The Straight Dope is my last option to find a movie title. It’s from the 40’s or 50’s, I’m really counting on one of you knowing the title of this movie (or at least someone in it). Here’s the story as I remember it:
A woman marries a man who has political aspirations. His mother hates his bride and makes her life miserable. I can’t quite remember how but after the woman gives birth to a daughter the mother-in-law makes her go away, without her daughter and she is to have no contact with her child ever again. The woman becomes an alcoholic and prostitute. She ends up killing someone, being sent to jail and has a public defender assigned to her (or her ex husband pays for a lawyer to defend her… not sure) and it just happens to be her daughter!
Does anybody know what the title of that movie is or who is in it?
It’s “Madame X”, starring Lana Turner, John Forsyth, Keir Dullea, and Ricardo Montalban[can’t remember the name of the actress who played the uber-bitch mother-in-law.] She gives birth to a son[Dullea] who winds up defending her on a murder charge years later. Turner’s character knew who HE was, Dullea did not know she was his mother. Typical LT tear-jerker, tawdry, scenery-chewing. I believe there was a much earlier version of this starring Ruth Chatterton[?]
I was thinking Madame X also, but jools said it ended up being her daughter who defended her, not her son. A similar plot can be found in Frisco Jenny (1932 - with Ruth Chatterton, and yes, that was her in 1929’s Madame X as well) and The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931) although in the latter, the woman’s son grew up to be a doctor who treated her without knowing she was his mother. I’m sure there’s more, it seemed to be a popular story for a studio looking for a good melodrama. But those are the ones I’ve seen.
So, jools, was it a daughter? I can’t find a movie that fits that description. IMDb says there was a 1981 TV version where there was a daughter, but that’s all I can find so far.
Thank you so much. It might be a son instead of a daughter, I’ll find out soon. I do remember it being as you described quiltguy154, but it was my mother’s favorite and since I had a sentimental attack yesterday… I will buy it
