User reviews

The consummate Helen Hayes distinguishes this "fallen woman" film which would be only okay without her. The story resembles MADAME X, especially in the relationship between disgraced mother and clueless son. Starting as a farm girl in Normandy smitten with an American student (Neil Hamilton), Hayes progresses (or declines) to washerwoman, unwed mother, mistress to a wealthy crook (Lewis Stone), convict, high-class prostitute, streetwalker, aged derelict. She gets to play the spectrum of human emotions and vary her appearance from homely-wholesome to high glamour to harridan, from supreme confidence to abject humility. And she does it all with flying colors. Just as a study in good acting, this is worth a look. If anyone deserved an Oscar that year, it was she. And she got it.

The representations of prostitution are blatant, but no more so than in many other films of this period before the 1934 censorship clamp-down.

Which do you talk about first? The saccharine, weepy tale of a mother's sacrifice? Or Helen Hayes' superb performance despite the claptrap about a woman who enables the son she gave away to become a great doctor? I'll go with Hayes. As Madelon, she goes from the naively adoring bride of a bounder to the mistress of a criminal nobleman to a fallen woman of the streets to a pathetic bag lady,each phase of her life revealing fresh nuances. No question she deserved the Oscar she won, if only for making the melodrama make sense and coping with direction that was clumsy even for 1932. Worth watching to see an amazingly gifted actress in her prime.

The Sin of Madelon Claudet opens with a beautiful view of the Eiffel tower and the Seine River. A women is contemplating leaving her husband, and suddenly, we are in a flashback, explaining how we had gotten to this point. Helen Hayes is Madelon Claudet, a single mother in Paris around 1900, fighting to get ahead in life. Viewers will recognize Alan Hale as Monsieur Hubert, playing -- a gruff, fat man that storms out of the room -- must have been a real reach for him... he did that in every movie he was in from 1911 - 1950. Also look for Lewis Stone as Carlo Boretti; he was the kindly Doctor in Grand Hotel. Robert Young, about 25 at the time, plays Madelon's son Lawrence Claudet in this film, only his second credited role. From the cast/crew list on IMDb, it also appears a lot of material was deleted. Other reviewers have said how this feels like a Barbara Stanwyck film, and I agree completely. Single woman up against the world, hitting bad luck around every corner. But, except for the last 2 minutes, it's not as silly, soapy as some have said; it tells a pretty good solid story, which probably happened pretty often back then (and still does). The version I saw on TCM actually had good quality sound and picture. The play "Lullaby" on which this is based, was written by the same guy that wrote "Kismet" in 1914 - Edward Knoblock.

The two leads were my main reason for seeing 'The Sin of Madelon Claudet'. Helen Hayes (am more familiar with her later roles, so seeing her as young as she is here was really interesting) was a truly fine actress and wholly deserving of being one of the few Triple Crown winners. Have also a high opinion of Lewis Stone and he specialised in the sympathetic, dignified parts that require authority. The subject matter, a bold one for the time, also interested.

Although it won't be, and isn't, for all tastes (with it being too melodramatic and stagy for some), 'The Sin of Madelon Claudet' struck me as a good and quite powerful film and handles its difficult subject well. It is not perfect by all means, but in regard to a lot of early talkies from this period there have been a heck of a lot worse with stage play to early film adaptations wildly varying in particular. One thing in particular is enough to make 'The Sin of Madelon Claudet' watchable at least.

Beginning with what isn't so strong, it is very melodramatic and some of the melodrama goes overboard later on. Particularly towards the end, which was like being drowned in syrup (am aware what it was trying to do, it was just too much for my tastes that's all).

Did find the dialogue too talk heavy and creaky and some of the pace could have been tightened.

Hayes however is an absolute revelation in a difficult role, and her Oscar was a deserving one. She is incredibly moving here while showing grit and determination, never did it feel stagy or over-acted to me. Her character also grows and matures, one that was rootable. Stone is sympathetic and dignity personified and the protectiveness is not over-bearing. Robert Young is suitably youthful and Jean Hersholt does noble very well. The direction didn't feel static or fatigued and plays to the actors' strengths.

Similarly found the message admirable and that it wasn't laid on too thick, also in a way still relevant today. It's very nicely filmed and the production values are not too simple or over-elaborate. Really admired its tackling of its brave subject and found much of the film poignant and far from sugar-coated, so serving its purpose well as a tear-jerker.

Concluding, not great but good and has power. See it primarily for Hayes. 7/10.

