i have the great joy of watch david lean madeleine ( 1950 ) for the first time ever on tcm early this morning and and can say without any reservation that though it be one of the great director lesser know work and but it be by no mean lesser in either act or direction . feature the glacial blonde ann todd ( then mrs. david lean ) a the real life accuse murderess madeleine smith and the film skillfully portray the travail a foolish and willful young woman go through when she follow her heart instead of her head and get ensnare in a sticky situation . caught between her tyrannical martinet father and james smith and play excellently by the great leslie bank with his paralyse profile which add an extra flourish to his cold unsympathetic manner and her charming but unscrupulous gold dig french paramour and emile langlier play skillfully by ivan desny and ann todd madeleine be veritably catch between the devil and the deep blue sea . it would seem that there be but one recourse for madeleine and that of shut two bit casanova and lothario langlier up so that her fire breathing dragon of a father do not bite her pretty little head off and in much the same way that i have enjoy bite into pastry madeleines . but the ambiguity throughout the film of whether madeleine actually do the deed and put pay to her paramour be maintain even up to the end when madeleine give her leprous madonna half smile which could indicate either guilt or innocence and leave it up for the view audience to decide on their own . the splendid direction of lean and the superb moody photography of guy green contrast various shade of darkness and light as well a interesting character study of familiar character actor and actress face and the excellent film editing of clive donner ( later to become a great director a well ) and geoffrey foot and the authentic costume design of margaret furse all add to the move drama . jewel like performance by such thespian a barbara everest a madeleine mother and jean cadell a mrs. jenkins the careworn landlady and kynaston reef a a lugubrious dr. penny and amy veness a the sympathetic police matron miss aiken and john laurie a the hypocritical bible spout religious maniac and fanatic divine rabble rouser exhort the crowd to condemn madeleine and edward chapman a the worried dr. thompson and moyra fraser ( more than half a century later and 55 year to be exact and in dame judi dench and geoffrey palmer a time go by late 2005 episode a one of the regular and bumptious penny and a role since 1993 ) a a spirited highland dancer . irene browne a mrs. grant and george benson a the chemist and eva bartok a the girl and ivor barnard a mr. murdoch and anthony newley . a chemist assistant and wylie watson a huggins and and many and many more and bear in mind that from jean cadell onwards and these be all uncredited role in lean film . they join with the credit cast barbara everest and leslie bank and ivan desny and ann todd and norman wooland a the ever stolid and respectable william minnoch and madeleine would be husband to be and elizabeth sellars a the harried but loyal pretty housemaid and patricia raine and susan stranks a bessie and janet smith and madeleine young sibling and eugene decker a thuau the unsympathetic french consul and friend of langlier and and barry jones a the merciless prosecute counsel . last but not least be hammer film stalwart and a superb actor and the late andre morell ( husband of the late joan greenwood ) a the defend counsel and who give an impassioned and heart wrenching yet cool and logical defense of madeleine that have get to be one of the great courtroom speech in cinematic history . at least i think it be . the next time i bite into a pastry madeleine i will recall andre morell defense . all in all and a five star film rating for the actor performances alone .