Edgar Selwyn made eight films from 1929 to 1934 before returning to the theatre, having been recruited from Broadway at the beginning of the sound era; both The Sin of Madelon Claudet and Skyscraper Souls (1932 ) show Selwyn's interest in making movies instead of filmed theatre. At one point Selwyn and cinematographer Oliver Marsh toggle back and forth between Madelon (Helen Hayes) on her way down through prostitution and theft while her son Larry (Robert Young) is on his way up as a doctor, his education paid for by his mother whom he thinks is dead. Selwyn also uses effective tracking shots to emphasize Claudet's movement through different environments, from penniless life with an artist through marriage to a wealthy con man (Lewis Stone) to prison and prostitution after she gives birth out of wedlock (yes, this is a pre-code film).
This was Helen Hayes's first film and she is the focus throughout, as her lover deserts her when he travels to America, after which she gives birth to a son whom she leaves with friends when she marries Carlo Boretti (Lewis Stone) who shoots himself ("give me my overcoat," where his gun is) when he is arrested at the opera and Claudet is sentenced to ten years in prison because the authorities thinks she must have known about her husband's activities.
This is a very class-conscious film, as Claudet won't reveal herself to her son because she is afraid her prison record will keep him from getting a medical education, the film being narrated in flashback by a doctor (Jean Hersholt) who could only get a job in orphanages because of his lack of social position, who convinces Larry's wife not to leave him and helps to find a place for Madelon Claudet to live without ever telling Larry that she is his mother.
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