The Sin of Madelon Claudet: A Review

THE SIN OF MADELON CLAUDET

Helen Hayes was dubbed "the First Lady of the American Theater" for her long association with Broadway acting. Early sound film audiences got a glimpse of Hayes' style in The Sin of Madelon Claudet, her sound film debut. Perhaps reputation carried Hayes to win Best Actress for the film. The Sin of Madelon Claudet is a bit stagey, sometimes melodramatic, but in the end a decent enough film. 

Told in flashback, The Sin of Madelon Claudet is that she fell in love. Young farmer's daughter Madelon (Hayes) has run off with handsome aspiring painter Larry (Neil Hamilton) to Paris. Larry has a patron in wealthy Count Carlo Boretti (Lewis Stone). Larry is forced to return to America but pledges his love for Madelon, promising to return. Unbeknownst to Madelon, Larry was also forced into marriage. Unbeknownst to Larry, he knocked up Madelon. 

At first, Madelon wants nothing to do with her baby. However, she quickly embraces her bastard. Turning to Count Boretti, she becomes his mistress but does not tell him about her child. Instead, her dear friend Rosie (Marie Prevost) and ne'er-do-well husband Victor (Cliff Edwards) care for him. Boretti at last proposes marriage and tells her that he's always known about her child. Their celebratory dinner ends in disaster when Boretti is arrested for jewelry theft, having been a thief and fence for years. Madelon is also arrested as an accomplice despite knowing nothing of his crimes. Boretti takes the easy way out and Madelon takes the fall.

After a decade in prison, Madelon is desperate to be reunited with her son, Lawrence (Frankie Darro). While Larry is in a charitable school, he has the skills to be a doctor. Larry's school mentor Dr. Duloc (Jean Hersholt) tells Madelon that owing to his parentage, Larry faces an uphill battle to enter medical school and society at large. Madelon tells the unsuspecting Larry that she is a friend of his mother's and that his mother is dead.

As the years go by, Lawrence becomes the respected Dr. Claudet (Robert Young). He is sponsored by a mysterious benefactress who provides money, sometimes at the last minute. Larry is unaware that his sponsor is his mother. He is less aware that she has been funding his education by plying the world's oldest profession. As Madelon evolves into a haggard hooker, she occasionally turns to theft to help her son. At long last, before she commits herself permanently to a public assistance home, she makes a visit to Dr. Lawrence Claudet's home. Will she unmask herself? Will Dr. Duloc, who knows everything, finally tell all?

I imagine that The Sin of Madelon Claudet was a spicier title than the play's original one of The Lullaby. What could be Madelon's sin? The promise of sex and debauchery was not fulfilled in the film. We see the pre-code elements in The Sin of Madelon Claudet in the frankness of it showing Lawrence's illegitimate birth and Madelon being both a kept woman and a woman of easy virtue. As such, one wonders why the elegant Helen Hayes was cast in the role. 

In some ways, Helen Hayes was the right choice for the title role. She was a longtime theater actress, and the film was based on a stage play. As such, Hayes would know how to handle the role. However, I think part of the flaw now is that Hayes at times is acting as if she were in a stage play and not a film. For most of The Sin of Madelon Claudet, there was something theatrical in Hayes' performance. Sometimes it veered dangerously to being over-the-top. One such case is when Madelon is being hauled away. Pleading her innocence, we hear Count Boretti's gunshot. Her reaction does not exactly cause giggles but does come across as a bit overwrought. 

In fairness, later scenes show a better side to Helen Hayes' Oscar-winning performance. Of particular note is when she reencounters young Larry. There is pathos as she struggles between revealing herself and protecting his future. Her transition from virtue to vice also work well. On the whole though, I found Helen Hayes' performance a bit uneven. It was not a bad performance. She has some good scenes and some good makeup work. It, however, also has a mannered manner to the early section that come across as something from the stage.

Director Edgar Selwyn could get a decent performance out of Helen Hayes. He could not do that out of pretty much anyone else save young Frankie Darro as the young Lawrence. To be fair, Marie Prevost was solid as Madelon's BFF Rosie, who showed herself a loyal friend and loving guardian. The same can, somewhat, be said for Jean Hersholt as Lawrence' mentor. He was a bit dramatic, but somehow it worked for his character of the wise doctor who tells Lawrence's wife Alice (Karen Morley) this tale of mother love.

However, pretty much everyone else was a bit embarrassing to watch. Neil Hamilton, who would later earn his greatest claim to fame as Commissioner Gordon on the campy Batman television series, was a bit silly as Larry. It is hard to imagine someone like Larry inspiring much of anything, let alone ardent passion. 

Helen Hayes could manage to show she could curtain some stage mannerisms on occasion. Such was not the case with Lewis Stone, who was so theatrical he might have thought he was in a play. Cliff Edwards, my guess is, was brought in as some kind of comic relief. His scenes did not seem to fully work. He was meant to be an irresponsible lout who squandered money. As played by Edwards, he seemed a bit too cheerful and dare I say nice to be such a scoundrel. 

The worst of the lot is Robert Young. Perhaps I can cut him some slack in thinking that The Sin of Madelon Claudet was early in his career. I could also blame both Charles MacArthur's adaptation and Young's mustache, which looked odd on him. However, Robert Young was pretty weak in this pivotal role. 

There were elements in The Sin of Madelon Claudet that were impressive for an early sound film. Selwyn's transitions from Lawrence to Madelon's stories were surprisingly innovative for the time. The camera would pan from Madelon picking up a john to Lawrence healing one. Selwyn also went for a good transition when focusing in on Madelon's washing tub to Larry's champagne glass. MacArthur, who was married to Hayes, also did well in showing without telling. Madelon's first trick was accidental, but the suggestion was there. The suggestion from Count Boretti to Madelon to be his mistress was also not directly spoken but clearly understood. That too worked well.

The Sin of Madelon Claudet is sadly a pretty forgotten film despite being one that won Helen Hayes her first Oscar. I am not mounting a call for a revival of it. The film is a bit stagey in its acting, which hurts it. In fairness, it might be due to the transition to sound film at the time. On the whole, The Sin of Madelon Claudet is not a bad film. It is not a great film either. It is no sin to see or skip it. 

DECISION: C+