The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931) User Reviews

more fine work from Helen Hayes

[mukava991 · 6/10 · 17 February 2010]

The consummate Helen Hayes distinguishes this "fallen woman" film which would be only okay without her. The story resembles MADAME X, especially in the relationship between disgraced mother and clueless son. Starting as a farm girl in Normandy smitten with an American student (Neil Hamilton), Hayes progresses (or declines) to washerwoman, unwed mother, mistress to a wealthy crook (Lewis Stone), convict, high-class prostitute, streetwalker, aged derelict. She gets to play the spectrum of human emotions and vary her appearance from homely-wholesome to high glamour to harridan, from supreme confidence to abject humility. And she does it all with flying colors. Just as a study in good acting, this is worth a look. If anyone deserved an Oscar that year, it was she. And she got it.

The representations of prostitution are blatant, but no more so than in many other films of this period before the 1934 censorship clamp-down.

pre-code story of mom trying to do the best for her son

[ksf-2 · 7/10 · 8 February 2008]

The Sin of Madelon Claudet opens with a beautiful view of the Eiffel tower and the Seine River. A women is contemplating leaving her husband, and suddenly, we are in a flashback, explaining how we had gotten to this point. Helen Hayes is Madelon Claudet, a single mother in Paris around 1900, fighting to get ahead in life. Viewers will recognize Alan Hale as Monsieur Hubert, playing -- a gruff, fat man that storms out of the room -- must have been a real reach for him... he did that in every movie he was in from 1911 - 1950. Also look for Lewis Stone as Carlo Boretti; he was the kindly Doctor in Grand Hotel. Robert Young, about 25 at the time, plays Madelon's son Lawrence Claudet in this film, only his second credited role. From the cast/crew list on IMDb, it also appears a lot of material was deleted. Other reviewers have said how this feels like a Barbara Stanwyck film, and I agree completely. Single woman up against the world, hitting bad luck around every corner. But, except for the last 2 minutes, it's not as silly, soapy as some have said; it tells a pretty good solid story, which probably happened pretty often back then (and still does). The version I saw on TCM actually had good quality sound and picture. The play "Lullaby" on which this is based, was written by the same guy that wrote "Kismet" in 1914 - Edward Knoblock.

Hayes triumphs...but it ain't always easy.

[MikeMagi · 7/10 · 2 March 2014]

Which do you talk about first? The saccharine, weepy tale of a mother's sacrifice? Or Helen Hayes' superb performance despite the claptrap about a woman who enables the son she gave away to become a great doctor? I'll go with Hayes. As Madelon, she goes from the naively adoring bride of a bounder to the mistress of a criminal nobleman to a fallen woman of the streets to a pathetic bag lady,each phase of her life revealing fresh nuances. No question she deserved the Oscar she won, if only for making the melodrama make sense and coping with direction that was clumsy even for 1932. Worth watching to see an amazingly gifted actress in her prime.

Commissioner Gordon, how could you!!!

[AlsExGal · 7/10 · 26 April 2014]

My title refers to the bad behavior of artist Larry Maynard (Neil Hamilton), an American heir of great wealth who decides to assuage his boredom and be a starving artist in France for awhile at the beginning of the 20th century. What immerses one more in the experience than pitching woo to one of the local French farm girls (Helen Hayes as Madelon Claudet), luring her away from her family and farm with promises of matrimony and excitement, and then living with that girl in Paris while the art critics tell you what you don't want to hear - that you have no talent.

Alan gets a cable from home - his dad has had a stroke. He promises to return shortly - maybe he even believes that promise. But once back in America Alan's spine of Jello wins out and he marries the girl his wealthy family wants him to marry. You only see one scene at his bachelor party with him discussing with a groomsman that his romance with Madelon was "real". Yeah buddy - real pleasant and real over - for him. Meanwhile Madelon has discovered she is pregnant and waits for an Alan that never returns and probably never even writes- he is that big of a coward. He probably just figures his silence is deafening. So there she is pregnant, abandoned, and shunned by her family back in Normandy.

Now the actual film runs through this quite quickly. In fact, the film is very quickly paced and if you don't pay attention you'll get lost. A very genuine precode moment in a film that insinuates a lot but really shows nothing - Madelon has just given birth. Knowing she is an abandoned single mother she wishes aloud that she would die and that the baby would die. But when she has the baby placed next to her that scorn turns to love. He is no longer an extension of Alan, but her child. Helen Hayes makes this transformation with just facial expressions - no dialogue.

