IOU: Madam Satan (1930)

Person I owe: Jonas of All Talking! All Singing! All Dancing!. I owe Jonas more than just this movie. I owe him a lot. He has sent me lots of great early talkies and silent films (more early talkies because that's his specialty). It's been hard to find the time to watch all those wonderful treasures. Jonas sent me a copy of Madam Satan (1930) long before Warner Archive made it available on DVD. And I'm ashamed that I only got to it now. What a fantastic film. Thank you Jonas!

Review: Madam Satan (1930) is one of the most entertaining Pre-Code movies I have ever seen.  It's both fun and bizarre. It stars Kay Johnson as Angela Brooks, the wife of Bob Brooks (Reginald Denny). Bob and his best friend Jimmy (Roland Young) go out regularly to paint the town red. Bob thinks that Angela is just blah now that she's his wife. And it turns out Bob is cheating on Angela with an entertainer named Trixie (Lillian Roth). While the two guys try to hide the affair in various ineffective ways, Angela is on to their schemes and wants to see what is going on for herself. It seems like Trixie's got her feline claws in deep with Bob and we think that Angela's lost him forever. That is, until Angela declares war!  The first 50 minutes of the film deal with the situation between the four characters. The other 1 hour and 10 minutes consists of a wild trip on a Zeppelin complete with a futuristic operetta (as Jonas calls it), crazy costumes that would shock and entice Lady Gaga and a grand finale that only a director like Cecil B. Demille could deliver.

This movie is so much fun to watch. The social drama at the beginning is full of fun jokes and physical humor. But once you hit that 50 minute mark, you are wowed by all the crazy Zeppelin shenanigans. You'll find yourself with your jaw to the floor, one hand on your head and one hand over  your mouth. It's that crazy. Like so many Pre-Codes, this film is full of sexual innuendos and experimentations of all sorts. What makes this film different to me is that I love the message. There are many Pre-Codes in which the ending completely undoes the original boundary-pushing message. In Madam Satan, we learn that men should appreciate their women. Because love, caring and intelligence don't have to stifle the carnal pleasures of a romantic relationship. And floozies don't always win in the end. I feel like in this day and time floozies seem to win because of their aggressiveness and charm. What ever happened to the value of self-respect? You want to be like Angela and NOT Trixie. And I like that message. Yes I do indeed.

If you haven't seen this movie, WATCH IT NOW! Don't wait as long as I did. Order a copy for yourself and several for your friends. If my review doesn't convince you, here are some screen caps for your viewing pleasure.

Angela is trapped like that cagged bird.

What do two drunk men do? Take a shower in their suits in the middle of a bedroom. Yeah.

Lillian Roth is the villain but her smile is too infectious for you to complete hate her.

Roland Young has some great expressions of confusion and fear in the film.

You are invited!

Zeppelin!

Lady Gaga would totally rip this off for one of her music videos.

One of the many WTF moments.

At this point I was jumping up and down in my seat cheering. Go Madam Satan!

IOU: Charlie Chan at the Opera (1936)

Person I Owe: Frank. Frank is a good friend of mine, a co-worker and an enthusiast of many many things including Charlie Chan films. I let him borrow my Charlie Chan boxed set and in exchange he let me borrow Charlie Chan at the Opera (1936) and a couple other films too. Now that was a long time ago, so I need to get this back to him. Because we work together, I have at least 5 opportunities each week to exchange DVDs with Frank. It's very nice and we exchange books as well. It's great sharing with friends, especially friends with such great taste in movies and books!

Review: Charlie Chan at the Opera (1936 or 1937) is the most famous of all the Charlie Chan films. Why? Because it stars Warner Oland, whom many Charlie Chan enthusiasts deem the best of the six or so actors who played Charlie Chan. Co-starring in the film is Boris Karloff, the biggest name ever to appear in a Charlie Chan film. This one hour drama is fun to watch as Karloff creeps everyone out and Oland/Chan outwits everyone with his proverbs and serious detective skills. I want to point out that William Demarest, a very good character actor who appeared in many films during the 1930s including a few with Humphrey Bogart, plays a dimwitted cop. My favorite line of the film is uttered by his character: (to Chan) "You are like chop suey! Mysterious but still a swell dish."

Karloff plays opera star Gravelle (::snickers::) who escapes from an insane asylum. He seeks revenge against the other opera stars, including his previous lover Madame Lili Rochelle, with whom he had a child Kitty Gravelle. First Charlie Chan is put on the case to help the police find Gravelle but then when murders start happening at the opera house, Chan is determined to find the killer.

This is a great film to introduce to someone who is new to the Charlie Chan movies. Some folks are sensitive to the stereotyping in the film. I tell them that even though Charlie Chan can be a bit of a caricature his character is always smarter than everyone else. Now if he could only be a bit nicer to his son! Thank you Frank for letting me borrow this film!

IOU: No, My Darling Daughter (1961)

Person I Owe: Casey of Noir Girl. Casey reviewed this film a couple of years ago (see the review here) and recommended the film to me. She burned me a copy and sent it to me in the mail. I've always meant to watch it but Netflix and other things always got in the way. Once you own a movie, it's easy to take advantage of the fact that it's always there.

Review: No, My Darling Daughter (1961) is a British Comedy directed by Ralph Thomas and starring Juliet Mills, Michael Redgrave, James Westmoreland and Michael Craig. Tansy (Mills) is the daughter of a wealthy and overbearing father Sir Carr (Redgrave). He's got a lot of plans for his daughter but free-spirited Tansy has other things in mind. Thomas (Michael Clay), General Barclay's grandson and Sir Carr's grandson, works for Carr's company but also has other plans. Thomas and Tansy seem like two free spirits destined for each other until an American youngster, Cornelius (James Westmoreland), starts to woo Tansy with his adventurousness and naivete about British life. Carr's got plans, Tansy's got plans, Thomas has plans, General Barclay's got plans, Cornelius makes plans eventually but as we all know even the best made plans don't always turn out how we expect.

This is a very light-hearted British comedy. As Casey says in her review, it'll keep you guessing until the very end. And yes Tansy is such a strange name. I kept wanting to call her something else. If you enjoy British films from the 1960s, and I know a lot of you do, this one will be sure to entertain you. It's also void of all of the more taboo elements of other films from this era. It's fresh and wholesome and just fun to watch. I'm not much for early British cinema and while this is not a new favorite, I enjoyed it nonetheless and would recommend it to other folks who like fun films like these.