Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Not part of a collection.
Madame X
I MADE ONE MISTAKE...AND I HAVE MORE THAN PAID FOR IT!
An alcoholic woman was charged and tried for murder and a young defense attorney, unaware that she is his mother, takes the assignment to defend her in court.
- Original title
- Madame X
- Language
- EN
- Country
- US
- Budget
- —
- Revenue
- —
CinemaSerf
Jul 18, 2025 · via TMDB
When young lawyer “Raymond” (Raymond Hackett) is tasked with defending a self-confessed murderess, he tries to learn a little of just what drove her to commit a crime that she won’t explain nor attempt to hide from. It’s that retrospective that introduces us to “Madame X”. She (Ruth Chatterton) was a young woman married to an indifferent man “Louis” (Lewis Stone) whose unkindness drove her into the arms of another man. He died quite quickly afterwards, and her jealous husband forbade her access to their three year old son. Disconsolate, the woman took to a path of destitution and absinthe and that ultimately saw her in the courtroom. What we all know, though, is that this young man is the son of the powerful Attorney General of France, and that he - well he has a shame of his own to deal with that goes back many years and of which his son is unaware. She refuses to identify anyone from the story to “Raymond” but the harrowing gist of her tribulations stimulates in him a determination to exonerate a woman whom he considers to have been appallingly treated by her husband and life in general. Stone and Hackett both deliver fine here, but they very much play second fiddle to a Chatterton who is on great form as the beleaguered woman who, in front of our eyes, sees her life disappear into a doldrum of booze and despair. She has quite a lot of help from the make-up department and from a sympathetic production design that adds depth to her sorry tale, and though this isn’t the most quickly paced (melo)drama you will ever see, it’s a fine example of a woman exuding love, pain and even optimism in an environment where she has little, if any, status.
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
Gladys George
Jacqueline Fleuriot / Miss Pran / Madame X
Warren William
Bernard Fleuriot
John Beal
Raymond Fleuriot
Reginald Owen
Maurice Dourel
William Henry
Hugh Fariman Jr.
Henry Daniell
Lerocle
Phillip Reed
Jean Rochin
Lynne Carver
Helene
Emma Dunn
Rose, Fleuriot's Houskeeper
Ruth Hussey
Annette
Luis Alberni
Scipio
George Zucco
Dr. LaFarge
Cora Witherspoon
Nora
Jonathan Hale
Hugh Fariman Sr.
Adia Kuznetzoff
Captain Dorcas
Stanley Andrews
Gendarme Testifying in Court
Sam Ash
Silent Gendarme at Villa
Joseph E. Bernard
Deck Steward on Yacht
Harvey Clark
Meryval
Ronnie Cosby
Peter Simonds
Nick De Ruiz
Hotel Porter
Donald Douglas
Mr. Edison
Christian J. Frank
Jailer
Helen Freeman
Nurse
Edward Gargan
Mate of Dorcas
Frank Hagney
Jailer
Mahlon Hamilton
Spectator
Edward Keane
Gendarme at Villa
Hal Le Sueur
Spectator
Edward LeSaint
Detective
Theodore Lorch
Pawnbroker
Louis Mercier
French Newspaper Employee
Torben Meyer
Peridcord
Robert Middlemass
Prefect of Police
Belle Mitchell
Nun
Dickie Moore
Allan Simonds
Leonard Mudie
Prosecutor Valmorin
George Ovey
Bartender in Montage
Paul Porcasi
Hotel Gran Via Proprietor
Gene Reynolds
Raymond Fleuriot, Age 12-14
Ferdinand Schumann-Heink
Maitre d'Hotel
Frederick Vogeding
Gendarme in Court for Jacqueline
E. Alyn Warren
Clerk
Christina Montt
Suzie
Cedric Gibbons
Art Direction
Edwin B. Willis
Art Direction
John F. Seitz
Director of Photography
Gustav Machatý
Co-Director
Sam Wood
Director
James Kevin McGuinness
Producer
David Snell
Original Music Composer
Douglas Shearer
Sound Director
James Kevin McGuinness
Screenplay
John Meehan
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Oct 1, 1937
