When, in 1930, the master movie producer Cecil B. DeMille was instructed by MGM to make his first (and only) musical, his was a typically dramatic response. For there is no film quite like Madam Satan!
Starring Kay Johnson (as the eponymous anti-heroine), Reginald Denny (as her alter-ego's errant husband) and Lillian Roth (as the vamp who steals him), this is a remarkable extravaganza indeed. Even the plot description on IMDB is camp:
Angela and Bob Brooks are an upper class couple. Unfortunately, Bob is an unfaithful husband. But Angela has a plan to win back her husband's affections. An elaborate masquerade ball is to be held aboard a magnificent dirigible. Angela will attend and disguise herself as a mysterious devil woman. Hidden behind her mask, and wrapped in an alluring gown, Angela as the devil woman will to try to seduce her unknowing husband and teach him a lesson.
Art Deco stylised to the extreme, never quite knowing whether it was meant to be farce, epic or Busby Berkeley-esque spectacle, Madam Satan nevertheless has gained a place in the camp "cult movie" pantheon - it features a masked ball, terrible acting, glittering gowns, and (badly) choreographed dance routines on board a dirigible for heaven's sake!
Critic Richard Barrios sums it us thus:
"The second half of Madam Satan is one of the great examples of weirdness in American pop cinema: a twilight zone wherein musical comedy meets disaster epic, all designed and costumed (by Adrian) with the farthest out Art Deco affectation."
Remarkable...
Read more about Madam Satan
Looks like a film for me then! Thanks for this very fun post!
ReplyDeleteI love art deco (I deal in it) styling and I love films...I think I need this one in my collection!
ReplyDeleteI think everyone needs a dose of "Madam Satan"! Jx
DeleteOne of the films that got the Hayes code of censorship rolling in Hollywood.
ReplyDeleteOutrageous for the time in 1930 and the strange thing is DeMille became one of the codes chief proponents in Hollywood. Like many film directors, his politics became increasingly reactionary much to Hollywood's detriment. -Rj
DeMille would have sold his own grandmother down the river to preserve his own career. Jx
Delete