ChikPapa Very disappointed :(

Aedonerre I gave this film a 9 out of 10, because it was exactly what I expected it to be.

Taha Avalos The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Walter Sloane Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

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

Robert J. Maxwell It's 1857 in Glasgow. The city we see on the screen, actually a series of sets, is eerie and a little ominous. It's often night. The streets are cobblestones glistening with recent rain. Gusts of wind scatter the fallen leaves about. The stone buildings seem abrasive. Dark shadows fill the many alleys. It's one of those cities in which anything can happen.There's something strange about the residents too, beginning with the fact that they're called Glaswegians. Ann Todd plays the real-life Madeleine Smith who had a French fiancé, tired of him when she met a new man, who all unwittingly became her second fiancé. Todd wants to marry Number Two, Norman Wooland, but this is a high-class affair and one naturally wants to avoid the kind of scandal that would interfere with one's being invited to the most fashionable soirées.Todd's problem is that fiancé Number One, Ivan Desny, a lively Frenchman, is in possession of a number of love letters from Todd that, by the standards of the early Victorians, were pretty lurid, containing phrases such as "my dearest" and "my bosom heaves with impatience" and certain ribald jokes usually deleted from the diary of Samuel Pepys. (I just made that stuff up, but the letters WERE incriminating.) Todd must get those letters back but Desny seems to be ignoring her importunings. So one day he turns up dead of arsenic poisoning. Todd, who has recently purchased some of the stuff, is taken to trial for the murder. Well, she's not Jack the Ripper but evidently this was a cause celebre at the time.I'd never heard of the movie and I tuned in late, only in time for Desny's death and the trial that followed. But it took only a few minutes to realize that whoever had directed it was showing a good deal of skill in making a movie. Not just those glistening cobblestones but scenes like the prisoner emerging from a trap door just in front of the crowded benches. The end credits revealed David Lean as the director, of course.I was never a big fan of Ann Todd. She's not a poor actress but rarely seems to have made a film worth remembering. The rest of the cast is superb, including Barry Jones as the insinuating, wheedling prosecutor, and Andre Morell as the defense attorney, more forceful than we're used to seeing him. Jean Cadell as the landlady looks flinty and unyielding but overcomes her outward appearance and acts the concerned citizen. And the script is intelligent and dignified. The dialog is of the period -- "I waited, but you came not." But Brits always handle this slightly stylized and elegant speech very well. Americans do it too, but they seem to be working harder at it.

whpratt1 Enjoyed this 1950 true story about a young woman named Madeleine Smith, (Ann Todd) who lived in Glasgow, Scotland in 1857 and the story begins with the Smith family looking for a rather large home. Madeleine is very excited about a room in the basement of this house and I wondered just why she preferred such a location and of course the story will reveal the reasons for this decision. William Mennoch, (Norman Wooland) was an older professional man and was interested in Madeleine and wanted to marry her, but she kept putting off any discussions or decisions in this matter of marriage. However, the father and mother approved of William becoming their son-in-law. As the story moves along, you find out that there is another man that Madeleine is very much in love with and he is French and not very well off financially. This man's name is Emile L'Anglier and he was determined to climb into Glasgow's high social class and found that Madeleine and her family would be able to help him accomplish this task. This story holds great mystery in black and white and all the actors gave great supporting roles in this true story about a strange woman.

Neil Doyle It should come as no surprise that the trial of MADELEINE may well have been termed "the trial of the century" in 1857's Scotland. And from this true story, David Lean has made a period romance starring ANN TODD as the scheming woman from a wealthy background who feels compelled to hide her love affair with a commoner from her disapproving father.Madeleine defies the conventions of her stiff upper-class household and, after receiving a proper gentleman caller with her family, retreats to her private room where she has an assignation with a lover who is not a man of means. The shadowy interiors suggest the menace to come, as her father urges her to take a suitable suitor in marriage as soon as possible.What hurts the story is the familiarity of it all--a woman of substance wanting to break out of the social boundaries of convention. And unfortunately, there is nothing novel or different about this version of such a tale to make it of more than routine interest, despite the David Lean touch. What it really needed was Alfred Hitchcock's guiding hand.All of the technical ingredients are fine but the script is ultimately a disappointment and tends to be dull in spots. Furthermore, Ann Todd's Madeleine is not a very arresting character. This has to be considered one of David Lean's less effective films. The story is as emotionally cold as Madeleine herself and her demure behavior with her father seems more like a pose than anything else, one that he should easily be able to see through. Her arrest for murder in the poisoning of her lover is handled with too many frigid close-ups of Todd's face and no real explanation of what happened.It's certainly not a "must see" film by the renowned directed Lean.Best performance in the entire film: ANDRE MORELL as the defense counselor who gives the most stirring and satisfying speech in the courtroom as to why Madeleine should be found innocent of the circumstantial evidence.