In “Why Motion Pictures Cost So Much,” Thalberg discusses the initial reception of melodrama The Sin of Madelon Claudet (dir. Selwyn, 1931). Noting that it had “brought tears to the eyes of every man and woman in the studio” (1933: 10) during production, Thalberg wryly recounts the audience’s contrasting response at a preview:

Thalberg goes on to explain that in order to redeem the film, as well as the nascent screen career of theatrical star Helen Hayes, “we simply had to spend whatever might be needed to make that picture right” (11). Though Thalberg does not explicitly say that retakes were the solution to Madelon Claudet's problems, his signature strategy of reshooting key scenes, introducing new material, or revising the screenplay following unsuccessful previews—no matter the cost—suggests that they were the greatest protective measure he could grant the film. Framed within the article's broader context (or as argued in the previous chapter, pretext) of discussing industry costs for studios and spectators, this anecdote functions as a case study of how investing time and money in films could reap aesthetic and commercial benefits. The film made $145,000 at the box office, and Hayes won the Academy Award for Best Actress (Marx 1975: 172, 259).

However emblematic, the experience above was only one of a number of times that Thalberg used previews and subsequent retakes in order to “make [a] picture right” (1933: 11). Samuel Marx would note that Thalberg's focus on previewing films emerged from an understanding that “a paying audience provided clues to strong points and weaknesses” where the “studio showings”—as noted in Thalberg's account above—could generate a misleading and complacent response (1975: 136).