The actual story that follows is everything that Madelon does and suffers for the sake of her son, plus a few injustices thrown in for good measure that have her being a victim of circumstance that serve to separate her from her son for years. But she does what she has to do to get the boy a first rate education, and for a woman like Madelon that means turning to the world's oldest profession and I don't mean farming.

The end of her story has her used up and old before her years - probably being in her mid 40's but looking 20 years older - so desperate she is turning herself in to be a ward of the state so that she can at least get medical care and food. Meanwhile her son (Robert Young as Dr. Lawrence Claudet) has become a great young physician of Paris whose star is rising. He believes his mother is long dead and that his education and living expenses while a student were courtesy of her estate.

Now this story is being told in flashback by an old friend of Madelon's, Dr. Dulac. He has been a substitute dad to Lawrence all of these years, and knows what Madelon has been doing to care for the boy. The point of the story was to convince Lawrence's wife, who was getting ready to leave him in the middle of the night, that her sacrifices as a physician's wife were nothing compared to what others (Madelon) had suffered. How will all of this work out? Watch and find out.

The story is nothing that would win an award for best screenplay. Movies about suffering sacrificing moms are as old as filmmaking itself. The payoff is in how Helen Hayes convincingly portrays her character without the help of very good dialogue and with a film that moves quite quickly through everything. Helen Hayes' filmography is not very lengthy, mainly because her forte was the stage. This makes her good performances as a film star even more impressive.

My one problem with the entire film - the premise of the opening. As the film opens, it is the middle of the night and Alice Claudet is creeping into her husband's study to leave him a letter saying she is leaving plus she leaves the key to the house next to the letter. Dr. Dulac, sleeping in a chair in the study, is awakened by her movement and thus starts the conversation between them and the story of Madelon. Why did Alice feel it necessary to leave behind the key to her own house? This is not the Holiday Inn, it's her home too! And why is she OK with somebody unrelated to her and her husband sleeping in a chair in their house? Weird stuff from MGM, but worth it for Helen Hayes alone.

Powerful lullaby

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 23 February 2022]

The two leads were my main reason for seeing 'The Sin of Madelon Claudet'. Helen Hayes (am more familiar with her later roles, so seeing her as young as she is here was really interesting) was a truly fine actress and wholly deserving of being one of the few Triple Crown winners. Have also a high opinion of Lewis Stone and he specialised in the sympathetic, dignified parts that require authority. The subject matter, a bold one for the time, also interested.

Although it won't be, and isn't, for all tastes (with it being too melodramatic and stagy for some), 'The Sin of Madelon Claudet' struck me as a good and quite powerful film and handles its difficult subject well. It is not perfect by all means, but in regard to a lot of early talkies from this period there have been a heck of a lot worse with stage play to early film adaptations wildly varying in particular. One thing in particular is enough to make 'The Sin of Madelon Claudet' watchable at least.

Beginning with what isn't so strong, it is very melodramatic and some of the melodrama goes overboard later on. Particularly towards the end, which was like being drowned in syrup (am aware what it was trying to do, it was just too much for my tastes that's all).

Did find the dialogue too talk heavy and creaky and some of the pace could have been tightened.

Hayes however is an absolute revelation in a difficult role, and her Oscar was a deserving one. She is incredibly moving here while showing grit and determination, never did it feel stagy or over-acted to me. Her character also grows and matures, one that was rootable. Stone is sympathetic and dignity personified and the protectiveness is not over-bearing. Robert Young is suitably youthful and Jean Hersholt does noble very well. The direction didn't feel static or fatigued and plays to the actors' strengths.

Similarly found the message admirable and that it wasn't laid on too thick, also in a way still relevant today. It's very nicely filmed and the production values are not too simple or over-elaborate. Really admired its tackling of its brave subject and found much of the film poignant and far from sugar-coated, so serving its purpose well as a tear-jerker.

Concluding, not great but good and has power. See it primarily for Hayes. 7/10.

