Madam Satan
Encyclopedia
Madam Satan is a dramatic pre-Code musical film produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille
for MGM
, one of the few DeMille made for the Culver City studio. It has been called one of the oddest films DeMille made and certainly one of the oddest MGM made during its "golden age."
Angela Brooks (Kay Johnson
) discovers that her husband Bob (Reginald Denny
) is cheating on her with another woman, Trixie (Lillian Roth
).
Learning that her husband intends to go to a costume ball on a moored dirigible in New York City
, Angela disguises herself and attempts to "vamp" her husband. During the ball there are a number of exotic musical numbers. A thunderstorm causes the dirigible to break apart and everyone is forced to parachute into the reservoir in Central Park.
. The film, however, was released in black and white due to the backlash against musicals which made the extra expense of color superfluous. The same thing occurred with another MGM musical, Children of Pleasure
(1930), whose color sequences were similarly released in black and white. The original color sequences to Madame Satan no longer exist.
DeMille originally set out to contract writer Dorothy Parker
to augment Jeanie MacPherson's original script. Learning that she was living in France, and that this would make collaboration too difficult, de Mille then sought vaudeville writer Elsie Janis
. She agreed to work on the project, but left amicably on March 24, 1930, due to creative difference; she did not like the direction the script was going.
Hollywood censor Jason Joy worked with DeMille to minimize censorable elements in the potentially objectionable script. "They agreed to put less revealing costumes on the girls at the masquerade party. Body stockings, larger fig leaves and translucent fishnets took care of most of the nudity
. The drinking scenes were toned down...", Angela's "Madam Satan" costume was also made less revealing. An entire scene where Angela confronts Trixie, and Trixie is shown wearing a sheer nightgown because she "has nothing to hide" was deleted. The collaboration ended up being agreeable to both men. The notoriously finicky Ohio censor board passed the film without cuts.
Thomas Meighan
was sought for the lead role of Bob Brooks before Reginald Denny was cast on January 9, 1930. DeMille wanted Gloria Swanson
for the role of Angela, but her lover and business partner Joseph P. Kennedy reportedly persuaded her not to accept the role. Swanson was still trying to salvage her disastrous venture Queen Kelly
and was advised not to appear in films not made by her own production company. Originally scheduled to shoot for seventy days, it wrapped at a mere fifty-nine, commencing on March 3 and ending on May 2, 1930. It was the most expensive film made by Metro in 1930, and would remain its most expensive musical until The Merry Widow
.
The film was released at a time when American theaters had become saturated with musicals, and as a result it was a financial failure, eventually showing a net loss of $390,000. Today the film is regarded as an oddity, amusing, and an exercise in DeMille using "too much of everything just because he can."
The original Technicolor sequences exist only in black-and-white. The movie is available on VHS and, as of November 9, 2010, on DVD via the Warner Archive Collection
made-to-order process.
, who can be seen in the film, was hired to play the music in this film. He recorded two numbers from the film for Brunswick Records
. Live And Love Today and This Is Love were released on Brunswick's popular ten inch series as record number 4804.
Cecil B. DeMille
Cecil Blount DeMille was an American film director and Academy Award-winning film producer in both silent and sound films. He was renowned for the flamboyance and showmanship of his movies...
for MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
, one of the few DeMille made for the Culver City studio. It has been called one of the oddest films DeMille made and certainly one of the oddest MGM made during its "golden age."
Plot
Thematically, this marked an attempt by DeMille to return to the boudoir comedies genre that had brought him financial success about ten years earlier.Angela Brooks (Kay Johnson
Kay Johnson
Kay Johnson was an American actress who performed on the stage and in Hollywood films.-Family:Catherine Townsend Johnson was born in Mount Vernon, New York in 1904. Her father was architect Thomas R. Johnson who designed several noteworthy buildings in the New York City...
) discovers that her husband Bob (Reginald Denny
Reginald Denny (actor)
Reginald Denny was an English stage, film, and television actor. He was once an amateur boxing champion of Great Britain.-Acting career:...
) is cheating on her with another woman, Trixie (Lillian Roth
Lillian Roth
Lillian Roth was an American singer and actress.-Early life:Roth was born in Boston, Massachusetts. She was only 6 years old when her mother took her to Educational Pictures, where she became the company's trademark, symbolized by a living statue holding a lamp of knowledge...
).
Learning that her husband intends to go to a costume ball on a moored dirigible in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, Angela disguises herself and attempts to "vamp" her husband. During the ball there are a number of exotic musical numbers. A thunderstorm causes the dirigible to break apart and everyone is forced to parachute into the reservoir in Central Park.