Helen Hayes makes an astonishing film debut here as the title character, a young woman who runs off with her poor beau and has a child. Through ensuing (and realistic) circumstances, she goes through the transitions of being a destitute country girl, a jewel thief's lover, a prison inmate and finally becoming a haggard vagrant. All of these incidents, at the expense of her own pleasure, are done in order to secure a place in life for her son as a prominent physician. At only 73 minutes, one would expect these changes to occur at somewhat of a breakneck speed, but the movie moves along at a leisurely and elegiac pace. Hayes won herself a well-deserved Academy Award for her luminous performance in this ultimate 1930s tearjerker.

Presently, in Paris, a neglected wife wants to leave her husband; he is a doctor who spends too much time with his patients. This selfish woman is lucky to have a husband, we will learn through the course of this story. Kindly Jean Hersholt helps us flashback… Years ago, Normandy farmer's daughter Helen Hayes (as Madelon Claudet) decides to marry American artist Neil Hamilton (as Larry Maynard). Before the wedding bells actually ring, he is called away back to the US for a family emergency. Alas, he doesn't return and Ms. Hayes is left unmarried and in a "sinful" state. She has to make incredible sacrifices to make sure her son gets a chance to succeed in life...

This tearjerker plot was very popular during the 1920s, and beyond; played by most of the top actresses, it's about the woman who gives "it" up before the relationship is secure and, for some reason or other, is left enceinte. The warhorse in the genre was "Madame X" (several versions); at the time this film was released, the most memorable portrayal was by Ruth Chatterton. The Oscar-nominated actress would return to the basic storyline with "Frisco Jenny" (1932). Folks giving "Academy Awards" liked the story, obviously, and Ms. Hayes won "Best Actress" of the year for her impression. As is often the case, Hayes' portrayal was neither the best of the year nor the best of the type...

Hayes and Edgar Selwyn's "The Sin of Madelon Claudet" get good support from MGM, with Marie Prevost (as Rosalie Lebeau) seen most often. Young "Larry" is earnestly portrayed by Frankie Darro and Robert Young. Both of these young men have scenes that strain credulity. Any smart teenager would have guessed Hayes was his mother, probably before the kiss and most definitely after; likewise, any smart doctor would have picked Helen Hayes as the woman clutching a photograph of mother and son. Still, Hayes was a great stage actress; when silent movies began to talk, she and writing partner Charles MacArthur received an enthusiastic Hollywood welcome.

****** The Sin of Madelon Claudet (10/23/31) Edgar Selwyn ~ Helen Hayes, Marie Prevost, Lewis Stone, Robert Young

Parents-sacrificing-themselves-for-their-children's-happiness stories were a dime a dozen in the 1930s, and this one gave Helen Hayes, already known at the time for her stage work, a film vehicle in an attempt to lure her to Hollywood. It didn't take, and Hayes didn't go on to make many notable movies, but she did manage to win two Oscars for her film work, a supporting trophy in 1970 for "Airport," and, 39 years earlier, her first, a Best Actress award for "The Sin of Madelon Claudet."

The movie is standard melodrama stuff, relentless and shameless in its tugging of the heartstrings, but, like many Oscar-winning performances from the Academy's early years, it's easy to see why Hayes impressed voters at the time. The film's histrionics seem dated today, but Hayes is pretty good, and her acting style, much more natural than many of her contemporaries who still had one foot planted firmly in silent films, is refreshing. Toss in the fact that she physically transforms over the course of the movie from fetching young thing to broken down crone, and no wonder the Academy went for her. They still go gaga over that kind of stuff today.

Grade: B

Helen Hayes is well worthy of the Oscar she won for her performance in this one. The role required her to play a young lover, single mother, wealthy socialite, prisoner, prostitute, and beaten-down old woman, and she did so brilliantly. I found her beautiful and a great actor, particularly at a time when overacting was the norm. The scene where she responds with a humorous puffy facial expression to a question about what someone is like is priceless. Her suggestions of lasciviousness using only her eyes are also great; while the movie is pre-Code and has a suggestive title, it's quite tame. We're all rooting for because she's been driven to such depths quite unfairly, and because she's made the incredible sacrifice of separating herself from her son, so that he can pursue being a doctor, unencumbered by her shame, which back then would have stopped him. It leads to a pretty syrupy ending, but was balanced for the most part, and the supporting cast is also strong.

This MADAME X-type melodrama constitutes a record in Oscar history, in that it marks the longest period between wins for any person: Best Actress recipient Helen Hayes would be bestowed her second statuette, a Best Supporting Actress one for AIRPORT, 38 years later! Incidentally, this being an MGM picture, it becomes evident from checking the honoured actors during the first dozen ceremonies (till the end of the decade) that the studio made good its famous logo "more stars than there are in heaven" by copping as many as 12 Academy Awards!

