Madam Satan

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Madam Satan
Directed by Cecil B. DeMille
Produced by Cecil B. DeMille
Written by Jeanie Macpherson
Gladys Unger
Starring Kay Johnson
Reginald Denny
Lillian Roth
Music by Clifford Grey
Elsie Janis
Herbert Stothart (music: "Ballet Mecanique" - title uncredited)
Cinematography Harold Rosson
Distributed by MGM
Release date(s) 1930
Running time 116 mins
Country United States
Language English
IMDb profile

Madam Satan (1930) was produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille as a musical drama for MGM, one of the few films DeMille made for the Culver City studio. It has been called one of the oddest films DeMille made and certainly one of the oddest films MGM made during its "golden age."[1]

Contents

[edit] Production

The zeppelin sequences were originally filmed in Technicolor.[2] 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 "Madam Satan" no longer exist.

[edit] Plot

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. At the climax, a thunderstorm causes the dirigible to break lose and everyone is forced to parachute into the reservoir in Central Park.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Crew

[edit] Preservation

The original black and white release print is extant. The original Technicolor sequences exist only in this black and white copy.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Robert Osborne, introduction to telecast on Turner Classic Movies
  2. ^ Los Angeles Times: Feb 21, 1930. p. A10

[edit] External links


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