter-in-law.Overnight,the princess turns into "Cinderella" , "Donkey Skin" or "SnowWhite"Lana Turner ,whose performance in "Imitation of life" (1959) was particularly good ,was certainly an underrated actress.Her best scenes are those when she plays opposite Constance Bennett then Keir Dullea.Like this ?Try these....If you are American.... Only Yesterday John Stahl 1933If you are Italian.... Vedi Napoli e poi muori Riccardo Freda 1952If you are English.... Waterloo bridge Mervyn Le Roy 1939If you are French..... L'Entraineuse Albert Valentin 1938