SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Rijndri Load of rubbish!!

YouHeart I gave it a 7.5 out of 10

TeenzTen An action-packed slog

wes-connors In 1850s Glasgow, beautifully-dressed Ann Todd (as Madeleine) and her family move into an immaculately-furnished, upper-classy new home. Still fetching in her 40s, Ms. Todd attracts her share of male admirers, most significantly handsome young Ivan Desny (as Emile L'Anglier). However, Todd's appearances-conscious father Leslie Banks (as James Smith) would rather his daughter marry suitable Norman Wooland (as William Minnoch). Eventually, a lover is poisoned and Todd stands accused. While Todd looks beautiful under duress, Andre Morell and Barry Jones passionately argue it out in court...This is based on a true story; Todd's character is probably supposed to be much younger, but the age difference works well, adding another dimension to her unacceptable affair. Todd delivers a Garbo-like performance. Coincidently, Greta Garbo was concurrently preparing the un-produced "Lover and Friend" (1950) with noted Todd co-star James Mason; Garbo camera tests by James Wong Howe and William Daniels by resemble some shots of Todd in this film. "Madeleine" is lacking in narrative, but the direction by David Lean and photography by Guy Green make it worth viewing.******* Madeleine (2/14/50) David Lean ~ Ann Todd, Norman Wooland, Ivan Desny, Leslie Banks

raymundohpl I had the great joy of watching David Lean's MADELEINE(1950)for the first time ever on TCM early this morning, and can say without any reservations that though it is one of the great director's lesser-known works, but it is by no means lesser in either acting or direction.Featuring the glacial blonde Ann Todd(then Mrs. David Lean) as the real-life accused murderess Madeleine Smith, the film skillfully portrays the travail a foolish and willful young woman goes through when she follows her heart instead of her head and gets ensnared in a sticky situation. Caught between her tyrannical martinet father, James Smith, played excellently by the great Leslie Banks with his paralysed profile which added an extra flourish to his cold unsympathetic manner and her charming but unscrupulous gold-digging French paramour, Emile L'Anglier played skillfully by Ivan Desny, Ann Todd's Madeleine is veritably "caught between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea!" It would seem that there is but one recourse for Madeleine, that of shutting two-bit Casanova and lothario L'Anglier up so that her fire-breathing dragon of a father does not bite her pretty little head off, in much the same way that I have enjoyed biting into pastry Madeleines! But the ambiguity throughout the film of whether Madeleine actually did the deed and put paid to her paramour is maintained even up to the end when Madeleine gives her leprous Madonna half-smile which could indicate either guilt or innocence, leaving it up for the viewing audience to decide on their own.The splendid direction of Lean, the superb moody photography of Guy Green contrasting various shades of darkness and light as well as interesting character studies of familiar character actors' and actresses' faces, the excellent film editing of Clive Donner(later to become a great director as well) and Geoffrey Foot, the authentic costume design of Margaret Furse all add to the moving drama. Jewel-like performances by such thespians as Barbara Everest as Madeleine's mother, Jean Cadell as Mrs. Jenkins the careworn landlady, Kynaston Reeves as a lugubrious Dr. Penny, Amy Veness as the sympathetic police matron Miss Aiken, John Laurie as the hypocritical Bible-spouting religious maniac and fanatic Divine rabble-rouser exhorting the crowd to condemn Madeleine, Edward Chapman as the worried Dr. Thompson, Moyra Fraser(more than HALF A CENTURY later, 55 years to be exact, in Dame Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer's "As Time Goes By" latest 2005 episode as one of the regulars, bumptious Penny, a role since 1993) as a spirited Highland dancer! Irene Browne as Mrs. Grant, George Benson as the Chemist, Eva Bartok as the Girl, Ivor Barnard as Mr. Murdoch, Anthony Newley! as Chemist's Assistant, Wylie Watson as Huggins, and many, many more, bear in mind that from Jean Cadell onwards, these were all UNCREDITED roles in Lean's film! They join with the credited cast Barbara Everest, Leslie Banks, Ivan Desny, Ann Todd, Norman Wooland as the ever-stolid and respectable William Minnoch, Madeleine's would-be-husband-to-be, Elizabeth Sellars as the harried but loyal pretty housemaid, Patricia Raine and Susan Stranks as Bessie and Janet Smith, Madeleine's younger siblings, Eugene Deckers as Thuau the unsympathetic French consul and friend of L'Anglier, and Barry Jones as the merciless Prosecuting Counsel. Last but not least is Hammer films stalwart and a superb actor, the late Andre Morell(husband of the late Joan Greenwood) as the Defending Counsel, who gives an impassioned and heart-wrenching yet cool and logical defense of Madeleine that has got to be one of the greatest courtroom speeches in Cinematic history! At least I think it is! The next time I bite into a pastry Madeleine I will recall Andre Morell's defense! All in all, a FIVE STAR ***** film rating for the actors' performances alone!

