Madam Satan (1930)

Sorry, this movie sucks

Absolutely brilliant

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Here is a film which defies catagorizing. It is, at once, a bedroom farce, a musical, a comedy and a disaster film. The musical end of it is pretty good, with everyone using their own voices. Kay Johnson, in the name role, does a pretty good job as the good woman wronged by an oaf of a husband. The legendary Lillian Roth is super as Trixie. She hits just the right note as the tough-as-nails showgirl who has designs on Reginald Denny. The film really picks up when we get to the masquerade party aboard the Zepplin. This was reportedly filmed in two-color Technicolor, but released in black-and-white, presumably due to the fact that musical pictures had gone out of favor by late 1930, and MGM was trying to cut it's potential losses by not paying up to print the sequences in color. The Adrian costumes are positively jaw-dropping. The drag queens could get some great ideas by studying these. (The gorgeous creation worn by Kay Johnson is in the Museum of Modern Art in NY). In all, this is a film which, despite it's obvious flaws, makes for an unforgettable viewing experience. It is a unique film even by the standards of the great DeMille.

There are some directors who failed and faltered in the sound revolution. There are others who made a success of the new form and were even revitalised by it. Cecil B. DeMille is perhaps in a league of his own, who with Madam Satan created a work suffering from all the awkwardness of the worst early talkies, and yet one gloriously weird and wonderful in a way that only his pictures could be.It's true; Madam Satan is incredibly stilted and static in its construction. I'm not referring to the anchored camera – DeMille didn't really rely on camera movement anyway. But like many early talkies it places too much importance on dialogue, and is structured like a stage play with very long and very wordy scenes. The sound recording is appalling and sometimes we can hear dialogue when characters are in long shot, which seems very unnatural. Like most early musicals the numbers are spoiled by indecipherable operatic vocals.But never fear! Madam Satan was scripted by the delightfully barmy Jeanie Macpherson. What's more we find DeMille, ever with his finger to the wind, putting his own grandiose and unashamedly smutty spin on the bedroom-comedy musical genre that was making such a splash at his old stomping ground, Paramount. The result is one of the most unintentionally surreal pictures I have ever seen. We begin with some Lubitsch-esque bed-hopping comedy scenes, sprinkled with a few songs. We then decamp to a fancy-dress party on board a Zeppelin (why not?) for an extended musical sequence, which looks like the result of Fritz Lang hiring Busby Berkeley to direct a scene in Metropolis. Just as the characters' passions start to run away with them, it suddenly turns into a disaster movie – a bit of a DeMille-Macpherson trademark, that.Madam Satan is also special in that it is perhaps the only DeMille comedy which is actually rather funny. The occasionally witty dialogue was probably Gladys Unger's contribution to the screenplay, but what really makes it work is the excellent comic timing and rapport of Reginald Denny, Lillian Roth and Roland Young. In comparison to these three very satisfying cast members, leading lady Kay Johnson seems rather bland, and has "poor-man's Jeanette MacDonald" written all over her.Most of the songs are by Herbert Stothart, who would soon rise to become MGM's in-house composer. Musically they are fairly forgettable, although it's interesting how they are used to define character and drive the plot forward in a way that later became standard but was by no means a given in the very earliest musicals. DeMille, always a very rhythmic director, shoots some great dance numbers, and shows great musical sensitivity for the "All I Know Is You're in My Arms" number, tracking along with the silhouetted dancers, and putting in a wonderful slow tilt when they are still, corresponding to the swell in the music. It's a shame this was his only musical.Madam Satan has got to be one of the weirdest film experiences I have ever had, and after my first viewing I wasn't quite sure if perhaps I dreamt it. It was (sniff) the last significant contribution to a DeMille picture by Jeanie Macpherson, and while all his work after this was filled with adventure and spectacle, they were missing a certain something that only she could bring. Madam Satan is however an appropriately daffy swansong – a boozy, art-deco, all-talking, all-dancing concotion that is worth watching for its sheer oddness.

Bob (Reginald Deny) and Angela (Kay Johnson) are married...but not happily. Bob is cheating on his wife with Trixie (Lillian Roth). But Angela is determined to get him back. At a costume party held on a zeppelin (don't ask) she comes in disguise as Madam Satan to win him back. The plot is conventional at first. It starts off as a very poor, unfunny comedy drama with Angela discovering Bob is cheating and confronting Trixie. This is the entire first hour--chock full on horrendous dialogue, bad acting (Roth SCREAMS every line) and some of the worst comedy ever captured on film.I was ready to turn it off when the costume party started. It starts off with some VERY elaborate costumes (I wish this film had been made in color) and a strange musical number. Then Angela shows up as Satan and we get MORE wooden dialogue and silly lines between her Bob. It all ends with the zeppelin being hit by lightning and everybody having to parachute out.Sounds fun--but it's not. There are musical numbers sprinkled throughout the film--and all of them are bad. And this party aboard a zeppelin??? Is that a joke or are we supposed to take it seriously? But, most of all, this movie is just plain dull. The few good points are: a good performance by Johnson; Deny isn't bad either and he's tall, handsome and muscular; the costumes ARE incredible; the special effects aren't bad and this is one of the few films Lillian Roth made (too bad she's lousy).Worth seeing for film buffs--but nobody else.

Here's a film with little redeeming social value-ok, the theme true love triumphs is there-but with a lavish party scene on board a huge zeppelin that is to be enjoyed on its own. The costumes are amazing and the set is elaborate. This is a film from the days when Hollywood made pictures as a feast for the eyes rather than as a main course for the mind. Certainly worth a look for any film buff. A film that should be on DVD as a historical artifact of 30's Hollywood and DeMille's ability to stage spectacles anywhere. The premise is almost worthy of Fitzgerald in that the idle rich are certainly idle and life is seen is an opportunity for wine women and song. All three are in this picture but don't hold out much for the song.