Madame X (1966)

Movie
German title	Madame X
Original title	Madame X
Country of production	United States
original language	English
Publishing year	1966
length	100 minutes
Age rating	FSK 16
Rod
Director	David Lowell Rich
script	Jean Holloway
production	Ross Hunter
music	Frank Skinner
camera	Russell Metty
cut	Milton Carruth
occupation
Lana Turner : Holly Parker John Forsythe : Clayton Anderson Ricardo Montalbán : Phil Benton Burgess Meredith : Dan Sullivan Constance Bennett : Estelle Anderson Keir Dullea : Clay Anderson Jr. John van Dreelen : Christian Torben Virginia Gray : Mimsy Warren Stevens : Michael Spalding Carl Benton Reid : Judge Teddy Quinn : Clay Jr. as a child Frank Maxwell : Dr. Evans Kaaren Verne : nurse Joe de Santis : Carter Frank Marth : Detective Combs Bing Russell : Cop Teno Pollick : Manuel Lopez

Madame X is a 1965 American film directed by David Lowell Rich and starring Lana Turner and John Forsythe . The script was written by Jean Holloway . It is based on the play La femme X by the French playwright Alexandre Bisson . In the United States, the film first hit cinemas on March 3, 1966. In the Federal Republic of Germany it had its premiere on February 25 of the same year.

action

Holly, a former saleswoman, moves to the family estate in Connecticut as the wife of the wealthy and ambitious diplomat Clayton Anderson, eyed suspiciously by Clayton's mother Estelle. The family owner is born after just one year, but the family's happiness suffers somewhat from Clayton's repeated prolonged absence. Holly gets caught up in a love affair with philanderer Phil Benton, who breaks his neck on a flight of stairs when Holly says goodbye to him. For Estelle, this is the hoped-for opportunity to “boot out” her daughter-in-law: out of an overly great husband and mother's love, Holly switches from a private yacht to a steamer at night, with a Swiss passport and sufficient pension, while everyone thinks she has drowned. Restless and grieving, she roamed the world for twenty years, turning down a brilliant marriage offer from a Danish pianist and sinking into an absinthe-addicted slut. She then chatted on her past to a blackmailer of all people. He wants to relieve Holly's husband, who has since advanced to governor, by a few million, but is shot before by Holly for noble motives, who blurs every trace of her identity and awaits her death sentence as the unknown and mentally shattered "Madame X". As a public defender, her own son makes his first plea: “I would kneel down as a son in front of such a mother!” Without knowing that he was directly concerned. Papa begins to suspect the connections, but remains silent when Holly dies of a weak heart before the prospect of acquittal, kissed tenderly by her young lawyer.

criticism

The lexicon of international film only notes that it is a "melodrama on the level of a magazine". Even the Protestant film observer doesn't think much of the flick: “The possible drama of the material was hopelessly blended in bad Hollywood fashion and everything was reduced to the level of a booklet. Only suitable for those hungry for kitsch. "

Web links

• Madame X in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Source: Evangelischer Filmbeobachter , Evangelischer Presseverband München, Review No. 79/1966, pp. 173–174
2. ^ Lexicon of international films, rororo-Taschenbuch No. 6322 (1988), p. 2369