Madame X

Madame X (Universal-International 1966)

Lana's reaction to her aged face in Madame X:

To prepare for the role of of the broken old woman, the first thing Del (Armstrong, her makeup man) did was to turn my chair away from the mirror. When he finished with my makeup, I was afraid to look. "You've got to," Del insisted, and when he turned the chair around and I saw my reflection I started to scream. What a horrifying sight, that strange, aged face! I didn't want to leave the trailer. Finally they were calling and I couldn't delay any longer. But when I left for the set I hid my face in a scarf.

Release Date: April 27, 1966.

Credited Cast and Crew:

Lana Turner, John Forsythe, Ricardo Montalban, Constance Bennett, Keir Dullea, Burgess Meredith.

Directed by: David Lowell Rich

Writing Credits: Alexandre Bisson (original play), Jean Holloway

Produced by: Ross Hunter

Original Music by: Willy Mattes and Frank Skinner

Cinematography by: Russell Metty

Synopsis: From riches to rags, stupid things women do to ruin their cushy lives, lose their wealthy husbands and be forced to give up custody of their offspring. Add to that a decline into substance abuse that eventually ends in murder followed by a sensational trial under an assumed name. Pure soap opera before soap operas became very, very popular.

Review: Lana Turner plays Holly Anderson, wife of an affluent diplomat, Clay Anderson (John Forsyth in his first major role). Isolated from her busy husband, lonely Holly is driven into the arms of playboy Phil Benton (Ricardo Montalban) who is accidentally killed in his apartment while Holly is with him. Shortly thereafter Holly is confronted by her matriarchal
mother-in-law (Constance Bennett in her last film role) who has always disapproved of Holly’s marriage to her son. Now convinced by her mother-in-law that her indiscretion will sabotage her husband’s political career and devastate her young son's promising life, Holly agrees to fake her own demise and take flight to Europe under a series of assumed names. As years pass the effects of guilt and remorse reduce Holly to a life of prostitution and dependence on alcohol to relieve her desperate sorrow. Holly finds herself in Mexico, at the lowest ebb of her decline. She is addicted to absinthe, a powerful liquor by the time she meets a fellow down-and-out con man, Dan Sullivan (Burgess Meredith) and agrees to assist him in a
blackmail scheme. Discovering too late that the scheme entails her now famous politician husband, Holly shoots and kills Sullivan, then sits with gun in hand,waiting for the police. Her life, she feels is over. Unwilling to give her name to the police she is booked and goes on trial under the alias Madame X. The young attorney assigned to defend her is revealed to be Madame X’s now grown son (Kier Dullea) whose father and maternal grandmother are seated at trial to witness their young progeny defend his first murder case. Slowly, unbelievably, they begin to recognize that Madame X could well be the former Holly Anderson, mother of the defending attorney. Before the case can be handed over to the jury, however, a heart attack of Madame X halts the proceedings. She is led to her jail cell and laid on her simple cot where she finally has a last visit with her son before succumbing to death. By the time this happens there is not a dry eye in the house.

Production Notes: Lana Turner privately called herself, “Queen of the remakes” and Madame X is no exception. Originally written for the stage in 1909 then discovered by Hollywood in 1916, it was released with varying stars of the day in 1920, the first talking version in 1929, and yet another version in 1937. Lana Turner herself is credited with production of the 1966 version while casting about for a project for her independent film production company, Eltee Productions. Lana approached producer Ross Hunter (Imitation of Life) and they entered into a collaborative effort in early 1962.

Lana gives a bone-chillingly great performance in this film and her transformation from young bride to down and out old woman will make the hair on your arms stand on end. Kudos also to the supporting cast, including the always-wonderful Constance Bennett, a pre-Dynasty John Forsythe, a shady Burgess Meredith and the gorgeous Keir Dullea. The confrontation scene between Turner and Bennett should have won both of them Oscars, as neither one was going to let the other steal the scene. Privately, long after Madame X had been released, Lana confided that Miss Bennett, in Lana’s opinion, had been “a bitch on wheels” during filming; acting every inch the movie queen herself as if her character was the most important of all.

Lana's scenes with Burgess Meredith in Mexico are incomparable and Lana gives both a comedic and tragic performance as a down and out and broken alcoholic. From 1937 on, critics had dismissed Lana Turner as nothing more than a fluff ball, a blond bombshell without much substance. Here she runs the gamut of emotions and puts to use everything that she had learned during her career. Though Madame X wasn't the box office success that Turner and Hunter were hoping for, it showed critics and audiences that finally Julia Jean Turner could forsake her glamour and rely on just her craft, experience and acting chops.

Your Review: What are YOUR thoughts on the film? Contact me at Liza@lanaturneronline.com

Highlights and Trivia

*Producer Ross Hunter loved lemons and his home was filled with real and artificial ones of every kind. At the end of filming, Lana gifted him with a beautiful assortment of the fruit.

*When this film made it's television debut in 1968, it was one of the most popular television presentations of all time.

*Producer Ross Hunter wanted Imitation of Life director Douglas Sirk to direct, but Sirk begged off due to poor health.

*This was the seventh time that the story had been filmed since the early teens and no one has filmed the story since. (Correction: Madame X WAS made into a film after Lana's 1966 version when it was made into a made- for-TV movie starring actress Tuesday Weld in the early 1980's. Thanks Steve for sending in that correction)

*Exterior shots of the Anderson's Connecticut home were filmed at the Playboy mansion on Charing Cross Road in Bel Air, CA.

*According to John Kobal's People Will Talk, Lana and actress Constance Bennett (in her last film) clashed repeatedly during the filming, usually over wardrobe. One argument was over who would wear a sable coat in one scene and another argument was over who would wear a sweater set in another. They BOTH wanted to wear them at the same time and for some reason the powers that be wouldn't let them. (Thanks Michael for sending that in!)

*In the last scene of the film, in which Holly is laying on her deathbed and is reunited with her son but he doesn't know it, Lana's perfectly manicured nails can be seen when she touches her son's face.

Purchase Madame X:

VHS

Photo Gallery