Excellent but underrated film

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The middle of the avenue rating is based upon my feeling that this deserves to be seen as a curious piece of bad taste of the early years of talking films, Cecil B. DeMille's attempt to do the kind of films he was famous for doing during the silent era. The first half of the film is a gruelish bore; Wife Kay Johnson attempts to keep her marriage intact even though husband Reginald Denny turning to the vampish Lillian Roth. Kay is basically a placid character, too sweet to hate and definitely too boring to have wifely feelings for. The film goes down the whole "A Fool There Was" frame of mind with Kay turning herself into the vampish Madam Satan to win Denny back from slutty Roth, showing up at the most outlandish party that any metropolis has seen. In fact, much of this sequence (A party aboard a zeppelin) looks like the silent film "Metropolis" and becomes one of the most outrageous examples of pretentious audaciousness, throwing in some antique looking musical numbers that had showed up in such early movie musicals as "Sunny Side Up" and "Just Imagine".Having seen the Lunts do this much better in "The Guardsman" and Norma Shearer changing her own image in the less creaky "Let Us Be Gay", it is surprising that Louis B. Mayer didn't see that this was a retread of stuff already on the production schedule. It's the perfect example of a need for "less is more", that the garishness of the sets and costumes (most likely recycled from some of the movie musicals which MGM had already made, and much better) make this a pictorial reference to what bad taste in 1930 would look at. The whole plot really makes no sense when you put the two halves together as one, and it at times seems like two totally different films. When the zeppelin explodes threatening to kill everybody aboard, I rolled my eyes so far back I could almost see into the past. Fortunately, DeMille would tone things down slightly, making his historical epics at Paramount so much better than what came out of this. Had it not made me laugh at it so much I surely would consider this one of the greatest bombs ever to flatten out the Culver City lot. This is where Leo almost roared "the end"!

a decent movie... some of the acting was a bit wooden. Reginald Denny as Bob was, well not very good. Not sure if he was there more for his voice and looks than his actual acting ability. The movie lagged a bit at the beginning as the story centered on Angela trying to spy on her husband Bob and his trysts with showgirl Trixie. There were some funny pieces and I did like some of Jimmy's one-liners. A bit strange in places. For instance what the heck was that whole dance number at the beginning of the ball scene? The masquerade scene as they introduced each character was very visual and the costumes on the each were amazing. And Kay Johnson looked stunning as Madam Satan. Though I could have done without her fake French accent It was interesting nonetheless , and I think overall a good effort. Though what did happen to Trixie at the end?

The second of three films that Cecil B. DeMille did for MGM and in which he made his sound debut was Madam Satan and a lot of reviewers have said this is a strange movie. Strange that it is a bit weird, but not so strange in that DeMille made many silent screen comedies that all kinds of interesting and decadent settings. A high society masquerade ball in a dirigible would be right in keeping with those films. But after Madam Satan he never made another like this.The plot of Madam Satan is kind of like The Guardsman with the shoe on the other foot. Wife Kay Johnson has discovered that her husband Reginald Denny has been stepping out with flapper girl Lillian Roth. She determines to win him back so if hot and sexy is what moves Reggie, Kay can be just as hot and sexy as Lil.Their friend society playboy Roland Young is throwing a big masquerade ball on a dirigible and Kay goes as the mysterious and masked Madam Satan. She definitely turns a lot of heads including Denny's. But during a thunderstorm, lightning strikes the big balloon and loosens it from its moorings. After that Madam Satan becomes a harbinger of the disaster movies of the Seventies. This is DeMille doing what he does best, big and gaudy spectacle. It's the main reason to see Madam Satan today.The film tanked big time at the box office. It might have done better just a year earlier before the Stock Market crash, but in September of 1930 when it was released audiences in the Depression just couldn't get worked up for a bunch of high society people in big trouble. Those that could afford a ticket price probably cheered as the great blimp went down.Still Madam Satan remains an interesting if dated piece of cinema.

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.