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Madeleine

33 votes

Madeleine's middle-class family cannot understand why she puts off marrying a respectable young man, as they know nothing about her long-term affair with a Frenchman.

Status: Released

Released Date: 1950-02-16

Runtime: 115 mins

Director: David Lean

Writer: Stanley Haynes, Nicholas Phipps

Spoken language: English

Genres: Drama, Crime, Mystery

Original title: Madeleine

Production Companies: Cineguild, J. Arthur Rank Organisation

Production Countries: United Kingdom

Cast

Madeleine Hamilton Smith

Ann Todd

Norman Wooland

Ivan Desny

Leslie Banks

Elizabeth Sellars

André Morell

Barbara Everest

Susan Stranks

Patricia Raine

Eugene Deckers

Barry Jones

Jean Cadell

Irene Browne

Kynaston Reeves

Reviews

Geronimo1967

Ann Todd becomes better as she plays herself into the character of a rather devious and unscrupulous girl in this adaptation of a famous Glasgow murder (or, perhaps that should be murrrrdurrrr) tale from 1857. "Madeleine" is the daughter in a well-to-do family whose father (a seriously authoritarian Leslie Banks) can't quite figure out why she won't marry a suitable young man - unawares that she has been having a fling with an equally unscrupulous Frenchman who has his sights set on her family's wealth. His attempts at blackmail terminally backfire and before long she is on trial for his killing. The subsequent courtroom drama features strong performances from Barry Jones and André Morell as the barristers and this helps lift this rather slow-moving drama along to quite a gripping denouement (an unique peculiarity of the Scottish legal system). Maybe not David Lean's best or most notable work, but you can see his hallmark style all over this. (PS: keep an ear out for a wonderfully presbyterian performance from John Laurie - you will recognise his voice long before he comes into shot).

2022-12-28

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