The definitive "sacrificing mother" saga of the 1930s

[back2wsoc · 28 October 2002]

Helen Hayes makes an astonishing film debut here as the title character, a young woman who runs off with her poor beau and has a child. Through ensuing (and realistic) circumstances, she goes through the transitions of being a destitute country girl, a jewel thief's lover, a prison inmate and finally becoming a haggard vagrant. All of these incidents, at the expense of her own pleasure, are done in order to secure a place in life for her son as a prominent physician. At only 73 minutes, one would expect these changes to occur at somewhat of a breakneck speed, but the movie moves along at a leisurely and elegiac pace. Hayes won herself a well-deserved Academy Award for her luminous performance in this ultimate 1930s tearjerker.

Keep the hankies handy for the self-sacrificing Madelon Claudet in this typical "women's picture" of the 30's.

[Art-22 · 7/10 · 4 October 1998]

Helen Hayes' sound film debut is an acting tour de force, and she deserved her Oscar. She plays the title character, Madelon Claudet, a woman with such terrible bad luck and so much trouble it belies her innocence. First, she's abandoned by her lover when she is pregnant, and gives birth to a son she then hoped would be dead. Her scene where she rejects the baby at first is heart-wrenching. Then, in quick succession, she goes to jail for a crime she didn't commit, and when she gets out, arranges for her son, who now thinks his mother is dead, to go to medical school through kindly Jean Hersholt. But she turns to prostitution and thievery to pay for it. It's the old story of a self-sacrificing mother going through hell for her son, just as in Stella Dallas and many other early "women's pictures." In the end, she meets her son (Robert Young) who is now a doctor and you root for him to finally know who she really is.

Madelon X

[wes-connors · 6/10 · 10 March 2015]

Presently, in Paris, a neglected wife wants to leave her husband; he is a doctor who spends too much time with his patients. This selfish woman is lucky to have a husband, we will learn through the course of this story. Kindly Jean Hersholt helps us flashback… Years ago, Normandy farmer's daughter Helen Hayes (as Madelon Claudet) decides to marry American artist Neil Hamilton (as Larry Maynard). Before the wedding bells actually ring, he is called away back to the US for a family emergency. Alas, he doesn't return and Ms. Hayes is left unmarried and in a "sinful" state. She has to make incredible sacrifices to make sure her son gets a chance to succeed in life...

This tearjerker plot was very popular during the 1920s, and beyond; played by most of the top actresses, it's about the woman who gives "it" up before the relationship is secure and, for some reason or other, is left enceinte. The warhorse in the genre was "Madame X" (several versions); at the time this film was released, the most memorable portrayal was by Ruth Chatterton. The Oscar-nominated actress would return to the basic storyline with "Frisco Jenny" (1932). Folks giving "Academy Awards" liked the story, obviously, and Ms. Hayes won "Best Actress" of the year for her impression. As is often the case, Hayes' portrayal was neither the best of the year nor the best of the type...

Hayes and Edgar Selwyn's "The Sin of Madelon Claudet" get good support from MGM, with Marie Prevost (as Rosalie Lebeau) seen most often. Young "Larry" is earnestly portrayed by Frankie Darro and Robert Young. Both of these young men have scenes that strain credulity. Any smart teenager would have guessed Hayes was his mother, probably before the kiss and most definitely after; likewise, any smart doctor would have picked Helen Hayes as the woman clutching a photograph of mother and son. Still, Hayes was a great stage actress; when silent movies began to talk, she and writing partner Charles MacArthur received an enthusiastic Hollywood welcome.

****** The Sin of Madelon Claudet (10/23/31) Edgar Selwyn ~ Helen Hayes, Marie Prevost, Lewis Stone, Robert Young

Mother's Cherished Sacrifice ***1/2 Sin of Madelon Claudet

[edwagreen · 9/10 · 6 March 2014]

Helen Hayes pulled out all the stops in this 1932 tear-jerker and was awarded with her first Oscar.

To say that she was a woman down on her luck is to put it mildly. Abandoned by the father of the illegitimate child she had, she takes up with a wealthy man only to discover that he is a crook and she is jailed for abetting in his thievery, though she knew nothing about it.

Upon being released from prison, she realizes that if it is discovered that she is the mother of her son, his life shall be adversely affected-status wise. Therefore, she resorts to prostitution and thievery to gain the necessary money needed to put him through medical school. At all times, he believes his mother is dead.

Her meeting with him years later, as a broken down hag, is poignant and heart wrenching.

The emotions that she showed were amazing.