Tobias_R David Lean's film Madeleine tells the true story of Madeleine Smith, a young woman from an upper-class Scottish family, who was tried for murdering her lover in 1857. The case, which was a media sensation in its day, ended with Ms. Smith being released after the jury reached the verdict of "not proved", which, in Scottish law, meant there wasn't enough evidence to convict her but sufficient evidence to entertain doubts about her innocence. The movie maintains the same ambiguity about her guilt or innocence of the crime, indeed ending with a voice over narrator asking the title character as to whether she was guilty or innocent. She just looks at the camera and gives a vague half smile that could mean either of the two.The strengths of the film are considerable. The lighting and overall cinematography give the film both a wonderful Victorian-era feel and a film-noir aspect as well. Indeed, the film has much in common with film-noir aside from the lighting. The story, like many noir films, has a dubious heroine who leads a fundamentally disadvantaged man, in this case, a lover from the wrong side of the tracks economically and socially, to his destruction. Indeed, given the situation presented in the film, the lover couldn't have realistically expected Madeleine's domineering and strict father to have ever accepted him given his poor social and economic prospects. Adding into the mix was Madeleine's own ambivalent handling of their relationship, promising one moment to tell her father about them, then pleading it was too difficult to do so. As history indeed bore out, it was a recipe for personal disaster.My main criticism of the film is that virtually nothing is told of how Madeleine managed to meet her lover in the first place. Some accounts I've read indicated that they first met in a Glasgow park. I think Lean should have shown that meeting to show how Madeleine had a mind of her own and how willing she was to defy her conventional and strict Victorian father. That would have added to the ambiguity of Madeleine's character, seemingly compliant to the demands of her family in terms of love and marriage and yet defiant of them as well.Still, the performances, especially Ann Todd as the title character, are top notch and this is a film well worth seeing. As I've said, this is the closest David Lean came to film-noir that I've seen.

sol- As one of David Lean's lesser known films, I did not have any great expectations (excuse the pun) before watching this film. After watching the film, the only conclusion that I could draw is that it is lesser known because it is hard to acquire rather than because it is a lesser Lean film. Lean's directing in 'Madeleine' is on par with his grand visions of the two works of Charles Dickens that he had directed in the few years before this one. With Guy Green photographing again, and once again John Bryan involved in the film's production design, Lean creates a visual feast here that helps flesh out the themes of the screenplay.The film is about a woman of wealth who is torn between a foreign working class man who she loves, and her father's expectations that she marries within her own class. Her father is a strict, conservative man, and Madeleine keeps her love affair a secret because she knows that he would not approve. However, she feels guilty for leading her lover on when she knows that it is futile. To make matters worse, her father is insisting that she lets an upper class young man romance her. Madeleine is unsure how to cope with the situation, and even considers using poison at one point in time.The film has one of the best lighting designs that I have ever seen. Lean pays careful attention to shadows and the direction that light is coming from on screen. In the first scene when we see Madeleine and her lover Emile together outside, they are photographed with only back lighting so that their facial features are hardly seen, showing the secretive nature of their meeting. And after a few cuts they are then seen so that only their necks downwards are properly lit up. There is a definite contrast between shots like these are those that take place inside her house, where very strong lighting is used so that the skin on the characters all seem very white.Another interesting use of light is in a conversation that Madeleine has with her father. The scene uses cuts between their faces, and her father is shot with light from a low camera angle so that his features are barely seen and that he seems dominating. In contrast, a slightly high camera angle is used on Madeleine with lighting work that shows her skin as grey with very visible distinguishing features. Whenever the sky is seen, it is also shown as moody and cloudy, which would be a combination of lighting and art direction. There is also one scene in which Madeleine says "No", and the light source for the shot when she says this is coming from below, with shadows falling from her nose above on her face.The camera-work is brilliant too, especially in the scene with administering the poison. There is a low camera angle on a closeup of the bottle to make it menacing, then only seen in closeups, it is poured, while a girl in the background (not seen) sings a song about the death of a bird. The closeups and inserts are great throughout, as are Guy Green's angles. One of the best has a man's hand holding a cup in the foreground, while Madeleine is seen sitting down in the background. This is not a point of a view shot, but rather one that shows that Madeleine's attention is drawn to the cup. Amazing stuff.The sound design of the film is also great, with certain sounds (footsteps, clanging) isolated when they are all that a character is listening out for. The audio in terms of music though is less than splendid. It is overly melodramatic, and tends to overplay the tension of certain scenes. The film also has another couple of detracting factors. One is that we never really feel the chemistry between Madeleine and her two lovers, which makes it slightly difficult to sympathise with what she is torn between. Also, the final third of the film is rather weak - the bulk of what it is of interest lies in the middle section. Either way, Lean's talent for directing makes this a very worthwhile experience overall, and it comes particularly recommended to those who liked his Charles Dickens films.