Madeleine (1950)
Overview
The middle-class family of a young woman cannot understand why she delays in marrying a respectable young man. They know nothing about her long-standing affair with a Frenchman.
Cast
Ann Todd
Madeleine Hamilton Smith
Norman Wooland
William Minnoch
Ivan Desny
Emile L'Angelier
Leslie Banks
James Smith
Elizabeth Sellars
Christina Haggott
André Morell
Defense Attorney
Barbara Everest
Mrs. Smith
Susan Stranks
Janet Smith
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CinemaSerf
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).