Cast
- Kay JohnsonKay JohnsonKay Johnson was an American actress who performed on the stage and in Hollywood films.-Family:Catherine Townsend Johnson was born in Mount Vernon, New York in 1904. Her father was architect Thomas R. Johnson who designed several noteworthy buildings in the New York City...
as Angela Brooks/Madam Satan - Reginald DennyReginald DennyReginald Denny may refer to:*Reginald Denny *Reginald Oliver Denny, survivor of attack during 1992 Los Angeles riots...
as Bob Brooks - Lillian RothLillian RothLillian Roth was an American singer and actress.-Early life:Roth was born in Boston, Massachusetts. She was only 6 years old when her mother took her to Educational Pictures, where she became the company's trademark, symbolized by a living statue holding a lamp of knowledge...
as Trixie - Roland YoungRoland YoungRoland Young was an English actor.-Early life and career:Born in London, England, Young was educated at Sherborne School, Dorset and the University of London before being accepted into Royal Academy of Dramatic Art...
as Jimmy Wade - Elsa PetersonElsa PetersonElsa Peterson , was an American actress. She appeared in 25 films between 1930 and 1957.She died in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.-External links:...
as Martha - Jack King as Herman
- Eddie Prinz as Riff
- Boyd IrwinBoyd IrwinBoyd Irwin was an English film actor. He appeared in 135 films between 1915 and 1948.He was born in Brighton, East Sussex and died in Los Angeles, California.-Selected filmography:* The Fatal Sign...
as Zeppelin Captain - Wallace MacDonaldWallace MacDonaldWallace Archibald MacDonald was an Canadian silent film actor, and film producer....
as Zeppelin First Mate - Tyler BrookeTyler BrookeTyler Brooke, real name Victor Hugo de Bierre, was an American film actor. He appeared in 92 films between 1915 and 1943....
as Romeo - Ynez SeaburyYnez SeaburyYnez Seabury was an American actress of the stage, silent and early sound film era.-Film and Stage Actress:...
as Babo - Theodore KosloffTheodore KosloffTheodore Kosloff was a Russian-born ballet dancer, choreographer and film and stage actor. He was occasionally credited as Theodor Kosloff.-Career:...
as Electricity
- Julanne JohnstonJulanne JohnstonJulanne Johnston was an American silent film actress born in Indianapolis, Indiana.Johnston is known for being on William Randolph Hearst's yacht The Oneida during the weekend in November 1924 when film director and producer Thomas Ince later died of heart failure...
as Miss Conning Tower - Martha SleeperMartha SleeperMartha Sleeper was a silent film comedienne of the 1920s and Broadway actress of the 1940s.-Family:Martha Sleeper reputedly spent her first years on a sheep ranch in Wyoming. Her father, William B. Sleeper, was an official of the Keith-Albee-Orpheum vaudeville circuit in New York City...
as Fish Girl - Doris McMahon as Water
- Vera Marshe as Call Of The Wild
- Albert Conti as Empire Officer
- Earl Askam as Pirate
- Rina De Liguoro as Spain Girl
- Katharine Irving as Spider Girl
- Lotus ThompsonLotus ThompsonLotus Thompson was an Australian actress of silent and sound films. She was born in Sydney on 22 August 1906. Her film career began in 1921 and ended in 1949...
as Eve - Aileen Ransom as Victory
- Abe LymanAbe LymanAbe Lyman was a popular bandleader from the 1920s to the 1940s. He made recordings, appeared in films and provided the music for numerous radio shows, including Your Hit Parade....
as Zeppelin Band Leader
Songs
- Live And Love Today Sung by Elsa Petersen and Kay Johnson
- All I Know Is You're in My Arms Sung by Reginald Denny and Kay Johnson
- This Is Love Sung by Reginald Denny and Kay Johnson (Missing from extant prints; see below)
- Meet Madam Sung by Kay Johnson
- Low Down Sung by Lillian Roth
- The Cat Walk Sung by Wallace MacDonald
Production
The zeppelin sequences were originally filmed in TechnicolorTechnicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
. The film, however, was released in black and white due to the backlash against musicals which made the extra expense of color superfluous. The same thing occurred with another MGM musical, Children of Pleasure
Children of Pleasure
Children of Pleasure is a 1930 American MGM musical comedy film directed by Harry Beaumont originally released with Technicolor sequences. It was adapted from Crane Wilbur's stage success of 1929 The Song Writer.-Plot:...
