History is weird.
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History is weird.
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History is weird.
There's a line that I've heard thousands of times:"Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close up"
It's a quote from, apparently, Sunset Boulevard, which I've never seen.
It's parodied in Rugrats, Mr.s Doubtfire, Looney Tunes, and a dozen other places.
It is, of course, a reference to the director Cecil B DeMille, who played himself in Sunset Boulevard, but who was a bigshot in pre-code Hollywood.
He directed dozens of films. I've seen one or two of them, but only fairly recently. I made it to adulthood without seeing any of his 70 films.
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There's a line that I've heard thousands of times:"Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close up"
It's a quote from, apparently, Sunset Boulevard, which I've never seen.
It's parodied in Rugrats, Mr.s Doubtfire, Looney Tunes, and a dozen other places.
It is, of course, a reference to the director Cecil B DeMille, who played himself in Sunset Boulevard, but who was a bigshot in pre-code Hollywood.
He directed dozens of films. I've seen one or two of them, but only fairly recently. I made it to adulthood without seeing any of his 70 films.
Anyway, Madam Satan enters the public domain in 2026.
It was directed by DeMille.
The film was a financial failure, and has been savaged by critics over the years.
Everything that I've read makes it sound like it'll be a massive, self indulgent monument to excess.
I'm hoping to mine it for footage to rebuild into a new film for the 2026 archive.org public domain day remix contest.
https://blog.archive.org/2025/12/01/2026-public-domain-day-remix-contest/
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Anyway, Madam Satan enters the public domain in 2026.
It was directed by DeMille.
The film was a financial failure, and has been savaged by critics over the years.
Everything that I've read makes it sound like it'll be a massive, self indulgent monument to excess.
I'm hoping to mine it for footage to rebuild into a new film for the 2026 archive.org public domain day remix contest.
https://blog.archive.org/2025/12/01/2026-public-domain-day-remix-contest/
I started Madame Satan tonight, although I know I will not have time to finish it.
It has the guy from Topper in it (Roland Young) which was delightful to see.
The opening sequence is way too long, and is all about a philandering husband who comes home too drunk and his wife who is written so inconsistently that I'm not at all sure what I'm supposed to take away from her performance.
The first 25 minutes contains three musical numbers, and in it about 3 minutes of plot happens.
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I started Madame Satan tonight, although I know I will not have time to finish it.
It has the guy from Topper in it (Roland Young) which was delightful to see.
The opening sequence is way too long, and is all about a philandering husband who comes home too drunk and his wife who is written so inconsistently that I'm not at all sure what I'm supposed to take away from her performance.
The first 25 minutes contains three musical numbers, and in it about 3 minutes of plot happens.
From the 25 minute mark to the 26 mark, more plot happens than in the previous 25 minutes.
And then straight into another musical number! This time with the Other Woman in a scandalously short skirt and revealing top (at least, you know, for 1930)
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From the 25 minute mark to the 26 mark, more plot happens than in the previous 25 minutes.
And then straight into another musical number! This time with the Other Woman in a scandalously short skirt and revealing top (at least, you know, for 1930)
I didn't really know what to expect. Everything I've read about this movie just talks about it's excesses. Too much, too fast, self indulgent.
I expected that.
I didn't expect it be quite so languidly paced.
By the time the Wife and the Other Woman have their first face to face ... I mean, the whole thing should have taken like 6 or 8 minutes tops to get there, and the inconsistent characterization robs what should have been a very tense, maybe even menacing scene of a lot of it's gravity.
Things pick up from there, by the time she's waving her pistol around things are genuinely tense, at least for a bit.
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I didn't really know what to expect. Everything I've read about this movie just talks about it's excesses. Too much, too fast, self indulgent.
I expected that.
I didn't expect it be quite so languidly paced.
By the time the Wife and the Other Woman have their first face to face ... I mean, the whole thing should have taken like 6 or 8 minutes tops to get there, and the inconsistent characterization robs what should have been a very tense, maybe even menacing scene of a lot of it's gravity.
Things pick up from there, by the time she's waving her pistol around things are genuinely tense, at least for a bit.