A Mother's Sacrifice

[evanston_dad · 6/10 · 11 May 2020]

Parents-sacrificing-themselves-for-their-children's-happiness stories were a dime a dozen in the 1930s, and this one gave Helen Hayes, already known at the time for her stage work, a film vehicle in an attempt to lure her to Hollywood. It didn't take, and Hayes didn't go on to make many notable movies, but she did manage to win two Oscars for her film work, a supporting trophy in 1970 for "Airport," and, 39 years earlier, her first, a Best Actress award for "The Sin of Madelon Claudet."

The movie is standard melodrama stuff, relentless and shameless in its tugging of the heartstrings, but, like many Oscar-winning performances from the Academy's early years, it's easy to see why Hayes impressed voters at the time. The film's histrionics seem dated today, but Hayes is pretty good, and her acting style, much more natural than many of her contemporaries who still had one foot planted firmly in silent films, is refreshing. Toss in the fact that she physically transforms over the course of the movie from fetching young thing to broken down crone, and no wonder the Academy went for her. They still go gaga over that kind of stuff today.

Grade: B

Weep Away, My Audience

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 15 May 2006]

For Helen Hayes's sound feature film debut she was given The Sin of Madelon Claudet which was adapted from a play called The Lullaby. The Lullaby ran on Broadway during the 1923-1924 season and starred Frank Morgan, Florence Reed, and Rose Hobart.

It's one weepy tale about a mother's sacrifice for her son and the only one who knows about it is Doctor Jean Hersholt.

Poor Helen Hayes. She's a peasant girl from Normandy who is wooed by an American, Neil Hamilton, who loves her and leaves her for his fiancé back in the USA. But not after getting her pregnant with a kid who grows up to be Robert Young.

This is a four handkerchief picture ladies and even the men might be well advised to take some handkerchiefs along themselves. After being abandoned by Hamilton, she takes up with a Count played by Lewis Stone who's willing to accept her with child. Problem is he's a nobleman who keeps up his style of living by being a jewel thief. When he's finally arrested, the law doesn't want to believe she knew nothing about his activities.

After prison, it's prostitution and vagrancy for her. But every sou she earns on the streets of Paris goes to pay for her kid's medical school.

It sounds terribly much and is terribly dated. But Helen Hayes makes this whole soggy tale believable some how. So much so that she got an Academy Award for Best Actress. This was also the film that got Robert Young his first real notice.

The Sin of Madelon Claudet was one of the first of many kindly doctor roles that Jean Hersholt took a patent on. Later on he played the lead in the film series Dr. Christian and you can see from this why Hersholt was cast in that role.

If old fashioned tearjerking melodramas is your thing than The Sin of Madelon Claudet is the film for you.

Great classic movie

[eminkl · 8/10 · 17 April 2020]

Helen Hayes is well worthy of the Oscar she won for her performance in this one. The role required her to play a young lover, single mother, wealthy socialite, prisoner, prostitute, and beaten-down old woman, and she did so brilliantly. I found her beautiful and a great actor, particularly at a time when overacting was the norm. The scene where she responds with a humorous puffy facial expression to a question about what someone is like is priceless. Her suggestions of lasciviousness using only her eyes are also great; while the movie is pre-Code and has a suggestive title, it's quite tame. We're all rooting for because she's been driven to such depths quite unfairly, and because she's made the incredible sacrifice of separating herself from her son, so that he can pursue being a doctor, unencumbered by her shame, which back then would have stopped him. It leads to a pretty syrupy ending, but was balanced for the most part, and the supporting cast is also strong.

early pre-code starring Helen Hayes

[blanche-2 · 6/10 · 24 February 2016]

Helen Hayes enjoyed an amazing career, particularly on stage, but she made films and even had a TV show, "The Snoop Sisters."

This is very early Hayes starring in "The Sins of Madelon Claudet" from 1931.

Madelon runs off with her boyfriend to Paris. At one point, her boyfriend needs to return to America but says he will be back soon. He never returns due to pressure from his parents.

Madelon is pregnant and gives birth to a baby boy. Her next move is to marry a farmer, a friend of her father's, but he will not allow the baby to come along. So that's that. Hearing from her that she's to be married, an admirer, Count Boretti, has sent her flowers after she turns down his proposal to be his mistress. Now she takes him up on it.

