Stubs - The Sin of Madelon Claudet

The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931) Starring Helen Hayes, Lewis Stone, Neil Hamilton, Robert Young. Directed by Edgar Selwyn. Screenplay by Charles MacArthur. Based on the play The Lullaby by Edward Knoblock (New York, 17 Sep 1923). Produced by Harry Rapf. Run time: 74 minutes. USA. Black and White. Pre-Code Drama, Academy Awards

Helen Hayes was known as the “First Lady of the Theatre” but she was more than that, having won not only the “Triple Crown of Acting”, a competitive Academy Award, Emmy Award, and Tony Award in the acting categories, she was also one of only 18 people who have won an EGOT. Hayes would, in fact win two Academy Awards, Best Supporting Actress for Airport (1970) but also one for Best Actress for her role in The Sin of Madelon Claudet.

Based on a play, The Lullaby by Edward Knoblock, Hayes was not the first choice for the role, Kay Francis was. But Francis rejected the offer, stating "I would have to be out of my mind to play that silly French prostitute. Why that dumb little bunny actually walked the streets so that she could buy clothes for her son. Phooey! How can you generate sympathy for such a shallow woman?" While Francis was ultimately wrong about that, the first previews seemed to indicate that she may have not been.

Coming to the rescue was Irving Thalberg, who was convinced that all the film needed was some minor changes, and he instructed Charles MacArthur, who was also Hayes’ husband, to rewrite the script. By the time The Sin of Madelon Claudet went back into production, Hayes was already filming Arrowsmith for Samuel Goldwyn, Hayes spent her one day off, Sundays, to work on the reshoots.

Hayes was not a complete stranger to films, having made three silent ones; The Sin of Madelon Claudet would be her first sound film.

Dr. Dulac (Jean Hersholt) tells Alice Claudet (Karen Morley) a story about sacrifice. 

The film opens in Paris, where Alice Claudet (Karen Morley), the wife of Dr. Lawrence Claudet (Robert Young), tells her friend, Dr. Dulac (Jean Hersholt), that she is leaving her husband because he pays more attention to his charity patients than he does to her.

Dulac, an old friend and mentor of Larry's, knows that Alice has made many sacrifices for her husband, but he also knows that another woman, Larry's mother, Madelon Claudet (Helen Hayes), who has made even larger sacrifices for him. Hoping to inspire Alice, Dulac tells her Madelon’s story.

American Larry Maynard (Neil Hamilton) sweeps French country
 girl Madelon Claudet (Helen Hayes) off her feet.

Many years earlier in rural Normandy France, Madelon's father owns a farm located near a medical school, which attracts many students, including a young man named Larry Maynard (Neil Hamilton), an American with whom Madelon has fallen in love. He convinces her to run away with him to Paris, where he can work on his art.

An art critic comes to give his opinion of Larry's primitive art.

In Paris, Larry is trying to work on his art. He and Madelon have decided to marry and are very much in love. On that same night, his patron, Carlo Boretti (Lewis Stone), brings by an art critic to review his work. Despite Madelon’s best efforts, the critic is unimpressed. That same night, Larry receives a cablegram from home advising him to return immediately because his father has suffered a stroke.

It is while he’s gone that Madelon discovers that she’s pregnant with his baby.

Meanwhile, back in America, even though he longs for Madelon, Larry accepts the will of his parents, who arrange for him to marry an American girl.

Carlo Boretti (Lewis Stone) offers Madelon an alternative to her arranged marriage.

Back in France, Madelon gives birth to Larry's baby, and though she initially does not want to look at the infant, she quickly grows to love the boy. Without any means by which to support the child, Madelon accepts money and jewels from the wealthy Boretti. When he learns that her father (Russ Powell) is coming to Paris with a man from back home, Hubert (Alan Hale), that he has arranged to marry her, Boretti offers to make her his mistress. While flattered, she yearns for the simple life as a farmer’s wife.

Both her father (Russ Powell) and her fiancee Hubert (Alan Hale)
 turn their back on her when they learn she has a baby.

However, when her father and Hubert find out she has a baby, they both turn their backs on her.

After placing the boy, now called Larry, in the custody of her friends, Victor (Cliff Edwards) and Rosalie (Marie Prevost), Madelon continues her relationship with Carlo and sends them money to support the child. She makes an effort to visit the boy as often as she can and lavishes presents on him on his birthday. She even brings a photographer (Charles Winninger) to document her with him.

Her son's guardians, Victor (Cliff Edwards) and Rosalie (Marie Prevost)
 need help when Victor loses the farm in a bet.

One day, when Rosalie asks Madelon for more money, which she needs because Victor has gambled away their farm, Madelon gives her a valuable ring that Carlo had given her as a gift.

When Victor arrives home, he is in great spirits and asks Madelon to marry him and leave France. Not wanting to live away from her son, she confesses that Larry is her son. Madelon is quite relieved when Carlo tells her that he’s known all along and wants to bring him with them.

Carlo and Madelon are arrested when its found out he's a jewel thief.

