I love this movie so much

Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

A very feeble attempt at affirmatie action

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Irene Dunne falls in love with a well-bred gentleman, who is not suited for anything but to spend his daddy's money. They marry, but the marriage doesn't last long, when he goes back to his father, played unmercifully well by Lionel Atwill. But after Lionel gives him an ultimatum and feeling put in a no-win situation, his son commits suicide, thereby setting up the stage for pregnant Irene alone in the world, forced to do what she has to. But Lionel quickly has his grandson taken from her and in his sole custody. Fast forward, the son, played by Phillips Holmes, is a soldier who happens to come across her establishment, a bar with rooms to let! You know the rest. Or do you? This is far from dull and does get rather melodramatic before the final fade-out, pulling no punches and no subtlety. While not entirely one of Ms. Dunne's best, this certainly entertains.

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.

This is a film that probably won't please everyone. Viewers looking for a film with a lot of realism and a plot that is lacking plot holes would probably find it pretty tough going. Plus, those who aren't particularly inclined to watch old fashioned soap operas might also balk at seeing this film. So be it. However, for a lover of classic Hollywood films who accepts all the irony and melodrama without being too critical, the final product is lovely to watch and very satisfying.Now I must admit that usually a film with this many weepy scenes turns me off a bit, but the writers, directors and Irene Dunne manage to weave a tale so well that my sometime cynical nature was kept in abeyance. Plus, the amazingly awful and evil character played by Lionel Atwill was one of his best roles--one that will definitely make an impression on the viewer. Now I must admit that the impossibility of the final third of the film was at first a bit hard to take, but when the plot wrapped up like it did, I found I just didn't care--I wanted the hokey Hollywood ending and enjoyed it thoroughly. An excellent weepy film--similar to, but in many ways superior to MADAME X and SO BIG! If you liked this film, try Barbara Stanwyck's STELLA DALLAS--another great weepy melodrama.

IRENE DUNNE had THE SECRET OF MADAME BLANCHE. It's the forerunner of all those Madame X stories that gave actresses meaty roles in tear-jerkers. For Olivia de Havilland it was TO EACH HIS OWN. For Lana Turner and earlier, Ruth Chatterton, it was MADAME X. For Helen Hayes it was THE SIN OF MADELON CLAUDET. These were the kind of stories that spanned some twenty years, always about women who were cheated out of mother love--women who fell in love unwisely and were then cheated by circumstances.LIONEL ATWILL is the rich father whose son (PHILLIPS HOLMES) has fallen in love with a cabaret singer and he opposes the match from the start, threatening to stop giving his son handouts to keep them solvent. The son is destitute when he learns that she's about to have a baby and finally commits suicide. The years fly by and Dunne is now a working woman in London at a not very reputable establishment populated by servicemen. It's World War I and one of the patrons is a young man who makes a fuss over not being given a room. He turns out to be her son and she is soon protecting him from a murder charge.It's a pretty plot-heavy melodrama with enough twists and turns to keep the viewer interested, but you have to have a taste for these mother/son tear-jerkers to truly enjoy this sort of film. The final scene with mother and son reunited at a prison after a stormy trial, is reminiscent of MADAME X--but at least here, the son learns the true identity of his mother.