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"!

There are a few films that simply defy description. In the early days of sound, every movie seemed to be an experiment of some type. Some have held up quite well, but most are only of interest to historians and buffs. A few are simply unbelievable. Golden Dawn, for example, leaves audiences totally speechless (that Oscar Hammerstein II contributed to this disaster is fascinating).For many years, the three MGM films that Cecil B. DeMille were rarely seen nor discussed. When they were finally unearthed, "Dynamite" turned out to be rather good, particularly since it had great performances by Charles Bickford and Kay Johnson. "The Squaw Man" has its champions, but not many; it was clearly a hand-me-down from a different era. It was DeMille's second MGM film that is remembered more than the other two. As other reviews state, it is one of the strangest movies made by any director. The fact that it was made by DeMille makes it truly a cult item.First of all, what made DeMille think that a movie about infidelity among the rich would bring in audiences in the first wave of the depression? Clearly this was supposed to be a drawing-room comedy that had a lot of music and singing. The script is woefully unfunny and dated even for 1930, with everyone trying too hard (Roland Young and Reginald Denny are just plain embarrassing). Johnson was a good actress, but I can't imagine any actress of the time pulling off this role. Modern day audiences scream with laughter when the first song is sung by Johnson's maid, as it comes from out of nowhere, and then Johnson 'talks' the rest of the song. Lillian Roth does the best she can, and actually adds some energy to a rather staid first-half. This first sequence is long and ultimately boring, being neither funny nor ultimately interesting.The second half is the party sequence on the zeppelin, something only DeMille could come up with. It's a pity that this was not released in color, as the costumes and overall set design are impressive even in black and white. This sequence is spectacular, surreal and beyond indulgent, and once again, depression audiences could not have taken comfort in the sheer waste of money that certainly shows on the screen. I would love to have seen Louis B. Mayer's face after seeing this movie.This is certainly worth a look once.

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.

I found Madam Satan a rather strange hybrid of melodrama and musical, with elements of sex farce thrown in for good measure. It is divided into two distinct halves: the first takes place at the home of Bob and Angela, and at Trixie's flat. Then, it's aboard a moored Zeppelin for the second half for the party and the bulk of the musical numbers. A few witty ripostes here and there, some occasionally charming musical numbers, but overall a rather tepid affair. I just don't think Reginald Denny and Kay Johnson have the onscreen charisma to do this story justice. Roland Young is always amusing with his befuddled manner, in a sort of warm up to his Topper movies, but with Denny and Johnson to play against, he becomes the most interesting character by default. But the film is interesting in its moralizing about straying husbands and a wife's duty to spice up the marriage, considering DeMille's own unsatisfactory marriage and philandering ways. Setting the second half aboard a Zeppelin with its sinking ship analogies probably seemed very modern at the time, and it is interesting to note that even six years before the Hindenburg disaster, a Hollywood movie exploits the inherent danger to such a mode of transportation. Perhaps with a really sparkling script by a master screenwriter such as Robert Riskin, and more luminous leads, this could have been a major delight instead of a trifle.