MADAME X
US, 1981, 100 minutes, Colour.
Tuesday Weld, Jeremy Brett, Len Carriou, Robert Hooks, Eleanor Parker, Jerry Stiller.
Directed by Robert Ellis Miller.
This is a telemovie remake of a very popular story. Veteran screenwriter Edward Anhalt has adapted Jean Holloway's screen play for the 1966 version with Lana Turner. The telemovie has much the same impact as the earlier film with Tuesday Weld taking Lana Turner's place. The film plot is updated to the '50s to the '80s period. There are references to American politics e.g. Nixon, Kennedy and his Catholicism. There are also references to the development of the Republicans and their reliance on wealthy families.
Eleanor Parker is effective in the role of the mother taken by Constance Bennett in the earlier film. Len Cariou takes the Ricardo Montalban part. Jeremy Brett has the John Forsythe role.
In this version Holly's sojourn overseas embraces Ireland and the possibility of a happy marriage with a doctor, Munich in the '60s with a drug pusher and sequences in Spain. Jerry Stiller has the Burgess Meredith role. The court case is still as effective - except that in this version Holly has a daughter who defends her rather than a son. The death finale is still as effectively tearjerking as ever.
Direction is my Robert Ellis Miller who has had a mixed career but successes with The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Reuben Reuben.
1.The popularity of this story? The original French play? Silent version? 30s and 60s versions? The Lana Turner version and its lush soap and melodramatic style?
2.The 1950s settings, affluent American society? Washington? The contrast with Holly and her sojourns in Ireland, Munich, Spain? The final New York settings, squalor? The courtrooms? The musical score?
3.The credibility of the plot? Its coincidences? Its melodramatic turns? The touch of manipulation? The tearjerker, especially at the end? Audiences enjoying this kind of emotional story?
4.The focus on Holly and Clay? Their happiness together? Katherine and her domination? Her disdain of Holly? Clay and his ambitions, his mother’s ambitions? His going to Washington? His absences? His trusting John? Holly and her loneliness, her devotion to her daughter, antagonism towards her mother-in-law, their discussions? Her being pushed towards John, the night together? Her feelings of guilt, resistance, pushing John, the accident of his death?
5.John, the artist, the art gallery scenes, Clay trusting him? His attraction towards Holly, the night together, his death?
6.Katherine Richardson and her domination, Eleanor Parker’s style? Haughty, condemnatory? Her plan against her daughter-in-law? The later scenes, Clay’s success, in the courtroom, her seeing Holly? Her reaction to her son?
7.Clay, his love for Holly, his ambitions? His absences? Trusting John? Not seeing him until the end of the film, the success of Elizabeth? His going to the court, his seeing Holly, his amazement, listening to her confession? His looking at his mother? Going with his daughter to the cell, talking with Holly, her death? His not telling his daughter and their going out together?
8.Tuesday Weld as Holly? Appearance, style? The background of flight attendant and the scene with her friends visiting her? Not good enough for the Richardsons? Clay and his love for her? Her care for her daughter? The celebrations of Christmas – and the memories in later years? Clay and his absences? The plan for the home in Washington? Her going with John, staying the night, her reaction, John’s death?
9.Her acceptance of Katherine’s plan? Her grief? The boat capsizing, her disappearing, being financially supported?
10.Holly’s journey – the scenes in Ireland, her drinking, the bar, her being looked after by Dr Keith, his falling in love with her, her resistance? Her going to Munich, the drug dealer and his support of her? Her going to Spain, accommodation, the people in the units? Her encounter with Burt? His getting her necklace, his discovering the truth? Persuading her to go to New York?
11.In New York, Burt’s plan to reveal the truth, Clay as a candidate for the White House? Her shooting him?
12.The courtroom, her not saying anything, being Madame X? The framework with the flashbacks to her life? Returning to the court, her silence? Discovering who Elizabeth was? Seeing Clay and his mother? Her taking the stand, her telling her story? Her collapsing, going to her cell, having Elizabeth there, talking with Clay, her death?
13.Elizabeth, not knowing the truth, trying to defend Madame X? The discussions with her father? Getting the background of Burt and to see why he was the victim? Her tactics in court, the collapse, her response to Madame X's story, talking about what any daughter would have done?
14.The soap opera aspects of the film? The enjoyable melodramatic aspects? Audiences enjoying this kind of high melodrama, the emotional tug, the coincidence? The tragedies?