That said, the title under review itself is hardly highly-regarded – though it is reasonably stylish and well-served by a surprisingly strong cast (in alphabetical order: Alan Hale, Neil Hamilton, Jean Hersholt, Karen Morley, Lewis Stone, Charles Winninger, Robert Young, etc.) for a 75-minute film. Hayes herself rises above the decidedly clichéd material with a performance that does not feel dated even today. The episodic narrative involves a woman impregnated and left by her artist boyfriend Hamilton, then marries wealthy but elderly Stone – who is subsequently revealed to be a crook! The woman is herself incriminated and sent to prison; when her term expires, she is unable to find work and actually gives her kid (who grows up to be esteemed doctor Young) the impression that his mother died! Before long, she goes downhill – becoming a streetwalker (easily the most laughable section of the film!) and, convincingly made-up, aging prematurely. Eventually, she breaks into her son's house; rather than report her, he takes pity on the woman and starts taking care of her (without ever discovering her true identity!). Incidentally, the plot assumes a flashback structure – in which Young's wife, Morley, is about to leave him because of his over-dedication to duty…but is persuaded to stay by social worker Hersholt, who recounts Hayes' sacrifice for her motherly love of the same man.

For the record, director Selwyn only directed eight films (I also own his SKYSCRAPER SOULS {1932} and TURN BACK THE CLOCK {1933}) and, in fact, was more renowned as a playwright; besides, the similarly-gifted Charles MacArthur – Hayes' just-as-celebrated husband – served as "dialogue continuity" here!

Or words to that effect sprang from the snarling mouth of Helen Hayes, anonymous mother of Robert Young in this Award-winning old-timer. Having hit rock bottom, Madelon was caught picking a guy's pocket in a dive bar. As she was leaving he discovered the scam and began to chase her, whereupon she grabbed a beer bottle, smashed it on a table and uttered the defiant words above. The scene is worth the price of admission.

Helen Hayes?? The First Lady Of The American Theater?? Elwood P.Dowd's aunt in "Harvey"?? After I picked myself up off the floor, I realized why she was awarded Best Actress Oscar for her vivid portrayal of a 'fallen' woman who has bad luck and no luck with men. Predictably, she sacrifices everything for her son (Robert Young), who does not know her. Although this has since become a recurrent theme in Hollywood ("Stella Dallas", "Madame X", etc.), this may have been one of the first of it's kind. Helen Hayes puts it over in style in a bravura performance, winning an Oscar in 1931. Fans of the Golden Age, this one is a must.

Helen Hayes enjoyed an amazing career, particularly on stage, but she made films and even had a TV show, "The Snoop Sisters."

This is very early Hayes starring in "The Sins of Madelon Claudet" from 1931.

Madelon runs off with her boyfriend to Paris. At one point, her boyfriend needs to return to America but says he will be back soon. He never returns due to pressure from his parents.

Madelon is pregnant and gives birth to a baby boy. Her next move is to marry a farmer, a friend of her father's, but he will not allow the baby to come along. So that's that. Hearing from her that she's to be married, an admirer, Count Boretti, has sent her flowers after she turns down his proposal to be his mistress. Now she takes him up on it.

She doesn't tell the Count about her baby, so he lives with a husband and wife not too far away. The Count comes home one night, announces he's rich, and proposes marriage. When Madelon tells him about the baby, he says he already knew and it's fine. A few hours later, he's exposed as a crook. He and Madelon are both arrested, the police believing she had knowledge of where he got his money.

Madelon goes to prison for ten years. By now her child is in a charity school - more like an orphanage, where he's well-treated, and she's told she can't have him until she can prove she can support him. When she meets him, she tells him his mother is dead, and she's a friend.

With no work to be had, Madelon turns to walking the streets to give a doctor friend money for her child.

There are so many of these stories about women turning to prostitution -- it's so sad that women were extremely limited in those days, and not only that, banished if she had an illegitimate child.

I don't believe I have ever seen Robert Young this young - his voice is unmistakable, and he gives a warm performance as Madelon's son. He was not a superstar in films, but on television - well, he more than made up for it with two iconic roles.

Helen Hayes is excellent - coming from the stage, one might expect her to be too theatrical, but she was not at all. A wonderful actress, her career went from 1909 to 1985.

