Portrait in Black/Madame X (DVD, 2008, 2-Disc Set)

What's not to like about these two chick flicks that are lushly photographed and star the 1960s beauty Lana Turner! Both are Ross Hunter productions. The music is great too!

"Portrait in Black" is the weaker of the two. Lana plays Sheila Cabot, who is married to Matthew Cabot (Lloyd Nolan), an elderly shipping magnate, who has become an invalid. Tied to the house and bored, she falls in love with Dr. Rivera (Anthony Quinn). Together they plot Matthew's murder so that they can be together. You see, the doctor makes a "mistake" and injects Mr. Cabot with a bubble in his daily injection that keeps him alive. From there, their affair falls apart when they have to commit another murder and are worried to death about some mysterious letters that keep arriving. This one was made in 1960. Also visually stimulating is Sandra Dee as Matthew's teenage daughter Kathy from his first marriage and her boyfriend played by John Saxon.

"Madame X" is a far better movie and was made in 1966. It is a remake of two previous movies from 1929 and 1937, and most reviewers like this one the best. Lana plays Holly Anderson, who is married to an up and coming politician Clay Anderson, played by John Forsythe. They have a baby boy and all is well until Clay gets so involved in his career that Holly gets bored and is pursued by a family friend Phil(Ricardo Montalban). Eventually, John's mother, played by Constance Bennett, who is the real villain of the story, blackmails her and forces Holly to leave town without the baby and is presumed drowned at sea. The movie is the story of what happens to Holly as she winds up in Europe and Mexico and is the tragic story of her downward spiral. Take your hankies out please as she ends up in New York, is accused of murder, and is defended unknowingly by her son.

Both of these movies are so beautifully photographed that you will want to see them over and over. They are just eye candy that I can't resist. Lana is good as an unwilling villain in the first and as a victim in the second. These movies have similar plots since they both derive their plots from Lana's extra-marital affairs, and both have her as a bored mother of a small child.

Neither won any awards.

This dvd also provides subtitles for both movies, but there are no special features. Also there are no scene chapter selections in either movie. The trailer that was shown in theatres is provided for both, however.