Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Patience Watson One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

Taha Avalos The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

a_chinn Lana Turner is accused of murder when her lover, Ricardo Montalban, falls down a flight of stairs during a fight. The drama doesn't stop their because her attorney doesn't realized that he's actually her son! At another point, she also tries to fake her own death, if you didn't realize you were in one of producer Ross Hunter's lushly produced melodramas. What I found most interesting watching this film is comparing it to the Douglas Sirk directed Ross Hunter productions (i.e. "All that Heaven Allows," "Imitation fo Life," "There's Always Tomorrow," etc.), which gave me a much greater appreciation for what Sirk brought to his films. Sirks' films and "Madame X" are equally soapy of material, but Sirk's use of lighting, staging, and camera movement are so much better than what director David Lowell Rich does behind the camera here. Rich was primarily a TV director and the blandness of his direction is plainly on display with unoriginal montages, weak use of dramatic zooms, and most importantly a lack of any meaningful subtext. Sirks' film always had something to say, but "Madame X" seemed purely surface level. Overall, this is only worth watching for the lush production values and for the cast, which besides Turner and Montalban includes John Forsythe and Burgess Meredith.

ags123 This time, in addition to being a glamour puss, Lana gets to deconstruct her image and replace it with a different artifice, which is a lot more fascinating than what's going on with the story. Though the ending is pure tearjerker, it doesn't compare to the waterworks at the finale of "Imitation of Life." And for a juicy wallow in unintentional humor, you can't beat "Portrait In Black" (Navigating the coast highway without ever having driven a car!). But there's enough here to feast your eyes on while plausibility is being stretched to its limit. Though the film purports to cover about twenty years, Miss Turner (and everyone else) looks pure 1966 in every shot. But that's the point of watching this film – endearingly entertaining for all the wrong reasons.

jotix100 Holly Parker, a beautiful woman, is married to an up and coming politician with a bright future ahead of him. Holly, who is bored with her husband being away from home so much, becomes the lover of Phil Benton, a playboy, who wants her for himself. Holly, realizes her error and goes to break up with Phil, but a terrible accident happens where he ends falling to his own death in his apartment. Thanks to her conniving mother-in-law, who realizes she's a liability for her son's political career, Holly is given a choice she can't refuse, a new identity and money, in exchange for her supposed death by drowning.What follows is Holly's adventure as a single woman who misses her son terribly, but one that knows she can't go back to her old life. An aristocratic pianist, Christian Torben, wants Holly, but she can't commit to his life style, and what follows is her own descent to hell when she drowns her sorrows in absinthe, a potent drink she loves. She ends up in Mexico where the scheming Don Sullivan discovers who she really is; he tries to blackmail her, but she is determined not to have her identity revealed to her former husband, or the son she loved more than anything else.The final section of the movie is a court trial in which, her own son, Clayton Anderson Jr., is an assistant D.A. assigned to defend her. During the trial Clayton Anderson Sr. and his mother come to see the young man in action, but they can't connect this defeated woman to Holly. Holly gets to know the identity of her young lawyer at the end.This melodrama was a vehicle for Lana Turner, who saw in it a great opportunity in which to excel. Directed by David Lowell Rich, it follows the star from a glamorous beginning to a tragic end. The only problem was that Ms. Turner's co-star, Constance Bennett, looked as young as her own daughter-in-law in the early scenes. As Neil Doyle has pointed out in his commentary, Ms. Bennett, a veteran actress, had undergone plastic surgery herself, making her look better than the star.The other major flaw of this version is one of credibility. Even though Holly is supposed to have aged with her heavy drinking, she looks about the same, so it's a surprise when the old Mrs. Anderson herself, who is in court all the time can't even recognize Holly, or for that matter, Old Clayton himself doesn't seem to know this woman was his beloved wife. But that's the stuff that makes this type of story what they are. "Madame X" is what it is: a tear jerker at its best. They don't come any better than this, so don't see it without the tissues!

edwagreen 1966's "Madame X" was a second version of the original starring the Oscar nominated Ruth Chatterton in a memorable unforgettable performance.This sudsy story of a woman who accidentally killed her former lover and lived to regret it every day of her life pulls out all the stops. It's as if Lana Turner had to wear a scarlet letter for what she had done for the rest of her life.Having fled the scene thanks to her vicious mother-in-law, played with relish by Constance Bennett, Turner returns years later and is defended by her now grown up son, Keir Dullea. He doesn't know why, but Dullea is drawn to this mysterious woman. He had been told years before that his mother was dead.The film is convincing because of the wonderful cast. Lana Turner has never been better and Constance Bennett's final performance before her death in 1965 of a stroke, is heartfelt and filled with passion.That last scene is absolutely gut-wrenching. You will feel for the characters. A truly remarkable film done superbly by a fine cast.