Good movie - as far as pace, this is one of the better really early talkies I've seen. Good direction by Edgar Selwyn, who wrote the play on which this is based.

If you want a definition of an early thirties melodrama, this is it. If you want to explain what type of film MGM made then this is it. If you want to know what people in the early thirties enjoyed then watch this superbly made picture.

If you're like me, weepy sentimental melodramas might not be your thing but I have to admit even I felt a bit tearful at the end. There's nothing particularly outstanding about it but it's just so classy and well made. Veteran director Edgar Selwyn, one of the founding fathers of MGM, didn't use any tricks, he just used experience and professionalism to engage with his audience - and it still works more than ninety years later.

Although a thirty year long story is squeezed into an hour and a half, it doesn't feel rushed. It's paced perfectly allowing you to thoroughly get to know Helen Hayes' character - you think her thoughts, you feel her hopes and you feel her despair. After the prelude section I thought it was going to be just another of those 'girl from the wrong side of the tracks meets a society guy who's family make him marry someone more suitable' stories. The very first part is that well trodden story and you then start to wonder if it's worth carrying on watching but keep with it. It develops into something much more interesting, something richer with real in-depth characters.

By about half time, you're thinking like a 1930s person and it's interesting to reflect afterwards how fifty year old Lewis Stone's proposal to young Helen Hayes seemed perfectly normal to your 1930s alter ego. Marriage wasn't about love, it wasn't something borne out of passion, it wasn't about finding a soul mate. It was a necessary arrangement. For a man it gave him a pretty companion, a housekeeper, a means of creating an heir but for a woman it was an absolute requirement. It gave her security, it gave her somewhere to live. There wasn't really any alternative - or as we find out in this story, there was but it wasn't nice.

So even if you would have been the type who'd probably have been at the Warner Brothers cinema instead watching James Cagney with a Tommy gun, you'll still enjoy this. It doesn't really give you a feel of the early thirties but shows you how they thought.

Interestingly, poor little Marie Prevost's character in this is called Rosalie - the same name and very possibly the same character she played in Edgar Selwyn's WAR NURSE.

VERY old and creaky talky about Madame Claudet (Helen Hayes) sacrificing everything for her son (who grows up into Robert Young). The thing is her son doesn't know she's alive. She had to give him up because she was abandoned by his father and (wrongfully) thrown in jail. She secretly supports him by becoming a prostitute.

It's as bad as it sounds and very old and out-dated. Plays like a (bad) play but Helen Hayes single-handedly saves it. She overdoes it occasionally (but then she WAS a stage actress) but she's basically just excellent. She won a well-deserved Oscar for this. And seeing Robert Young so...young (sorry) is fun. I just didn't buy the story for one second--it was just too silly (and old-fashioned) to be taken seriously. But it moves VERY quickly and is worth seeing for Hayes alone. I'm giving it a 7.

Though the thrust of the story here is pretty well trammelled, it's worth a watch just to see Helen Hayes on really good form. We start as a young woman enters her husband's study to leave him a note. She is leaving him, convinced that his constant time away with an other woman is proof of his affair. Luckily, "Dr. Dulac" (Jean Hersholt) is already in the room. He sits her down and regales her with an history. That introduces us to "Madelon". She's the eponymous good-time girl who manages to get herself embroiled in the criminal activities of "the Count" (Lewis Stone). He is apprehended, as is she - but he takes then easier way out leaving her to spend ten years in jail for complicity. She must leave her newborn son in the capable hands of the kindly "Dulac" who nurtures the young man's ambitions to become a doctor. Once released, she turns her hand to just about anything to raise the cash necessary to anonymously put him through medical school - and then she meets him (Robert Young). He seems a generous fellow but she, now reduced to scavenging for a living, is too ashamed to admit whom she is. Can they all reconcile? Hayes is great to watch here - she exudes an emotional and characterful personality that demonstrates there is no lengths to which a mother will not go, especially one who has been wronged, to help her child. Hersholt is also effective as are the brief appearances from Stone. It's a bit of a predictable, join-the-dots chronology, but still worth a watch.

Helen Hayes is well worthy of the Oscar she won for her performance in this one. The role required her to play a young lover, single mother, wealthy socialite, prisoner, prostitute, and beaten-down old woman, and she did so brilliantly. I found her beautiful and a great actor, particularly at a time when overacting was the norm. The scene where she responds with a humorous puffy facial expression to a question about what someone is like is priceless. Her suggestions of lasciviousness using only her eyes are also great; while the movie is pre-Code and has a suggestive title, it's quite tame. We're all rooting for because she's been driven to such depths quite unfairly, and because she's made the incredible sacrifice of separating herself from her son, so that he can pursue being a doctor, unencumbered by her shame, which back then would have stopped him. It leads to a pretty syrupy ending, but was balanced for the most part, and the supporting cast is also strong.

