Although Cecil B DeMille is associated with ponderous, pompous serious epics, as he showed with this, he had a sense of humour and could make a fun filled light comedy. This is a great little - well big spectacular - romantic comedy.
DeMille fans didn't like this because it wasn't what they expected from him. A lot of modern reviewers consider this over-blown and just weird but I honestly thought it was genuinely witty and entertaining. The majority of pictures from 1929/1930 are pretty awful - they're stagey, static affairs but this is clearly made by someone who knew exactly how to make a talking picture. If you're familiar with films from this time of transition, you'll find this a breed apart.
Besides The Marx Brothers and of course Laurel and Hardy, It takes an awful lot for me to find something so old funny but this actually did make me laugh. It's neither full of pitiful puerile slapstick and childish humour nor is it so sophisticated such as DINNER AT EIGHT that its description as being a comedy is baffling. Madam Satan is a mature, grown up amusing and eventually exciting comedy. It's not just some interesting old curio - it's something which can still be enjoyed.
The story however is most definitely not one which could be made today. We have a husband who tells his wife that she's boring and he doesn't try to hide the fact he has a young floozy mistress. So she hatches a plan to win him back, resulting at one point in him being outraged that she might have been seeing another man. That he is a blatant adulterer is seen as completely normal and actually celebrated by his friends. But that the slightest hint that she may have innocently met another man is viewed as utterly outrageous and disgracefully scandalous. Sounds like something written by man? No, this was written by women - we certainly all thought very differently back then!
The plot could only exist in a comedy, it's absolutely ridiculous but in the capable hands of Mr DeMille it all seems perfectly feasible when you're watching it - except if you think about it - but because it's so enthralling at the time, you don't have a moment to think about what nonsense it actually is.
Besides the archaic attitudes, some of the acting is a little 'silent movie' at times. Reginald Denny's acting style doesn't quite work, his over-theatrical delivery is like a mix between Robin Hood and Rick Mayall's Flasheart in BLACK ADDER. Fortunately he's tempered by the wonderfully natural persona of the ever witty and charming Roland Young. The floozy is Lillian Roth who's very amusing as an exaggerated caricature of herself. The genius piece of casting however is Kay Johnson.
The first part of the film is Miss Johnson introducing herself to us. We get to know her perfectly, she's a fairly plain looking but pleasant upper class sophisticated society lady. We understand that she's very refined, slightly repressed, prim and proper and above all respectable. When she subsequently becomes Madam Satan in that Rita Ora outfit we the audience are amazed, shocked and ecstatic for her. Because we know her so well, this transformation is incredibly sexy. We're with her cheering her on all the way and a hundred percent on her side - we're even hoping she wins back her pig of a husband!
Although it's a bit 1920s at times, if you love classic early thirties movies you'll like this. It feels newer than something that was made at the birth of the talkies.
DeMille fans didn't like this because it wasn't what they expected from him. A lot of modern reviewers consider this over-blown and just weird but I honestly thought it was genuinely witty and entertaining. The majority of pictures from 1929/1930 are pretty awful - they're stagey, static affairs but this is clearly made by someone who knew exactly how to make a talking picture. If you're familiar with films from this time of transition, you'll find this a breed apart.
Besides The Marx Brothers and of course Laurel and Hardy, It takes an awful lot for me to find something so old funny but this actually did make me laugh. It's neither full of pitiful puerile slapstick and childish humour nor is it so sophisticated such as DINNER AT EIGHT that its description as being a comedy is baffling. Madam Satan is a mature, grown up amusing and eventually exciting comedy. It's not just some interesting old curio - it's something which can still be enjoyed.
The story however is most definitely not one which could be made today. We have a husband who tells his wife that she's boring and he doesn't try to hide the fact he has a young floozy mistress. So she hatches a plan to win him back, resulting at one point in him being outraged that she might have been seeing another man. That he is a blatant adulterer is seen as completely normal and actually celebrated by his friends. But that the slightest hint that she may have innocently met another man is viewed as utterly outrageous and disgracefully scandalous. Sounds like something written by man? No, this was written by women - we certainly all thought very differently back then!
The plot could only exist in a comedy, it's absolutely ridiculous but in the capable hands of Mr DeMille it all seems perfectly feasible when you're watching it - except if you think about it - but because it's so enthralling at the time, you don't have a moment to think about what nonsense it actually is.
Besides the archaic attitudes, some of the acting is a little 'silent movie' at times. Reginald Denny's acting style doesn't quite work, his over-theatrical delivery is like a mix between Robin Hood and Rick Mayall's Flasheart in BLACK ADDER. Fortunately he's tempered by the wonderfully natural persona of the ever witty and charming Roland Young. The floozy is Lillian Roth who's very amusing as an exaggerated caricature of herself. The genius piece of casting however is Kay Johnson.
The first part of the film is Miss Johnson introducing herself to us. We get to know her perfectly, she's a fairly plain looking but pleasant upper class sophisticated society lady. We understand that she's very refined, slightly repressed, prim and proper and above all respectable. When she subsequently becomes Madam Satan in that Rita Ora outfit we the audience are amazed, shocked and ecstatic for her. Because we know her so well, this transformation is incredibly sexy. We're with her cheering her on all the way and a hundred percent on her side - we're even hoping she wins back her pig of a husband!
Although it's a bit 1920s at times, if you love classic early thirties movies you'll like this. It feels newer than something that was made at the birth of the talkies.