The False Madonna
Cast & Crew
Stuart Walker
Kay Francis
William Boyd
Conway Tearle
John Breeden
Marjorie Gateson
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Dr. Ed Marcy, Tina, Rose and Peter Angel are a confidence gang that was just thrown out of a hotel for cheating at cards. On the train, Marcy is called upon to treat a dying woman. He finds out that she is traveling to New York to see her seventeen-year-old son, Phillip Bellows, whom she has not seen for fourteen years, and who inherited $10,000,000 from her estranged husband. The woman dies, and Marcy takes her photographs and necklace, and convinces Tina to impersonate her and extort money from Phillip. Tina, who has been wanting to quit the gang, dresses as poorly as she can and meets Phillip at the Long Island, New York estate, where he is under the guardianship of Grant Arnold. She discovers that Phillip is blind from an airplane accident, and very weak. He is elated to finally reunite with his mother, and because he is unaware that Tina is an imposter, urges her to stay. Tina agrees to stay, and slowly she develops a true motherly love for Phillip. When he becomes aware of her poverty, he asks Grant to write her a check for $50,000, but unknown to Phillip, Grant tears it up, for he recognizes Tina for who she really is. He warns her that Phillip must be protected from shock, as he is dying. Tina avoids a call from Marcy, so he visits her personally, and threatens to reveal her identity to Phillip if she does not comply with his demand for money. That night, however, Phillip dies and Tina is crushed. Marcy appears the next day demanding money, but Tina has none to give and never intended to get it for him. Grant tells Marcy that he has called the police, and informs him that he found out that Marcy was disbarred from practicing medicine and is wanted by the police. Marcy escapes and Tina is relieved to have that part of her life over, now that she has learned the joy of giving. Grant offers her a home with him and she accepts with an embrace.
Director
Stuart Walker
Cast
Kay Francis
William Boyd
Conway Tearle
John Breeden
Marjorie Gateson
Chas. D. Brown
Julia Swayne Gordon
Crew
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
This film was chosen for the grand opening of the Paramount Theater in Oakland CA on 16 December 1931, featuring a gala premiere attended by Kay Francis and costars Tearle, Brown, Gateson, and Boyd.