She doesn't tell the Count about her baby, so he lives with a husband and wife not too far away. The Count comes home one night, announces he's rich, and proposes marriage. When Madelon tells him about the baby, he says he already knew and it's fine. A few hours later, he's exposed as a crook. He and Madelon are both arrested, the police believing she had knowledge of where he got his money.

Madelon goes to prison for ten years. By now her child is in a charity school - more like an orphanage, where he's well-treated, and she's told she can't have him until she can prove she can support him. When she meets him, she tells him his mother is dead, and she's a friend.

With no work to be had, Madelon turns to walking the streets to give a doctor friend money for her child.

There are so many of these stories about women turning to prostitution -- it's so sad that women were extremely limited in those days, and not only that, banished if she had an illegitimate child.

I don't believe I have ever seen Robert Young this young - his voice is unmistakable, and he gives a warm performance as Madelon's son. He was not a superstar in films, but on television - well, he more than made up for it with two iconic roles.

Helen Hayes is excellent - coming from the stage, one might expect her to be too theatrical, but she was not at all. A wonderful actress, her career went from 1909 to 1985.

Good movie - as far as pace, this is one of the better really early talkies I've seen. Good direction by Edgar Selwyn, who wrote the play on which this is based.

The long-suffering mother...again.

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 10 February 2020]

Back in the 1920s-30s, there were a ton of films about mothers who gave up everything in order to care for their children....children who are usually illegitimate. Movies like "Madame X", "So Big!", and "A Feather in Her Hat" all had this theme and it's a plot that often straddles the line between heartwarming and schmaltzy...and when seen today, they're mostly a schmaltzy lot. I never have enjoyed these sorts of soapy plots....and you might want to keep this in mind as you read my review.

In "The Sin of Madelon Claudet", Madelon (Helen Hayes) is the hard-luck girl who ends up giving her all for her son, Larry. When the story begins, she is in love with an American named Larry...a rich guy who promises to marry her. However, he's a guy without character and he disappears...leaving her pregnant and without resources. After giving birth, she falls in love with Carlos (Lewis Stone) and he asks her to marry him...knowing full well she has a baby. But her luck won't hold and it's soon revealed that he's a thief....and when he's caught, Madelon is sent to prison for ten years even though she'd done nothing wrong. When she gets out, her son is in an orphanage and thriving...so much so that she decides to tell him her mother has died and allows him to stay there. What's next? Well, quite a bit...but it all boils down to her doing tricks in order to send money for Larry to go to medical school. What's next? See the film.

For me, the biggest problem with this film is the 'been there/done that' feeling because the plot is so very familiar. It is unusual because its star, Ms. Hayes, received the Oscar for her performance...but otherwise it's pretty much the same as many other weepy films from the era involving the long-suffering mother giving everything for her little boy.

"One More Step And I'll Slice Your Face Up!"

[GManfred · 29 February 2016]

Or words to that effect sprang from the snarling mouth of Helen Hayes, anonymous mother of Robert Young in this Award-winning old-timer. Having hit rock bottom, Madelon was caught picking a guy's pocket in a dive bar. As she was leaving he discovered the scam and began to chase her, whereupon she grabbed a beer bottle, smashed it on a table and uttered the defiant words above. The scene is worth the price of admission.

Helen Hayes?? The First Lady Of The American Theater?? Elwood P.Dowd's aunt in "Harvey"?? After I picked myself up off the floor, I realized why she was awarded Best Actress Oscar for her vivid portrayal of a 'fallen' woman who has bad luck and no luck with men. Predictably, she sacrifices everything for her son (Robert Young), who does not know her. Although this has since become a recurrent theme in Hollywood ("Stella Dallas", "Madame X", etc.), this may have been one of the first of it's kind. Helen Hayes puts it over in style in a bravura performance, winning an Oscar in 1931. Fans of the Golden Age, this one is a must.

THE SIN OF MADELON CLAUDET (Edgar Selwyn, 1931) **1/2

[Bunuel1976 · 6/10 · 7 February 2014]

This MADAME X-type melodrama constitutes a record in Oscar history, in that it marks the longest period between wins for any person: Best Actress recipient Helen Hayes would be bestowed her second statuette, a Best Supporting Actress one for AIRPORT, 38 years later! Incidentally, this being an MGM picture, it becomes evident from checking the honoured actors during the first dozen ceremonies (till the end of the decade) that the studio made good its famous logo "more stars than there are in heaven" by copping as many as 12 Academy Awards!

