The sin of Madelon Claudet 1931 - The definitive sacrificing mother saga of the 30's

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0022386/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
IMDB rating: 6,8

Director: Edgar Selwyn
Main Cast: Helen Hayes, Lewis Stone, Neil Hamilton, Cliff Edwards, Jean Hersholt, Marie Prevost, Robert Young, Karen Morley, Charles Winninger

"Legend has it that Helen Hayes was somewhat embarrassed at winning an Oscar for a work as blatantly manipulative and melodramatic as The Sin of Madelon Claudet, but Hayes' performance overcomes the limitations of the material and, more importantly, even manages to elevate that material. Hayes is simply stunning, investing every moment of this sudsy tearjerker with an honesty that makes even its most stilted dialogue come alive. Her naïveté in the early segment of the film is endearing rather than cloying; it feels real rather than manufactured and, therefore, makes all the more powerful her strongly ambivalent feelings at the birth of her son. Hayes handles the transformations into each of the stages of her life with remarkable facility. In each stage she is practically a different character, yet the audience never once questions that they are all the same woman - nor questions whether one woman could exhibit so many different facets. While it's hard to see past the star performance, it must be noted that she gets some very solid support from the rest of the cast, especially from a wonderful Lewis Stone and an engaging Marie Prevost." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/the-sin-of-madelon-claudet-v44814/

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Turn back the clock 1933 - A charming fantasy comedy

Lee Tracy and Mae Clarke

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024704/
IMDB rating: 7,0

Director: Edgar Selwyn
Main Cast: Lee Tracy, Mae Clarke, Otto Kruger, Peggy Shannon

"Directed by Edgar Selwyn, who co-wrote the screenplay with Ben Hecht (Underworld 1927 & The Scoundrel 1935), the story is a very clever exploration into the 'what if', as in 'what if I made a different choice at a pivotal moment in my life' and what would have happened. It stars Lee Tracy (The Best Man 1964) as the man who gets the opportunity to 'see' how his life may have been had he chosen to marry one girl vs. another in his youth.
Selwyn and Hecht delivered a small masterpiece in 1933 that might seem familiar now to later generations. Everyone from Frank Capra to Rod Serling has used the same theme successfully - the lesson to be learned: you can't change the past without consequences, so maybe its better just to be happy with what you have.
A truly imaginative fantasy, Turn Back the Clock is acted with conviction by everybody from star Lee Tracy to a trio of bit players (in the wedding sequence) who later called themselves The Three Stooges." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/turn-back-the-clock-v114664

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