There was evidently a genre of film in the early days in which a woman makes a single bad choice and spends the rest of the film paying for it. Such is the case with The Sin of Madelon Claudet, a film where a rash decision made early in the film leads to continual misery throughout the thankfully short running time. This has all the earmarks of a film destined to appeal to the baser natures of the audience, all about a fallen woman and her various trials and problems.
Young Madelon Claudet (Helen Hayes in an Oscar-winning role) is spirited away from her farmhouse by Larry (Neil Hamilton), an American who she has fallen in love with. The two run off to Paris where Larry attempts to make a go of it as an artist, albeit a pretty poor one based on the work we’re able to take a look at. During their brief affair, Larry receives a cable from home that his father has fallen ill, and he returns to the states, leaving Madelon behind. Once home, he is forced into a marriage to appeal to his parents, leaving Madelon alone to wait for him with her friend Rosalie (Marie Prevost). She’s also pregnant and eventually gives birth to a son she names Larry in honor of the boy’s missing father.