That said, the title under review itself is hardly highly-regarded – though it is reasonably stylish and well-served by a surprisingly strong cast (in alphabetical order: Alan Hale, Neil Hamilton, Jean Hersholt, Karen Morley, Lewis Stone, Charles Winninger, Robert Young, etc.) for a 75-minute film. Hayes herself rises above the decidedly clichéd material with a performance that does not feel dated even today. The episodic narrative involves a woman impregnated and left by her artist boyfriend Hamilton, then marries wealthy but elderly Stone – who is subsequently revealed to be a crook! The woman is herself incriminated and sent to prison; when her term expires, she is unable to find work and actually gives her kid (who grows up to be esteemed doctor Young) the impression that his mother died! Before long, she goes downhill – becoming a streetwalker (easily the most laughable section of the film!) and, convincingly made-up, aging prematurely. Eventually, she breaks into her son's house; rather than report her, he takes pity on the woman and starts taking care of her (without ever discovering her true identity!). Incidentally, the plot assumes a flashback structure – in which Young's wife, Morley, is about to leave him because of his over-dedication to duty…but is persuaded to stay by social worker Hersholt, who recounts Hayes' sacrifice for her motherly love of the same man.

For the record, director Selwyn only directed eight films (I also own his SKYSCRAPER SOULS {1932} and TURN BACK THE CLOCK {1933}) and, in fact, was more renowned as a playwright; besides, the similarly-gifted Charles MacArthur – Hayes' just-as-celebrated husband – served as "dialogue continuity" here!

Howlingly bad melodrama saved by Hayes

[preppy-3 · 7/10 · 25 February 2004]

VERY old and creaky talky about Madame Claudet (Helen Hayes) sacrificing everything for her son (who grows up into Robert Young). The thing is her son doesn't know she's alive. She had to give him up because she was abandoned by his father and (wrongfully) thrown in jail. She secretly supports him by becoming a prostitute.

It's as bad as it sounds and very old and out-dated. Plays like a (bad) play but Helen Hayes single-handedly saves it. She overdoes it occasionally (but then she WAS a stage actress) but she's basically just excellent. She won a well-deserved Oscar for this. And seeing Robert Young so...young (sorry) is fun. I just didn't buy the story for one second--it was just too silly (and old-fashioned) to be taken seriously. But it moves VERY quickly and is worth seeing for Hayes alone. I'm giving it a 7.

Tragic and true

[jordondave-28085 · 7/10 · 19 September 2023]

(1931) The Sin of Madelon Claudet DRAMA/ SOCIAL COMMENTARY

Helen Hayes deservedly won an Oscar which could've been controversial if made today from a play written by Edward Knoblock, but upon watching it, is like a book written for adults- almost in the same tradition as other prostitute films of similar nature. Straight forward story centering on a well intended girl who seems to have made some bad choices leading to some serious bad luck with a goal to see that her fatherless only child would get nothing but the best who would even sell herself just so her son would get the best education money can buy. It's amazing how relevant this film is when a lot of what this film has shown is still happening today, such as leaving a family who doesn't approve of a boyfriend for the purpose of love resulting it to be a bad move! Despite it's running time of less than an hour and a half - it's still quite effective - tragic and very true.

The Sin of Madelon Claudet

[CinemaSerf · 6/10 · 27 March 2024]

Though the thrust of the story here is pretty well trammelled, it's worth a watch just to see Helen Hayes on really good form. We start as a young woman enters her husband's study to leave him a note. She is leaving him, convinced that his constant time away with an other woman is proof of his affair. Luckily, "Dr. Dulac" (Jean Hersholt) is already in the room. He sits her down and regales her with an history. That introduces us to "Madelon". She's the eponymous good-time girl who manages to get herself embroiled in the criminal activities of "the Count" (Lewis Stone). He is apprehended, as is she - but he takes then easier way out leaving her to spend ten years in jail for complicity. She must leave her newborn son in the capable hands of the kindly "Dulac" who nurtures the young man's ambitions to become a doctor. Once released, she turns her hand to just about anything to raise the cash necessary to anonymously put him through medical school - and then she meets him (Robert Young). He seems a generous fellow but she, now reduced to scavenging for a living, is too ashamed to admit whom she is. Can they all reconcile? Hayes is great to watch here - she exudes an emotional and characterful personality that demonstrates there is no lengths to which a mother will not go, especially one who has been wronged, to help her child. Hersholt is also effective as are the brief appearances from Stone. It's a bit of a predictable, join-the-dots chronology, but still worth a watch.

