Madeleine (1950)

Directed by

David Lean

Genre

drama film, crime film, biographical film

Country

United Kingdom

Runtime

1h 54m

Rated

NR

Rating

6.9 of 10 from 37 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A young woman from a wealthy family is tried for murdering her lover in 1850s Glasgow. The film follows her trial and the scandal it causes.

periodnoir-ishtensemelancholicrestrainedatmosphericslow-burnuncertain

What happens

Madeleine is a 1950 British period film noir directed by David Lean and starring Ann Todd, Norman Wooland, Ivan Desny and Leslie Banks. It is based on the true story of Madeleine Smith (Todd), a young Glasgow woman from a wealthy family who was tried in 1857 for the murder of her lover, Émile L'Angelier (Desny). The trial was much publicised in the newspapers of the day and labelled "the trial of the century". Lean made the film primarily as a "wedding present" to his then-wife Todd, who had previously played the role onstage. He was never satisfied with the film and cited it as his least favourite feature-length movie. It was released by General Film Distributors on February 16, 1950. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

More like this

• The Woman in Question (1950)
• Night and the City (1950)
• Stage Fright (1950)
• Sunset Boulevard (1950)
• Guilt Is My Shadow (1950)
• The Woman with No Name (1950)
• Once a Sinner (1950)
• Cage of Gold (1950)