(1931) The Sin of Madelon Claudet DRAMA/ SOCIAL COMMENTARY

Helen Hayes deservedly won an Oscar which could've been controversial if made today from a play written by Edward Knoblock, but upon watching it, is like a book written for adults- almost in the same tradition as other prostitute films of similar nature. Straight forward story centering on a well intended girl who seems to have made some bad choices leading to some serious bad luck with a goal to see that her fatherless only child would get nothing but the best who would even sell herself just so her son would get the best education money can buy. It's amazing how relevant this film is when a lot of what this film has shown is still happening today, such as leaving a family who doesn't approve of a boyfriend for the purpose of love resulting it to be a bad move! Despite it's running time of less than an hour and a half - it's still quite effective - tragic and very true.

Talk about a tour-de-force! I lost track of how many times I said to the television screen, "Give her her Oscar!" while watching The Sin of Madelon Claudet. Everyone knows how critical I am of the Academy Awards, but Helen Hayes absolutely deserved her Best Actress trophy. In her first talking picture, she's given an incredible range of situations and emotions, and she convinces everyone that they're watching her life instead of her performance.

Helen starts the film as a good girl, but gets corrupted by an evil male influence. Her boyfriend Neil Hamilton convinces her to run away from home and live in sin with him, but when he's called away to America to care for his sick father, she fears he'll never return. He doesn't, and Helen has a baby. In a touching scene full of more realism than you'd expect in 1931, Helen refuses to hold her newborn, muttering, "I wish it were dead." One of the nurses places the baby in Helen's arms, and Helen looks upon her child. She falls in love, and for the rest of the film, she sacrifices everything for her son.

From refusing to give up her child so she can make a respectable marriage, to becoming wealthy Lewis Stone's mistress, everything she does is for her child. She hides her son on the side while living the high life with Lewis, coming to visit him secretly and supporting him with pocket money Lewis gives her. That arrangement doesn't last long, unfortunately, and Helen is forced to live through many more tragedies before the end of the movie.

The Sin of Madelon Claudet is a cautionary tale for good little girls. Your life can be ruined by running off with your boyfriend and living in sin. While that message feels a little melodramatic by today's standards, it's actually still true. One little mistake that feels harmless or exciting at the time can lead to an unbearable chain of events; perhaps the timelessness is what makes this film a classic. Helen's performance is fantastic, and you'll get to see Robert Young in one of his first parts, the one that propelled him to stardom. You'll also get to see Alan Hale, Charles Winninger, and Jean Hersholt in small roles. And who would have thought the usually tired Lewis Stone would play someone incredibly sweet and romantic?

It's amazing that in the same decade that produced films like GONE WITH THE WIND and STAGECOACH, technically superb in every way, there were the more primitive early talkies like THE SIN OF MADELON CLAUDET.

Everything about it has a museum piece quality. It's hokey from the very first scene and you immediately know that this film has not stood the test of time the way true film classics have.

The acting is overly dramatic with every line magnified for the sound camera, and even HELEN HAYES has a hard time being convincing when she has to play a woman of the streets. Nevertheless, her efforts in this tear-jerker won her an Academy Award as Best Actress of 1931. When she's required to wear age make-up for the later scenes, she looks so much like the Ada Quonsett character she played in AIRPORT ('70).

It's the kind of film that would be remade in later years with stars like Kay Francis, Barbara Stanwyck, Joan Crawford or Olivia de Havilland. A mother makes all sorts of sacrifices in order to be close to her son or daughter after an ill-advised love affair gone wrong.

NEIL HAMILTON, as the man who deserts his wife, gives probably the most natural performance in the film. LEWIS STONE, as a kind-hearted thief, for some reason looks even older than he did as Judge Hardy in the Andy Hardy series. As Hayes' romantic interest he seems incredibly miscast.

There is not a shred of background music or even a hint of humor in all the proceedings. Only anguish and heartbreak without the usual violin strings.

It's heavy going all the way--a primitive film from the early talkies that must have seemed shocking at the time but hardly holds up as respectful melodrama today and has been largely forgotten.

Just as Lewis Stone looks impossibly old to play the count, Robert Young, in one of his first films plays her son, the young doctor, long before he played Marcus Welby, M.D. on TV and looks impossibly youthful.

A curiosity piece, nothing more.