The Sin of Madelon Claudet

The Sin of Madelon Claudet is a 1931 American PreCode drama film directed by Edgar Selwyn and starring Helen Hayes. The screenplay by Charles MacArthur and Ben Hecht was adapted from the play The Lullaby by Edward Knoblock. It tells the story of a wrongly imprisoned woman who turns to theft and prostitution in order to support her son.

Unbeknownst to him, Madelon gives birth to a son. When her lover does not come back, her father Russ Powell gets her to agree to marry Hubert Alan Hale, a farmer. However, when she refuses to give up her illegitimate son, Hubert and her father abandon her. She becomes the mistress of an older acquaintance, Count Carlo Boretti Lewis Stone, while her friends Rosalie Marie Prevost and Victor Lebeau Cliff Edwards care for the boy. After a while, Carlo proposes marriage and Madelon accepts. However, when they go out to celebrate, he is arrested as a jewel thief. He manages to commit suicide, but Madelon is sentenced to ten years in prison as his accomplice, even though she is innocent.When she finally is released in 1919, she goes to see her teenage son Lawrence, now living at a state boarding school. A conversation with the schools doctor proves crucial. Dr. Dulac reveals that because his father was a criminal, he cannot get better work elsewhere. Determined not to become a similar burden to her own child, she tells her son his mother is dead. Madelon is determined to finance Lawrences medical education, but with the end of World War I, millions of Frenchmen are released from the army and jobs are scarce. When a man mistakes her for a prostitute, she takes up the profession. As she ages and loses her looks, she is forced to steal as well, but finally, her goal is realized, and Lawrence receives his degree. ........

Source: Wikipedia