(1930), whose color sequences were similarly released in black and white. The original color sequences to Madame Satan no longer exist.
DeMille originally set out to contract writer Dorothy Parker
Dorothy Parker
Dorothy Parker was an American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist, best known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th century urban foibles....
to augment Jeanie MacPherson's original script. Learning that she was living in France, and that this would make collaboration too difficult, de Mille then sought vaudeville writer Elsie Janis
Elsie Janis
Elsie Janis was an American singer, songwriter, actress, and screenwriter. Entertaining the troops during World War I immortalized her as "the sweetheart of the AEF" .-Early career:...
. She agreed to work on the project, but left amicably on March 24, 1930, due to creative difference; she did not like the direction the script was going.
Hollywood censor Jason Joy worked with DeMille to minimize censorable elements in the potentially objectionable script. "They agreed to put less revealing costumes on the girls at the masquerade party. Body stockings, larger fig leaves and translucent fishnets took care of most of the nudity
Nudity in film
Nudity in film is any presentation in motion pictures of people while naked or wearing less clothing than contemporary norms consider modest. Many actors and actresses have appeared nude, or exposing parts of their bodies or dressed in ways considered provocative by contemporary standards at some...
. The drinking scenes were toned down...", Angela's "Madam Satan" costume was also made less revealing. An entire scene where Angela confronts Trixie, and Trixie is shown wearing a sheer nightgown because she "has nothing to hide" was deleted. The collaboration ended up being agreeable to both men. The notoriously finicky Ohio censor board passed the film without cuts.
Thomas Meighan
Thomas Meighan
Thomas Meighan was an American actor of silent films and early talkies. He played several leading man roles opposite popular actresses of the day including Mary Pickford and Gloria Swanson. At one point he commanded $10,000 a week....
was sought for the lead role of Bob Brooks before Reginald Denny was cast on January 9, 1930. DeMille wanted Gloria Swanson
Gloria Swanson
Gloria Swanson was an American actress, singer and producer. She was one of the most prominent stars during the silent film era as both an actress and a fashion icon, especially under the direction of Cecil B. DeMille, made dozens of silents and was nominated for the first Academy Award in the...
for the role of Angela, but her lover and business partner Joseph P. Kennedy reportedly persuaded her not to accept the role. Swanson was still trying to salvage her disastrous venture Queen Kelly
Queen Kelly
Queen Kelly is the title of an American silent film produced in 1928-29 and released in 1929, originally by United Artists. The film was directed by Erich von Stroheim, starred Gloria Swanson in the title role, and also starred Walter Byron and Seena Owen. It was produced by Joseph P...
and was advised not to appear in films not made by her own production company. Originally scheduled to shoot for seventy days, it wrapped at a mere fifty-nine, commencing on March 3 and ending on May 2, 1930. It was the most expensive film made by Metro in 1930, and would remain its most expensive musical until The Merry Widow
The Merry Widow (1934 film)
The Merry Widow is a 1934 film adaptation of the operetta of the same name by Franz Lehár. It was directed by Ernst Lubitsch and starred Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald...
.
The film was released at a time when American theaters had become saturated with musicals, and as a result it was a financial failure, eventually showing a net loss of $390,000. Today the film is regarded as an oddity, amusing, and an exercise in DeMille using "too much of everything just because he can."
Preservation
The original black-and-white release print is extant but seems to be missing at least one musical number. According to film reviews of 1930, Kay Johnson and Reginald Denny originally sang This Is Love in the movie, but in the currently circulating print this song is only heard playing in the background during a scene in which Kay Johnson is speaking to her maid.The original Technicolor sequences exist only in black-and-white. The movie is available on VHS and, as of November 9, 2010, on DVD via the Warner Archive Collection
Warner Archive Collection
The Warner Archive Collection is a manufactured-on-demand DVD series. It was started by Warner Home Video on March 23, 2009 with the intention of putting previously unreleased back catalog films on DVD for the first time ever. Using recordable DVDs, they custom burn discs for each order rather than...
made-to-order process.
Soundtrack
Abe LymanAbe Lyman
Abe Lyman was a popular bandleader from the 1920s to the 1940s. He made recordings, appeared in films and provided the music for numerous radio shows, including Your Hit Parade....
, who can be seen in the film, was hired to play the music in this film. He recorded two numbers from the film for Brunswick Records
Brunswick Records
Brunswick Records is a United States based record label. The label is currently distributed by E1 Entertainment.-From 1916:Records under the "Brunswick" label were first produced by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company...
. Live And Love Today and This Is Love were released on Brunswick's popular ten inch series as record number 4804.