Madame X | |
---|---|
Directed by | Frank Lloyd |
Written by | J.E. Nash Frank Lloyd |
Based on | La femme X... by Alexandre Bisson |
Produced by | Goldwyn Pictures |
Starring | Pauline Frederick |
Cinematography | Devereaux Jennings (fr) |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Goldwyn Distributing Company |
Release date |
|
Running time | 70 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | Silent (English intertitles) |
Madame X is a 1920 American silent drama film directed by Frank Lloyd and starring Pauline Frederick. The film is based on the 1908 play Madame X , by French playwright Alexandre Bisson, and was adapted for the screen by J.E. Nash and Frank Lloyd. [1] A copy of this film survives in the George Eastman House Motion Picture Collection. [2]
The play was previously adapted for the screen in 1910 and in 1916. The play has been subsequently remade several times.
As described in a film magazine, [3] jealous husband Louis Floriot (Courtleigh), refusing to forgive his wife Jacqueline (Frederick) for fleeing from his wrath and living with the friend who presses his attentions on her, forces her into the life of a derelict. Twenty years later she returns to France from Buenos Aires believing that her son Raymond has died. Laroque (Ainsworth), a crook who aids her in her return to France, learns that she is married to a man of wealth, and tries, with the help of his two associates M. Robert Parissard (Belmore) and M. Merival (Louis), to get possession of a fortune that rightfully belonged to Jacqueline. To protect her husband from violence, Jacqueline kills Laroque and, accused of murder, is brought to trial. Refusing to confer with her counsel and preferring death to freedom, during the course of the trial she receives the shocking revelation that the defendant attorney is her son Raymond (Ferguson). The tragic story ends with the reunion of the two and the death of the miserable mother.
It was common at that time for American state film censorship boards to require cuts in films for reasons of morality or to promote the common good. One noted cut in this film required by the Pennsylvania film board was in a scene with Jesus and the woman taken in adultery where an intertitle card with a New Testament verse on sin and casting stones was removed. [4]
Film historian and biographer Higham, Charles reports that “Frank Lloyd’s best silent film was Madame X (1920), [demonstrating] his polished craftsmanship and advanced control of the language of physical gesture.”: [5]
“Lloyd's direction turned Madame X into a masterpiece of commercial cinema. In the first place, he ensures that every minute detail of French life, the diplomat’s mansion, the shoddy apartment where Madame X (Pauline Frederick) resides, the Hall of Justice, is perfection itself. And there is the matchless command of film pacing, the brilliant use of the iris, the unerring cutting, the pitiless precision of observation. Instead of being a novelette, the film is the equivalent of a Zola novel...In the silent period, only Erich von Stroheim’s Greed (1924) surpassed the physical detail of this creation.” [6]
Frank William George Lloyd was a British-born American film director, actor, scriptwriter, and producer. He was among the founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and was its president from 1934 to 1935.
Alexandre Bisson was a French playwright, vaudeville creator, and novelist. Born in Briouze, Orne in Lower Normandy, he was successful in his native France as well as in the United States. Remembered as a significant creator of Parisian vaudeville, in collaboration with Edmond Gondinet, Bisson's 1881 three-act comedy Un Voyage d'agrément was performed at the Théâtre du Vaudeville in Paris.
Madame X is a lost 1916 American silent drama film directed by George F. Marion that was based on the 1908 play of the same name by French playwright Alexandre Bisson. Dorothy Donnelly, star of the 1910 Broadway production of the play, which was also directed by Marion, reprised her starring role for the film.
Casson Ferguson was an American film actor of the silent era. He appeared in more than 50 films between 1917 and 1928.
Madame X is a 1929 American pre-Code drama film directed by Lionel Barrymore and starring Ruth Chatterton as a fallen woman who longs to be reunited with her son. The film is based on the 1908 play Madame X by French playwright Alexandre Bisson (1848-1912).
Madame X is a 1937 American drama film, a sanitized remake of several Pre-Code films of the same name. It was directed by Sam Wood, with additional direction by Gustav Machatý (uncredited). The film is based on the 1908 play La femme X by French playwright Alexandre Bisson (1848–1912).
The Trial of Madame X, also known as Jacqueline, is a 1948 British drama film written and directed by Paul England and starring England and Mara Russell-Tavernan. It is based on the 1908 play Madame X by the French playwright Alexandre Bisson.
Head over Heels is a 1922 American comedy film starring Mabel Normand and directed by Paul Bern and Victor Schertzinger. This is a surviving comedy film at the Library of Congress. The supporting cast includes Raymond Hatton and Adolphe Menjou.
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A Slave of Vanity is a 1920 American silent drama film starring Pauline Frederick, and directed and written by Henry Otto. The film, which was adapted from Arthur Wing Pinero's 1901 play Iris, was produced and distributed by the Robertson-Cole Pictures Corporation that eventually became part of Film Booking Office of America. The film is now considered lost.
Zaza is a 1915 American silent romantic drama film produced by Famous Players Film Company in association with the Charles Frohman Company, and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The film was directed by Edwin S. Porter and Hugh Ford and stars Pauline Frederick in the title role. The film is based on the 1899 French stage play of the same name that starred Mrs. Leslie Carter, and the American adaptation by David Belasco.
The Loves of Letty is a 1919 American silent drama film produced and distributed by Samuel Goldwyn and directed by Frank Lloyd. Based on the play Letty by Arthur Wing Pinero, the film features Pauline Frederick in the title role. It was originally considered a lost film, but a print with some deterioration has reportedly been found in a European collection.
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Love Insurance is a lost 1919 American silent comedy film directed by Donald Crisp, produced by Famous Players–Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It is based on the novel of the same name by Earl Derr Biggers, Love Insurance.
The Woman in Room 13 is a lost 1920 American silent mystery drama film directed by Frank Lloyd and starring Pauline Frederick. It was produced and distributed by Goldwyn Pictures and is based on a Broadway play of the same name, The Woman in Room 13. The film was remade at Fox in 1932 as a talkie.
Madame Jealousy is a 1918 American silent allegorical drama film directed by Robert G. Vignola and written by George V. Hobart and Eve Unsell. The film stars Pauline Frederick, Thomas Meighan, Frank Losee, Charles Wellesley, Isabel O'Madigan, and Elsie MacLeod. The film was released on February 4, 1918, by Paramount Pictures.
The Branding Iron is a 1920 American silent drama film directed by Reginald Barker and starring Barbara Castleton and James Kirkwood. It was produced by Barker and Samuel Goldwyn and distributed by Goldwyn Pictures. Castleton appeared nude in the film, which caused the particular scene to be cut in some parts of the country. Pennsylvania banned the film altogether due to the topic of infidelity.
A Fool's Awakening is a 1924 American silent drama film directed by Harold M. Shaw and starring Mary Alden, Lionel Belmore, and Enid Bennett.