Waste of time

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Another Douglas Sirk-like "soaper" (though this one is directed by David Lowell Rich, with a screenplay by Jean Holloway that was based on the play by Alexandre Bisson), this film (like Imitation of Life (1959)) also stars Lana Turner in a role made famous in an earlier picture by a different actress (Gladys George, among other versions).Turner plays a girl from the other side of the tracks that marries a rising diplomat, played by John Forsythe, much to the chagrin of his controlling mother, played by Constance Bennett (her final film). Bored with the fact that her husband is always gone, seemingly more married to his job than to her, Turner has an affair with Ricardo Montalban. However, when her husband is promoted and returns with promises of a better home life for her (with him) and their now 4 year old son, she breaks her relationship with Montalban, accidentally killing him in the overused falling down the stairs routine.This gives Bennett just what she needs to get rid of Turner who, not wanting a scandal to ruin things for her would-be governor husband and young son, agrees to disappear forever from their lives. Bennett provides for her financially as she travels and slowly kills herself (with a poison liquer, illegal in the United States, called absinthe) due to her depression, though she does have one brief moment of happiness with a pianist (played by John Van Dreelan) while in Europe. Virginia Grey is also in this film (though I can't for the life of me remember what role she played).Many years later, an opportunist (well played by Burgess Meredith) discovers that the drunken wreck (Turner) he finds, in the same rundown dive as he in Mexico, is really a goldmine for him! He intends to blackmail the now governor Forsythe until, after they return to the States, she kills him. In a daze for quite a while afterwards, she finally signs a confession with only an X.Keir Dullea plays the public defender, assigned to her case, who also happens to be her son, though he isn't aware of it. She keeps this fact from him, though Forsythe and Bennett come to realize it during the trial. Carl Benton Reid plays the judge, Warren Stevens the prosecutor. Frank Maxwell plays the doctor assigned to treat the dying defendant. The verdict is inconsequential.

Corny melodrama starring Lana Turner, whom I generally don't like much. It has some good moments, though, and the final act is surprisingly touching, as silly as the twist is. Turner plays a woman of low class married into high society, her new husband a politician (John Forsythe). She's often left alone, though, and she soon attracts the unwanted attentions of Ricardo Montelban. He dies accidentally, but her mother-in-law assumes she murdered her lover and Turner gets banished. Later on, she hooks up with Burgess Meredith and has a drunken, semi-criminal relationship with him. He ends up dead, too, and then the son that she abandoned (now played by Keir Dullea) defends her in court, never knowing who she really is. The best scenes are the ones with Meredith. Yes, this is a movie where Lana Turner kills both Khan and the Penguin, but it's less campy than one might think (unlike Turner's following film, the hilarious acid trip movie The Big Cube). I think some just genuinely like the melodrama. I don't, but, in the end, it's not too bad a film.

As I read through all the reviews for this film, I was shocked by two things--that people thought it was a good film and that they thought it was a drama. Considering how over the top melodramatic it is, I really thought it was a comedy--albeit an unintentional one! The film starts with Holly (Lana Turner--who was too old for the part) marrying John--a very wealthy man who has ambitions to go into politics. At first, they are happy but after a while John's ambitions take him away from home--a lot. In the meantime, she spends time with another man (Ricardo Montalban) but their relationship is quite chaste. However, when he slips and falls down some stairs to his death, Holly's mother-in-law (Constance Bennett) blackmails her into running off and faking her death, as the mother-in-law THINKS Holly killed her lover! I have no idea why, but Holly agrees--and most of the rest of the film is spent watching Turner show a wide variety of pained looks--ones that look like she's dealing with a bad case of the cramps. All the while, you CONSTANTLY hear the most ridiculously overbearing and ridiculous music. In fact, clearly the music is the worst thing about the film. But you also can't ignore the last half hour--one of the most ridiculously sentimental and stupid half hours in film history (you've just gotta hear Keir Dullea's speech to believe it)! Overall, this is a glossy and beautiful looking bad movie...in a kitschy sort of way. I frankly found much of it laugh out loud funny because the film took itself so seriously but was so seriously bad in the process.By the way, the doctor's comments about absinthe, though believed at the time, are utter nonsense. In fact, the wine industry created all these rumors about absinthe causing brain abnormalities and death! In recent years, it's once again been legalized because it's a potent yet harmless liquor.

"Madame X" is one of the best movies I have ever seen. I would recommend it to every movie goer, not just Lana's fans. She manages to portray to perfection a very, very complex character, and she certainly deserved an Oscar. I liked in particular her scenes with another fine actor, John Van Dreelen, who shared with Lana some very nice, romantic moments. The actor actually said in an interview that his chemistry with Lana was as good on-screen as it was off-screen, and this does a lot of good to the film. I also bought the magnificent book "Madame X", by Michael Avallone, which was published in 1966. I recommend it to everyone, because it was adapted after the original screenplay of Jean Holloway. Thanks to the book, I managed to discover the scenes that were cut from the film, such as the scene where Holly is trying to get a job at an expensive French shop, and also a scene where Christian, the pianist (Van Dreelen), is giving her a hint that they should marry, because the whole press was discussing about them during his concert tour. So, in order to avoid gossip and scandal, he thought they ought to marry. This was his first proposal to her, while they were driving an automobile - and that is why in one of the sequences with them in the car, Lana's character seems preoccupied about something. The novel reveals that she was very much in love with this artist, who became her God or guardian angel, but whom she had to leave, so that neither he, nor her first husband (played by John Forsythe) would find out who and where she really is. A great book and a great film! I bought the original DVD from France and it was an excellent purchase. The music is also superb, and the soundtrack was released separately in 1967. I only wish there were kept more scenes from "Madame X", because the film is much too short to understand the complexity of the plot. Still, I highly recommend it, even if it is a very sad film, a real tear-jerker.