IMDb RATING
6.9/10
2.1K
YOUR RATING
Madeleine's middle-class family cannot understand why she puts off marrying a respectable young man; they know nothing about her long-term affair with a Frenchman.Madeleine's middle-class family cannot understand why she puts off marrying a respectable young man; they know nothing about her long-term affair with a Frenchman.Madeleine's middle-class family cannot understand why she puts off marrying a respectable young man; they know nothing about her long-term affair with a Frenchman.
André Morell
- Defending Counsel
- (as Andre Morell)
Douglas Barr
- William the Boot Boy
- (uncredited)
Eva Bartok
- Girl
- (uncredited)
Hyma Beckley
- Man in Crowd
- (uncredited)
George Benson
- Estate Agent
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAnn Todd had portrayed the title character in a production of the play on which this movie was based and had always wanted to play it in a movie adaptation. Shortly after she married director Sir David Lean, he agreed to make this movie and cast her as the lead, as a wedding present of sorts.
- GoofsWhen the prosecutor first walks away from addressing the jury the first time, the shadow of a boom can clearly be seen following after him across the jury.
- ConnectionsReferenced in Foul Play (1978)
Featured review
Familiar material given the David Lean touch but is emotionally cold...
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.
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.
- How long is Madeleine?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- The Strange Case of Madeleine
- Filming locations
- Blythswood Square, Glasgow, Scotland, UK(Madeleine Smith's home)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 41 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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