They go out on the town to celebrate. But when Rosalie tries to sell the ring, it turns out to be stolen. The police take her to the box where Carlo and Madelon are to identify them and they are both arrested. Turns out Carlo is actually a well-known and sought after thief. Carlo admits that the ring and all his other jewels were stolen, but as he is being dragged off by the police, he insists on his overcoat. Inside one of the pockets is a gun, which he uses to commit suicide.

Though she’s innocent, Madelon is put on trial for Carlo's crimes and found guilty of being his accomplice; she is sentenced to ten years in prison.

Ten years later, in 1919, Madelon is released. She tries to take her son of out the state boarding school, where he has been kept after Victor was killed. However, the authorities refuse to release him to Madelon until she can prove that she can support him. Dr. Dulac, who is fond of Larry, talks the authorities to allow him to take her to him.

Madelon finally meets her son Larry (Frankie Darro) after getting out of prison.

When she finally meets young Larry (Frankie Darro), Madelon is ashamed that she’s been in prison and introduces herself as an old friend of her mother, whom she tells Larry has died.

Determined to still help Larry, Madelon tries to get work. But jobs are hard to come by and the soldiers are returning from World War I. She ends up becoming a prostitute in order to put him through medical school. As she gets older, she turns to petty theft of her johns.

Destitute, Madelon is about to commit herself to state charity, but when she learns she’ll be giving up her freedom as well, she decides to go see her son one last time. She manages to talk her way into his house past his servants.

Madelon gets a cursory exam from her son, Larry (Robert Young).

Even though she never tells him the truth, Larry gives her a cursory exam and decides to try to help her. But Madelon gets cold feet and hurries away. Out front, she runs into Dr. Dulac.

Dulac ends the story by telling Alice that he met the frail but proud Madelon on the street in front of her son's house and arranged to have Larry support her without her or his knowledge. Having been shown how selfish she has been, Alice promises to reform. When Larry comes home, she suggests that Dulac bring Madelon to live with them so she will be reminded of how lucky she is to have Larry.

The film was very well made. The cinematography was well done. There is one very long take, the day when Madelon is released from prison and is met by Rosalie. And some of the transitions are surprisingly good. There is a sequence showing the contrast between Larry’s life and Madelon’s. He is on his way to becoming a great doctor and her life is declining as she goes from prostitute to thief. The transitions feel more horizontal than vertical as the camera seems to pan from one life to the next and back again. It’s a very interesting effect.

Director Edgar Selwyn did a superb job with the story. Selwyn, a Broadway actor turned producer and playwright, first appeared in the movie Pierre of the Plains (1914). Along with his brother Edgar and Samuel Goldfish, he founded Goldwyn Picture in 1916, which would be absorbed into MGM in 1924. Selwyn would direct only eight films, the best known being this film. Having seen this, I would be interested in seeing other films he directed.

One interesting note, Selwyn’s film career almost didn’t happen. In April 1912, Selwyn and his wife, playwright Margaret Mayo, held tickets to New York on the RMS Titanic, but did not make the trip as he had a prior engagement to hear the reading of a new play in Paris. They had had plans to accompany Broadway producer Henry B. Harris and his wife Renee, with whom they had been touring Europe and Algiers. Selwyn's commitment to hearing the play, while others tried to goad him to board the ship, more than likely saved his life.

Hayes with the Oscar she won.

Helen Hayes had been acting since she was about five years old, appearing on stage in Miss Hawke's May Ball (1905). Her first film appearance would be Jean and the Calico Doll (1910). Her career on the stage kept her from making too many films. The Sin of Madelon Claudet was her first sound film. She has a different style of acting, speaking, and moving than many other actresses. She is very good in what was a difficult role. Judging from Kay Francis’s assessment of the part, Hayes managed to generate sympathy and win an Academy Award for her effort. While she would continue to make films, Hayes was really best known for her work on the stage.

While she was near the end of her career, Marie Prevost has a fairly large role as Madelon’s friend. She’s likable in the role, as someone who means well but can’t help but be needy. By now, Prevost, who began her career as one of Mack Sennett’s Bathing Beauties, was now on a downward spiral. Her weight problems forced her into repeated crash dieting to keep whatever bit part a movie studio offered. She would be totally out of films by 1936. She would commit suicide in 1937 at the age of 38.

Lewis Stone may have been past his leading man days, but he has enough gravitas to carry off the role of Carlo Boretti, a generous man who turns out to be a notorious jewel thief. Stone, who began his career on stage, would be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1929 for The Patriot, starred opposite Greta Garbo in seven films, and would give a memorable performance as Doctor Otternschlag in Grand Hotel (1932). He would also end up best known for playing Judge Hardy in the Andy Hardy series of films.

In his review, Mordaunt Hall of The New York Times laments that Hayes’ film debut wasn’t “in a more cheerful study...” There is really nothing cheery about The Sin of Madelon Claudet, it is a story of sacrifice and denial. All that said, I would recommend the movie, agreeing with Hall’s summation, “The Sin of Madelon Claudet is a sorrowful chronicle which will undoubtedly have a strong popular appeal. It is endowed with other commendable impersonations...[and] also has the benefit of Edgar Selwyn's expert direction.”