Steineded
How sad is this?
Intcatinfo
A Masterpiece!
bkoganbing
If I had been Irene Dunne in The Secret Of Madame Blanche I might have thought
twice about eloping with charming wastrel Phillips Holmes.. Sadly she met his
ironfisted father Lionel Atwill only after they were married. Dunne plays a singer and does get to show her vocal talents in this film which is
always appreciated. Holmes who does nothing, but spend dear old dad's money
in various hedonistic pursuits. Of course dad does not even try to channel Holmes into some useful profession where he could have an income. What he
wants and frankly I thought this a hoot, he wants to have him get a seat in
Parliament with of course an arranged marriage with a woman of the proper
station. Atwill has really no redeeming qualities as a father. He just wants to dominate
his kid. Eventually he forces Dunne to give her child over to him to be raised
in the image. As the kid grows up to be Douglas Walton he truly is a chip off the old Atwill/Holmes block.Fast forward to the World War I years and Walton while AWOL gets himself in
a big jackpot and he also meets Dunne with no idea she's his mom. Atwill told
him she was dead.I won't go any farther except to say that the whole thing has a Madame X
quality to it. It does work out better for the principal cast members.The Secret Of Madame Blanche is a property very unlikely to be remade. Still
the cast led by Dunne, Holmes, Atwill, and Walton does pull it together.
gkeith_1
Spoilers. Observations.Creepy pop in law. He steals the baby. How dare he? He doesn't know how to raise male children, without spoiling them and making them into total wastrels.Irene Dunne always lovely. Here, she falls for a puny, dorky rich kid, son of the above mentioned stupid idiot. He has no career, and apparently no education. Pop won't give him any more money, so he offs himself and leaves his wife, Irene, to raise the baby as best she can.Irene comes back from performing in a sleazy entertainment spot, finding the grandfatherly slimeball getting custody of her beloved baby boy. Irene goes to grandpa's home to almost beg him to see the baby, but Grandpapa Dearest says no dice.Irene goes on to toil for many years in rathole after rathole, entertaining and becoming what looks sort of like a madam in a brothel, or as she describes later, a restaurant with rooms upstairs.Looks like the young WWI soldier wants to take HER upstairs, but actually he wants a room for himself and his teenage girlfriend who has run away from her parents.More spoilers. Fast forward. Girlfriend goes home. Girlfriend's father comes looking for soldier who stole away his daughter. Dad wants to beat the living stuffing out of soldier. All of a sudden, kerblam. Gunshot. Soldier has gun in his hand, and the father is succumbed on the floor.Girlfriend had given Irene name of soldier. Irene realizes it is her long lost baby son. She tells police she did the deed, and that the soldier got away.Courtroom scene. Irene has confessed to the crime, to protect her son. Judge figures out the connection. Soldier is in the room, and he realizes Irene is his long lost mother, about whom he was told by creepy grandpa that she was no good. Grandpa, Irene's pop in law, is also in room, and cringes/realizes that she was the young woman married to his son against his wishes.Judge says Irene is innocent. Next scene, Irene visits soldier in jail. He didn't get capital punishment or a very long sentence; apparently, the verdict was self-defense, manslaughter or something like that. He only gets around two years.Irene baked him a chocolate cake, but wasn't allowed to bring it into the jail. Her son loves chocolate cake.
amandakls
I am an Irene Dunne fan but had only seen her comedies, so I was surprised to see her in this one night after I got home from work. I read the other review and thought it was rather harsh. This IS from a different film-making era, so if it seems trite, that may be to our jaded modern sensibilities. I was totally rooting for Dunne's heroine until the very end...and the part in which she discovers that the horrible soldier is her very own son that was stolen away from her...."Oh, my baby boy, what have they done to you?!?"...I mean, it will rip your heart out!!!! I get misty just thinking of it. You have to love the melodramatic twists and turns, and of course, I always appreciate a happy ending...even though he's in jail, you know they'll be alright!!!
elpep49
another winner is this Madame-X-type film about mother love. She plays a classy stage performer who marries the spoiled son (Phillips Holmes)of a selfish rich man (Lionel Atwill). The son commits suicide after the father cuts him off and Dunne then loses the baby to the evil old man. She fends for herself over the next 20 years in French bars. A curious set of coincidences reunites mother and son during WW I. Anyway, Dunne is wonderful--as usual--as the mother and gets to age (as in Cimarron) into a spunky old lady. Irene Dunne remains one of the most underrated stars of the 30s, excellent in drama, comedy, or musicals. She's also one of the most likable.