Tour-de-force by Helen Hayes

[HotToastyRag · 8/10 · 17 April 2019]

Talk about a tour-de-force! I lost track of how many times I said to the television screen, "Give her her Oscar!" while watching The Sin of Madelon Claudet. Everyone knows how critical I am of the Academy Awards, but Helen Hayes absolutely deserved her Best Actress trophy. In her first talking picture, she's given an incredible range of situations and emotions, and she convinces everyone that they're watching her life instead of her performance.

Helen starts the film as a good girl, but gets corrupted by an evil male influence. Her boyfriend Neil Hamilton convinces her to run away from home and live in sin with him, but when he's called away to America to care for his sick father, she fears he'll never return. He doesn't, and Helen has a baby. In a touching scene full of more realism than you'd expect in 1931, Helen refuses to hold her newborn, muttering, "I wish it were dead." One of the nurses places the baby in Helen's arms, and Helen looks upon her child. She falls in love, and for the rest of the film, she sacrifices everything for her son.

From refusing to give up her child so she can make a respectable marriage, to becoming wealthy Lewis Stone's mistress, everything she does is for her child. She hides her son on the side while living the high life with Lewis, coming to visit him secretly and supporting him with pocket money Lewis gives her. That arrangement doesn't last long, unfortunately, and Helen is forced to live through many more tragedies before the end of the movie.

The Sin of Madelon Claudet is a cautionary tale for good little girls. Your life can be ruined by running off with your boyfriend and living in sin. While that message feels a little melodramatic by today's standards, it's actually still true. One little mistake that feels harmless or exciting at the time can lead to an unbearable chain of events; perhaps the timelessness is what makes this film a classic. Helen's performance is fantastic, and you'll get to see Robert Young in one of his first parts, the one that propelled him to stardom. You'll also get to see Alan Hale, Charles Winninger, and Jean Hersholt in small roles. And who would have thought the usually tired Lewis Stone would play someone incredibly sweet and romantic?

Soap Opera Sleaze Ahead Of It's Day?

[ccthemovieman-1 · 1/10 · 6 August 2006]

I don't why but I always associated Helen Hayes as some matronly sweet grandmother type lady. Well, as a young women, she apparent was no lady, at least with her showing in this movie. I guess it was "ahead of it's time" in its morals. The film might be 1931 but it's about a woman and a guy who run off the Paris, never marry, but have a child. He returns home before the child is even born and leaves her. She then becomes the mistress of a wealthy cook, then is sent out in the streets again.

This is real soap opera stuff, through and through, and a bit seedy at that. It must have been pretty shocking the audiences when it was released.

Great performance by Helen Hayes

[gbill-74877 · 8/10 · 1 April 2016]

Helen Hayes is well worthy of the Oscar she won for her performance in this one. The role required her to play a young lover, single mother, wealthy socialite, prisoner, prostitute, and beaten-down old woman, and she did so brilliantly. I found her beautiful and a great actor, particularly at a time when overacting was the norm. The scene where she responds with a humorous puffy facial expression to a question about what someone is like is priceless. Her suggestions of lasciviousness using only her eyes are also great; while the movie is pre-Code and has a suggestive title, it's quite tame. We're all rooting for because she's been driven to such depths quite unfairly, and because she's made the incredible sacrifice of separating herself from her son, so that he can pursue being a doctor, unencumbered by her shame, which back then would have stopped him. It leads to a pretty syrupy ending, but was balanced for the most part, and the supporting cast is also strong.

Early tear-jerker takes the mother /son love theme to extremes...

[Doylenf · 5/10 · 16 February 2010]

It's amazing that in the same decade that produced films like GONE WITH THE WIND and STAGECOACH, technically superb in every way, there were the more primitive early talkies like THE SIN OF MADELON CLAUDET.

Everything about it has a museum piece quality. It's hokey from the very first scene and you immediately know that this film has not stood the test of time the way true film classics have.

The acting is overly dramatic with every line magnified for the sound camera, and even HELEN HAYES has a hard time being convincing when she has to play a woman of the streets. Nevertheless, her efforts in this tear-jerker won her an Academy Award as Best Actress of 1931. When she's required to wear age make-up for the later scenes, she looks so much like the Ada Quonsett character she played in AIRPORT ('70).

