Dishonored Lady (1947): watch the full film free, legally

Madeleine Damien’s break from Boulevard

Dishonored Lady, also known as Sins of Madeleine, is a 1947 American film noir crime film directed by Robert Stevenson. Hedy Lamarr stars as Madeleine Damien, with Dennis O’Keefe as Dr. David Cousins and John Loder as Felix Courtland. The film is based on the 1930 play Dishonored Lady by Edward Sheldon and Margaret Ayer Barnes. Lamarr and Loder were married during the making of the film, before divorcing later in 1947.

Madeleine is the fashion editor of Boulevard, a slick Manhattan magazine. Her professional life is crowded by men who want her attention: Victor Kranish, her boss; Felix Courtland, a wealthy advertiser; and Jack Garet, a former assistant now employed by Courtland. Garet blackmails her over events from her past. Strained by her circumstances, Madeleine attempts suicide and heads toward a breakdown.

A new name and a scientific partnership

After crashing her car near psychiatrist Dr. Richard Caleb’s home, Madeleine is found unconscious and cared for by him. With Caleb’s help, she concludes that she has been running from herself, as her father may have done before his suicide. Under pressure from Boulevard, she abruptly resigns, leaves the fashion world, and begins again under another name in a smaller apartment. She returns to painting, an earlier love.

Her neighbor David Cousins is a medical researcher who needs someone to draw the cells he examines under a microscope. Madeleine works closely with him on the illustrations, and their work leads to a paper David is invited to present at a conference. He proposes marriage. Madeleine hesitates, unable to tell him about her troubled love life.

The former life she left behind soon intrudes. Courtland discovers where she is living and arrives at her apartment, but she rejects him. A Boulevard colleague later asks for technical advice. Madeleine wants no involvement with the magazine, though she agrees to meet the colleague at a nightclub. Kranish and Garet also appear there. After drinking too much, Madeleine finds herself at Courtland’s mansion. Courtland kisses her, while Garet arrives to argue with him over a precious stone Garet has stolen. Madeleine slips away through the rain after awakening at the house.

The next day, Madeleine learns from a newspaper that Courtland has been murdered. The police arrive to arrest her, and her false identity is exposed. David, back early from his conference, hears of Madeleine’s past and refuses to marry her. Madeleine is charged with murder and faces trial.

Changes demanded before release

Production had been scheduled to begin no later than January 1945, but difficulties with the Motion Picture Production Code delayed it. The Hays Office objected to two love affairs in the script, one set in Mexico and one in New York, saying they might be “overloading” the picture. It also objected to a “night of sordid passion.” An April 25, 1946 memo found the revised script unacceptable because of gratuitous sex and references to Madeleine’s unsavory family secrets.

The completed film omitted all references to Madeleine’s parents. Moreno, a character in the earlier version, was removed along with an affair in Mexico City, while the night of passion was not shown. Suggestions that Madeleine was a murderer, or had contemplated murder, were also taken out. In the final script submitted to the Hays Office, Madeleine takes a trip in the hope that she may one day be with David. The reunion at the film’s closing was added later.

Filming ran from early May through late July 1946 at California Studios. Nicolai Remisoff designed the sets. The supporting cast includes William Lundigan as Jack Garet, Morris Carnovsky as Dr. Richard Caleb, Natalie Schafer as Ethel Royce, Paul Cavanagh as Victor Kranish, Douglas Dumbrille as District Attorney O’Brien, and Margaret Hamilton as Mrs. Geiger. United Artists released the film in the United States on May 16, 1947. It exceeded its budget by $1.2 million and failed at the box office.

Film details from the Wikipedia article “Dishonored Lady”. Text adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0.