The old chestnut "Madame X" has had something like 9 screen versions, not to mention a play and the book. There's an occasional change here and there but the plot remains basically the same: A young woman is thrown out of her home and separated from her child. She hits the skids, and 20 years later, the child defends her on a murder charge.

So goes this version of "Madame X" as well, with a nice roster of stars: Lana Turner, Keir Dullea, John Forsythe, Ricardo Montalban, Constance Bennett, and Burgess Meredith. Turner is the unfortunate woman, happily married to Clayton Anderson (John Forsythe) a man with a good political future, and she's the mother of a young son. But the marriage becomes strained when Clayton is away too much, and Holly starts fooling around. When her husband comes home and she realizes how much she loves him, she tries to break it off with a roué (Ricardo Montalban). During an argument, he falls down the stairs to his death. Holly's mother-in-law, played by Constance Bennett, arranges for her to disappear with a new identity. In Europe, Holly meets a wealthy musician who falls in love with her, but she runs out on him - a big mistake - and ends up turning to alcohol and easy sex. When she murders a blackmailer (Meredith) who is going to tell her son who she is, she ends up on trial - defended by her son.

Well, the pot doesn't boil any better than this, and Hunter gives it a big, expensive production and sets Lana Turner loose in what is probably her best performance. Although the age/dissipation makeup is a little over the top, Turner gives the degenerate Holly a great, hard edge and a lot of frailty. It's a nice juxtaposition to the earlier sweetness and buoyancy of her character. Turner was one of those movie stars whose beauty, glamor, and private life often had critics not paying much attention to her performances, but she gave some good ones nonetheless. The other standout in the cast is Bennett, who's as slender as she was in the '30s and a lot tougher. Her voice has dropped a couple of octaves and her hair is a strange brown (this was perhaps in deference to the blond Lana). Toward the end of the film, she gets white hair softly styled and looks beautiful - even with the age makeup that needed to be added to the 60-year-old. The role of Forsythe's manipulative, protective mother is perfect for her -- a fitting last film for one of the great and prolific stars of the 1930s. She died before the film was released. Keir Dullea is appealing as the son, and Forsythe is pleasant though he doesn't have a huge role.

Try as they might, Madame X is from another time and by 1966 just wasn't great movie material. It is however, entertaining and engrossing. The most jaded person can't help but to be moved by the ending, though you may hate yourself for it.

As I read through all the reviews for this film, I was shocked by two things--that people thought it was a good film and that they thought it was a drama. Considering how over the top melodramatic it is, I really thought it was a comedy--albeit an unintentional one! The film starts with Holly (Lana Turner--who was too old for the part) marrying John--a very wealthy man who has ambitions to go into politics. At first, they are happy but after a while John's ambitions take him away from home--a lot. In the meantime, she spends time with another man (Ricardo Montalban) but their relationship is quite chaste. However, when he slips and falls down some stairs to his death, Holly's mother-in-law (Constance Bennett) blackmails her into running off and faking her death, as the mother-in-law THINKS Holly killed her lover! I have no idea why, but Holly agrees--and most of the rest of the film is spent watching Turner show a wide variety of pained looks--ones that look like she's dealing with a bad case of the cramps. All the while, you CONSTANTLY hear the most ridiculously overbearing and ridiculous music. In fact, clearly the music is the worst thing about the film. But you also can't ignore the last half hour--one of the most ridiculously sentimental and stupid half hours in film history (you've just gotta hear Keir Dullea's speech to believe it)! Overall, this is a glossy and beautiful looking bad movie...in a kitschy sort of way. I frankly found much of it laugh out loud funny because the film took itself so seriously but was so seriously bad in the process.

By the way, the doctor's comments about absinthe, though believed at the time, are utter nonsense. In fact, the wine industry created all these rumors about absinthe causing brain abnormalities and death! In recent years, it's once again been legalized because it's a potent yet harmless liquor.

Madame X is one of the great soap opera films of all time, popular back in the day, but by the sixties that genre had really run its course. But it is given one handsomely mounted production by Ross Hunter who was the last great Hollywood producer of such drama.

This film has a long pedigree. It is based on a play by Alexandre Bisson entitled La Femme X and in France it has been filmed quite a few times. In America Madame X was filmed twice. The original film was an early talkie and won an Oscar nomination for its star Ruth Chatterton. But that one was essentially a photographed stage play.

Come 1966 if nothing else Ross Hunter made this film move. All kinds of location shooting done here, from Fairfield County, Connecticut to Switzerland, to Mexico and back to New York. It's the 20 year saga of Holly Anderson who paid big time for a bad mistake.

Lana Turner played Anderson who when we meet here has just married Clayton Anderson from a very old line WASP family with a pedigree back to the pilgrims. John Forsythe is Clayton and in her last film, Constance Bennett is his mother Estelle. They have a son, but Forsythe's political career takes him away for long stretches and she begins an affair with playboy Ricardo Montalban. When Forsythe returns, Turner attempts to break it off with Montalban, but Montalban won't hear of it. During a struggle Montalban falls down a flight of stairs and is killed.

Bennett who's been keeping tabs on this whole business confronts Turner and tells her to fake her death and leave before scandal ruins the good Anderson name which now includes another generation. For the sake of her husband and son, Turner sacrifices and leaves.

The rest of the film is her wanderings until she gets involved with a petty crook played by Burgess Meredith and she kills him. She signs a written confession with an X hence the title.

I won't tell the rest but make sure the bathtowel is handy while watching this film. Lana Turner who knew plenty about scandal and sacrifice in her life, does pretty well by this role. The rest of the players are in support of her, almost in awe.

By this time soap opera had found its way on to the small screen, both in the afternoon and evening prime time. Films like Madame X just didn't do that well any more at the box office. A pity too, because you won't forget Turner's climatic scene with her grown son, played by Keir Dullea.