It's the kind of film that would be remade in later years with stars like Kay Francis, Barbara Stanwyck, Joan Crawford or Olivia de Havilland. A mother makes all sorts of sacrifices in order to be close to her son or daughter after an ill-advised love affair gone wrong.

NEIL HAMILTON, as the man who deserts his wife, gives probably the most natural performance in the film. LEWIS STONE, as a kind-hearted thief, for some reason looks even older than he did as Judge Hardy in the Andy Hardy series. As Hayes' romantic interest he seems incredibly miscast.

There is not a shred of background music or even a hint of humor in all the proceedings. Only anguish and heartbreak without the usual violin strings.

It's heavy going all the way--a primitive film from the early talkies that must have seemed shocking at the time but hardly holds up as respectful melodrama today and has been largely forgotten.

Just as Lewis Stone looks impossibly old to play the count, Robert Young, in one of his first films plays her son, the young doctor, long before he played Marcus Welby, M.D. on TV and looks impossibly youthful.

A curiosity piece, nothing more.

Holds up well!

[JohnHowardReid · 9/10 · 13 May 2018]

Copyright 21 October 1931 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Distributing Corp. New York opening at the Capitol, 30 October 1931. 8 reels. 74 minutes. U.K. release title: The LULLABY.

SYNOPSIS: Woman becomes a streetwalker to support her illegitimate son.

NOTES: 1931 award winner, Best Actress, Helen Hayes (in her sound film debut) (defeating Marie Dressler in Emma, and Lynne Fontanne in The Guardsman). Number 10 in the 1931 Film Daily poll of U.S. film critics.

COMMENT: Here's a film which, despite its Best Actress tag, doesn't seem any too promising for a 2018 audience, but actually holds up extremely well. True, this happy surprise can partly be laid to the credit of Helen Hayes who is uterly sympathetic and totally charismatic in the role of the more-sinned-against-than-sinning heroine. And, having seen both Emma and The Guardsman, I can wholeheartedly declare that Hayes way outclasses both Marie Dressler and the legendary Lynne Fontanne.

However, both script and direction, are also qualities to be reckoned with. MacArthur has cleverly taken the gist of Knoblock's rather old-fashioned play and so brilliantly updated it, that its dialogue still reads well in 2018. The only feature I don't like is the now passé framing device.

But don't be put off. Once the flashback starts, the too studiously overburdened-in-charity Hersholt disappears for most of the action, and Hayes takes center stage. She is well supported too, firstly by Lewis Stone, and later by Robert Young. I love the scene in which Stone is introduced in which he himself is supported by that marvelous character actor, Lennox Pawle. MacArthur has provided him with such heartily astringent lines that he makes an indelible impression in this, his one scene.

Director Edgar Selwyn doesn't figure in any books about Hollywood's masters of the cinema, but this film and Men Must Fight (1933) are so striking, it seems to me about time his career was re-examined.

Effective Little Drama

[Michael_Elliott · 19 February 2010]

Sin of Madelon Claudet, The (1931)

*** (out of 4)

Early soap opera with Helen Hayes who would end up winning the Best Actress Oscar for her performance here as Madelon Cludet, a woman who runs away from home and finds one disaster after another. She gives birth to a son but soon is railroaded into prison where she comes out of and agrees to tell the child that his mother is dead. She then turns to prostitution so that she can give the son money to go through medical school. If you don't like sappy stories then it's probably best to stay away from this thing as there's so much sugar running around that many will gag on everything that happens from the opening scene to the closing one. I must admit that there were times where I felt the filmmakers were beating the viewer over the head with the sentimental moments but the nice performances make this film worth viewing. Hayes is exceptionally good here as her character goes from one abuse to another and she perfectly nails each emotion no matter how raw it is. I also found her to be excellent under all the make up of the older woman as she pulled this off as well. Lewis Stone has a brief role but he's his typical excellent self and Robert Young plays the adult kid. The ending is one you'll see coming from a mile away but I thought it packed a good little punch. The editing is something else that really worked well and this can easily be seen during the sequence where we cut back and forth to the mother "working" and the son getting the benefits of it. The biggest problem is that the film plays out like several 15-minute short films put together as the story pretty much just builds itself up for a payoff and then we go to the next short sequence that will then build up for a quick payoff.