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Post by Grumpytoad on Feb 13, 2023 7:07:54 GMT
Madame Satan (1930)
If you are drawn to real oddities in the film world and have not seen this you are in for a treat. Outrageous. Over the top. At first it looks like an average pre-code. Then the plot morphs. The change will either irritate you to no end, or amaze you. Probably depending on your mood.
I almost turned it off myself but couldn't resist seeing it through. It resembled nothing I'd seen before or anything since.
UNIQUE.
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Post by Fading Fast on Feb 13, 2023 8:46:38 GMT
Madame Satan (1930) If you are drawn to real oddities in the film world and have not seen this you are in for a treat. Outrageous. Over the top. At first it looks like an average pre-code. Then the plot morphs. The change will either irritate you to no end, or amaze you. Probably depending on your mood. I almost turned it off myself but couldn't resist seeing it through. It resembled nothing I'd seen before or anything since. UNIQUE. My DVR is now set. Thank you for the heads up. |
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Post by sepiatone on Feb 13, 2023 16:22:23 GMT
I'll have to wait and see what TIME it comes on. Thanks for all the "info".  Sepiatone |
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Post by Grumpytoad on Feb 14, 2023 0:45:52 GMT
Fading Fast and sepiatone: If you watch sitting down, find a seatbelt and strap yourself in. It's a wild ride.
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Post by kims on Feb 18, 2023 20:00:21 GMT
Watched Madam Satan. Somewhere I read someone's opinion that anything DeMille could throw in the film he did. Good explanation for all the disparate features in the film. Stunned that DeMille did a musical-is this the only one? Incredible costumes many of which could show up on the Oscars red carpet this year. This was the first time I saw Lillian Roth. Some of the special effects worked. I'll watch it again if aired again, have a few friends over. theme of party: what we could do if we had a few million to throw away. Seriously, some of the camera work is excellent and as always DeMille was the master at staging large crowds.
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Post by I Love Melvin on Feb 19, 2023 0:34:42 GMT
Watched Madam Satan. Somewhere I read someone's opinion that anything DeMille could throw in the film he did. Good explanation for all the disparate features in the film. Stunned that DeMille did a musical-is this the only one? Incredible costumes many of which could show up on the Oscars red carpet this year. This was the first time I saw Lillian Roth. Some of the special effects worked. I'll watch it again if aired again, have a few friends over. theme of party: what we could do if we had a few million to throw away. Seriously, some of the camera work is excellent and as always DeMille was the master at staging large crowds. "Disparate features" is a kind way for you to say it. Yikes! As well as musical elements, there's a very drawn out first half which tries for extremely broad comedy, something else it seems DeMille should have stayed well away from. It was a surprise to me to find out he'd worked at MGM, but at least he got to work with Adrian, which accounts for the costuming you mentioned. I agree that some of the miniature effects were pretty darn good, but the idea that the cabin of a dirigible could house a party on that scale is ridiculous. Which begs the question of how seriously we were supposed to take it; the tone of the movie as a whole is all over the place, so it's unclear what kind of audience reaction DeMille was going for. So as a result I went to my default position of taking it all as "camp" (Still a thing? I can't think of a better term.) and it's not my first DeMille movie where that's happened. I think Grumpytoad nailed it with "over the top". I'm glad I saw it but there's simply no justification for an almost two-hour running time. If I ever watch it again I guarantee I'll be fast-forwarding through most of the first half. Here's the epic musical number for those who missed it. Keep in mind that this is all happening aboard a dirigible. Metropolis meets Gold Diggers of 1933. |
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Post by dianedebuda on Feb 19, 2023 20:25:34 GMT
Here's the epic musical number for those who missed it. Keep in mind that this is all happening aboard a dirigible. Metropolis meets Gold Diggers of 1933. |
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Post by kims on Feb 19, 2023 23:44:52 GMT
I remembered that I have DeMille's autobiography and looked up this film.
First some tidbits you should know. DeMille owned a huge compound like a nature preserve called Paradise. Men were invited, but no wives-just your current lover. DeMille had a multi-decade affair with one of the actresses he always used in his films and she went to Paradise, not his wife. DeMille's wife had some form of dementia late in life. He would read to her every evening he was home though she only knew him as that nice bald man. His affair started many years before his wife's debilitation, so not excusing his affair.
Before starting MADAM SATAN he's on a board or committee to establish the code for film content, which obviously did not include requiring a coherent story (apologies for snarky comment, well, maybe not). He also had many awards from religious organizations-they must not have known about the "other wife".
The basic theme of our film is the husband, Denny, strays with Roth. The wife, Johnson, decides to be sex object to get him back. In his book, DeMille says he made this film because it is not enough to obey the commandment. Sometimes you have to put the "fire" in the relationship.
Here come more snarky comments: Being the Victorian man he admitted to being, would he have gotten all those awards if he convinced his wife to display herself as another Theda Bara for instance. Did he ever tell his wife to get some "fire"? Did he ever try wearing only a fig leaf and doing a Bacchanalia dance?
End of snarky comments (for now).
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