At least now they've started to weave up the tangled web.
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At least now they've started to weave up the tangled web.
But then all she wants to do is get her husband back?
That's seriously the whole plot of this thing? We're going to do a bunch of wacky airship shenanigans because Angela wants her shitty husband back?
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But then all she wants to do is get her husband back?
That's seriously the whole plot of this thing? We're going to do a bunch of wacky airship shenanigans because Angela wants her shitty husband back?
Well, I know I'm stealing that airship dock scene, it's wonderful. And this sequence where men in giant heads and bunny suits climb the airship tower, yeah I'm taking that too.
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Well, I know I'm stealing that airship dock scene, it's wonderful. And this sequence where men in giant heads and bunny suits climb the airship tower, yeah I'm taking that too.
Oh these costumes are Wonderful.
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Oh these costumes are Wonderful.
This musical number is not good, but the costumes are fantastic. Cat women of the air.
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This musical number is not good, but the costumes are fantastic. Cat women of the air.
Is that a cowboy wearing sequin encrusted chaps?
and now a steampunk Cirque du Soleil? And some kind of radio god?
This whole sequence would slap so hard in a silent film.
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Is that a cowboy wearing sequin encrusted chaps?
and now a steampunk Cirque du Soleil? And some kind of radio god?
This whole sequence would slap so hard in a silent film.
I don't think I will win the film festival if I just clip out that dance number, put some rhythmic chanting under it, and throw a couple of titles on it, but I'd also be shocked if that wasn't the most visually interesting in the whole show.
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I don't think I will win the film festival if I just clip out that dance number, put some rhythmic chanting under it, and throw a couple of titles on it, but I'd also be shocked if that wasn't the most visually interesting in the whole show.
Yeah, I'm increasingly convinced there's a good movie hiding in here, but someone really should have Edited this thing.
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Yeah, I'm increasingly convinced there's a good movie hiding in here, but someone really should have Edited this thing.
Madam Satan's first appearance would probably be a little stronger if her vocal performance was three steps lower, that crazy soprano didn't survive well (is this a sound on disc film? Surely we're already in the era of sound on film?)
And, like, I hate a musical film so maybe I'm just biased. When she starts calling everyone out in that pseudo-russian accent, that's a much better scene than the whole musical number ahead of it.
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Madam Satan's first appearance would probably be a little stronger if her vocal performance was three steps lower, that crazy soprano didn't survive well (is this a sound on disc film? Surely we're already in the era of sound on film?)
And, like, I hate a musical film so maybe I'm just biased. When she starts calling everyone out in that pseudo-russian accent, that's a much better scene than the whole musical number ahead of it.
I also feel like her dress is supposed to imply that it's backless, but it's too easy to see the wrinkles and hems in the flesh-toned fabric. The whole thing would feel significantly more risque in lower resolution, or with different contrast/exposure.
In it's original theatrical run, it might have appeared to be a much different film.
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I also feel like her dress is supposed to imply that it's backless, but it's too easy to see the wrinkles and hems in the flesh-toned fabric. The whole thing would feel significantly more risque in lower resolution, or with different contrast/exposure.
In it's original theatrical run, it might have appeared to be a much different film.
Wow, that lightening strike was pretty good. This destruction sequence is surprisingly well done.
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Wow, that lightening strike was pretty good. This destruction sequence is surprisingly well done.
Goddamn it, I hadn't intended to watch this whole thing, but by the time I'd made it past the first half hour, the rest of it was genuinely pretty captivating.
I'm sure it's going to milk the last twenty minutes the same way it milked the first twenty, but I think I'll just finish it.
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Goddamn it, I hadn't intended to watch this whole thing, but by the time I'd made it past the first half hour, the rest of it was genuinely pretty captivating.
I'm sure it's going to milk the last twenty minutes the same way it milked the first twenty, but I think I'll just finish it.
Someone is carrying around a toy zeppelin filled with helium. That's adorable.
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Someone is carrying around a toy zeppelin filled with helium. That's adorable.
And now the band plays as the titanic sinks.
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