Plot Intro
Dr Dulac (Jean Hersholt) discovers that his young ward Dr Lawrence (Robert Young) is about to be left by his neglected wife Alice (Karen Morley). To persuade her to stay, Dr Dulac tells her the story of Madelon Claudet (Helen Hayes) a woman who had much bigger marital problems than Alice did and has an unexpected connection to Alice herself…
I did a bit of research whilst watching this. It is now the fifth film on our newest project and, out of the five films, three of them (Coquette, Min and Bill and Madelon Claudet) had no other nominations other than for Best Actress. The same goes for the next movie, Morning Glory, which we’ll be reviewing soon. It’s also the fourth film in a row to be less than 90 minutes in length (Min and Bill was a miniscule 66 minutes). This certainly backs up our initial assertion that the Best Actress winners generally star in smaller, less influential movies, but achieve their award by being pretty much the most and sometimes only awe-inspiring aspect of the movie.
This was the case with Norma Shearer and Marie Dressler, and it’s also the case with Helen Hayes. Hayes more than any of the Best Actress winners so far gets to display her phenomenal versatility here. She starts as gutsy, energetic and active as the dedicated and optimistic girlfriend of a struggling artist. Her body language changes when she marries a kind, old, rich man and becomes an elegant but sweet-hearted “high society” lady. Her body language, her voice and her overall look then metamorphoses again into a shakey, insecure, desperate hag after her stint in prison and her descent into prostitution and thievery. Remarkably, this was her movie debut, making her the first Best Actress winner not to star in silent movies.
Madelon Claudet as a movie is nothing special. It jumps from event to event without much work on build up, and it even though it’s a Pre-Code movie (i.e. supposedly more liberal on the adult themes), it conservatively skirts away from displaying the full extent of Madelon’s prostitution and acts of desperate crime in the second half. It may be the classic Victorian “Fallen Woman” melodrama, but it needed the daring storytelling of Gaskell or Dickens to liven up the script a bit.
But despite this it’s easy to see why Hayes enjoyed the lengthy career that she had. She’s one of 15 people to have won the EGOT (an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony), winning her the title “First Lady of Theatre”, and she was Broadway regular. She had one of the longest gaps ever between Oscar wins, with 38 years between this and her Best Supporting Actress win in Airport in 1970.
She was also a prolific philanthropist, opening the Helen Hayes Hospital for physical rehabilitation and taking most pride in her work there, although she endured her fair share of tragedy when her daughter Mary died of Polio at 19. Hayes’ son, James Macarthur, was also a successful actor, particularly in television. She died in 1993 at the ripe old age of 92.
Highlight
Hayes’ acting in the scenes in which she enters then leaves prison is a masterclass in body language and changing your vocals to show the changing age of your character.
Lowlight
Madelon’s decision to turn to prostitution is so quick it’s almost comical. Her thought process comes across as “I don’t know what to do...ooh, prostitution, that’ll work”.
Marks
4/10
Doug says...
This is not a good film. The plot is rushed, melodramatic and frankly moves so fast that one second Madelon is a high society lady and the next she’s a gin-soaked toothless old prostitute. The film is just over an hour and really it’s got enough content to fill two.
Bad film aside, I want to focus on Helen Hayes. She’s a name I’ve heard of before, and I’ve seen that she has a theatre named after her along with extensive praises being sung in her honour. I was very wary of this, because we’ve seen through our Best Film project that actors who were adored back in the ‘30s aren’t necessarily as astounding today. Their performances haven’t always aged well, and a darling of the early 20th century might not be quite so impressive, a hundred years later.
So it’s with delight that I can say that Helen Hayes is truly exceptional. I’ve seen one film of hers and she’s already blown everyone (maybe except Marie Dressler) out of the water. While this film is silly, it does afford the chance for Hayes to prove her versatility, physical performance and great all-round talent. It’s funny because at the beginning, as a young woman, Hayes recalls the slight, babyish performances of Janet Gaynor, with a round innocent face and somehow the same figure and movements. But as she progresses to a high society lady, her entire physicality changes until she seems taller, more stately and utterly confident. The third act of this, a shuffling drunken wretch, is equally believable. It’s an unpleasant, jarring actualisation and Hayes doesn’t sentimentalise any of it, including the moment when she veers into prostitution.
(Side note: what is it with these early films and having the lead female character decide to take up prostitution almost on a whim? I don’t think people just decide one day to enter sex work…)
You can tell Hayes is a theatre actor first and foremost. Every moment she’s on screen she’s working, even in the background. She imbues movements and speech with meaning and thought so that it comes across entirely naturalistic, while similarly being dripping in charisma. There’s a moment when she opens a door, and I was struck by the energy with which she did it. That’s how good she is - she makes opening a door an Event. I was bowled over.
So film - bad. Actress - superb. Along with Marie Dressler, she’s already a favourite discovery for me from this project.
Highlight
Helen Hayes rolling up her sleeves and being like ‘watch this, bitches.’
Lowlight
A rushed plot complete with increasingly ridiculous storylines means that this film was never going to win any other awards.
Marks
4/10 (obvs Helen gets an 11/10 though).
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