Laughter 1930 - A sophisticated romantic comedy

IMDB Link
IMDB rating: 7,0

Director: Harry d'Abbadie d'Arrast
Main Cast: Nancy Carroll, Fredric March, Frank Morgan

"Laughter is a sophisticated romantic comedy belying the 'fact' that most early talkies were stiff and dull. Nancy Carroll plays a Follies dancer who meets her goal of marrying a millionaire (Frank Morgan). Alas, her husband is a well-meaning bore, and soon Nancy begins seeking entertainment elsewhere. She reunites with her former boyfriend (Fredric March), a composer who seems to have a funny quip for every occasion. This adult affair is paralleled by the romance between Nancy's stepdaughter and a devil-may-care sculptor. Though the plot mechanics slow down towards the climax, Laughter manages to sustain the promise of its title for nearly 80 minutes." - www.allmovie.com

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Animal crackers 1930 - One of the best Marx Brothers films

IMDB Link
IMDB rating: 7,7

Director: Victor Heerman
Main Cast: Marx Brotheers, Lillian Roth, Margaret Dumont

"Though many critics rank 1933's Duck Soup as the funniest Marx Brothers movie, others may prefer Animal Crackers, released in 1930. Based on the hit Broadway play by George S. Kaufman and Morris Ryskind, Animal Crackers features Groucho Marx as explorer Captain Spaulding, who is the guest of honor at a party hosted by wealthy matron Mrs. Rittenhouse (Groucho's favorite foil Margaret Dumont). The plot is a flimsy excuse for Groucho, Chico, and Harpo to run amok, with Zeppo playing his customary straight-man role. Director Victor Heerman is basically a bystander as the brothers take over, treating film as an extension of vaudeville. Animal Crackers was funnier and a bigger success than its predecessor, The Cocoanuts, and it marked the true beginning of the Marx Brothers' long and successful film careers, establishing their unique blend of physical and verbal mayhem." - www.allmovie.com

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Holiday 1930 - The first film version of the classic Philip Barry comedy

IMDB Link
IMDB rating: 7,0

Director: Edward H. Griffith
Main Cast: Ann Harding, Mary Astor, Edward Everett Horton, Robert Ames, Hedda Hopper

"Ann Harding and Robert Ames starred in the first screen adaptation of Philip Barry's play -- remade eight years later in a much more famous version with Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant, directed by George Cukor. This version is a little closer to the source, in terms of the nature of some of the characters, and has a charm all of its own, especially in the Oscar-nominated performance by Harding, an actress who deserves to be better remembered than she is. The supporting characters, especially Edward Everett Horton (who was also in the remake) as Nick Potter, are a little less 'housebroken' than they were in the 1938 version, and the result is some edges and sparks that didn't show up in the Cukor version, for all of its virtues. On the down side, the movie was done in 1930, early in the sound era, and at times displays the somewhat static visual nature of most talkies from that period." - www.allmovie.com

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Morocco 1930 - Marlene Dietrich's American movie debut

IMDB Link
IMDB rating: 7,3

Director: Josef von Sternberg
Main Cast: Gary Cooper, Marlene Dietrich, Adolphe Menjou

"Director Josef von Sternberg transfers Marlene Dietrich's siren singer persona to northern Africa in their first American collaboration, pairing her with Foreign Legionnaire Gary Cooper. Dietrich's Amy Jolly is an sensuous figure of desire and mystery amid von Sternberg's signature mise-en-scene of lushly exotic surroundings, layered shadows, and gauzy fabrics. Her first nightclub performance exudes an androgynous eroticism that would define her star persona: although she eventually sacrifices everything to follow Cooper's Tom Brown across the visually arresting desert sands, the tuxedo-clad Amy accepts a flower from a female admirer and nonchalantly kisses her on the lips before tossing the flower to an equally smitten (and beautified) Cooper. Along with the stunning imagery, von Sternberg inventively used sound to enhance the atmosphere, particularly when Amy makes her final decision between a rich man and the Legionnaire she loves. A box office success, Morocco earned Oscar nominations for von Sternberg, Hollywood newcomer Dietrich, Lee Garmes's alluring cinematography, and Hans Dreier's interior decoration, and helped keep Paramount Pictures afloat as the Great Depression hit Hollywood." - www.allmovie.com

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The big house 1930 - Putting the prison pictures genre on the map

IMDB Link
IMDB rating: 7,2

Director: George W. Hill
Main Cast: Chester Morris, Wallace Beery, Lewis Stone, Robert Montgomery, Leila Hyams

"The Big House established the prison drama as a motion picture genre, as it set new standards in realistic sound recording. Even by MGM's lofty standards, the film had high production values: the Cedric Gibbons-designed sets vividly recreated the harsh, sometimes brutal life inside U.S. prisons in the 1930s, and Douglas Shearer's Oscar-winning sound effects accentuated the stark visual tone. The sensation of bullets whizzing, rattling, and clanking off metal bars was a thrill to audiences who were embracing the transition away from silent films. Big House proved to be a star-making vehicle for Wallace Beery, who had been cast in the film only after the death of the studio's first choice, Lon Chaney. Frances Marion garnered a Best Writing Oscar for her screenplay, making her the first woman to receive an Academy Award outside of the Best Actress category." - www.allmovie.com

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All quiet on the Western front 1930 - Timeless anti-war message

IMDB Link

IMDB rating: 8,1

Director: Lewis Milestone
Main Cast: Lew Ayres, Louis Wolheim, John Wray, Arnold Lucy

"One of the most powerful anti-war statements ever put on film, this gut-wrenching story concerns a group of friends who join the Army during World War I and are assigned to the Western Front, where their fiery patriotism is quickly turned to horror and misery by the harsh realities of combat. Director Lewis Milestone pioneered the use of the sweeping crane shot to capture a ghastly battlefield panorama of death and mud, and the cast, led by Lew Ayres, is terrific. It's hard to pick a favorite scene, but the finale, as Ayres stretches from his trench to catch a butterfly, is one of the most devastating sequences of the decade. The unusual film - being told from the viewpoint of German soldiers fighting in World War I - won Oscars for Best Picture and for Milestone's direction, and trivia buffs should note that the actors were coached by future luminary George Cukor." - www.allmovie.com

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Free and easy 1930 - Keaton's talkie debut

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0020902/?ref_=nv_sr_2
IMDB rating: 5,6

Director: Edward Sedgwick
Main Cast: Buster Keaton, Anita Page, Robert Montgomery, Fred Niblo, Lionel Barrymore, William Haines, Dorothy Sebastian

"Buster Keaton's talkie debut (discounting his non-speaking guest appearance in Hollywood Revue of 1929) was Free and Easy, an uneven but generally amusing comedy with a Hollywood setting.
When pretty Elvira (Anita Page) of Gopher City, Kansas wins a beauty contest, her prize includes a trip to Tinseltown and a screen test at MGM. Appointing himself protector of Elvira and her formidable mother (Trixie Friganza), gas-station attendant Elmer Butts (Keaton) accompanies them to California. Once they've arrived, Elmer manages to disrupt the daily MGM routine, stumbling into films in progress, knocking over sets and breaking props, and finding himself taking a screen test in which he repeatedly blows the single line 'The queen has swooned' ('The sween has quooned', 'The coon has sweened') over and over. Meanwhile, latin-lover film star Lorenzo (Robert Montgomery) sets his sights on innocent Elvira, attempting to seduce her while Elmer's back is turned. But Lorenzo turns out to be a good guy - in fact, his real name is Larry, and he's a Kansas boy himself - and he arranges for Elvira to get her big break. In a surprise turnaround, Elvira doesn't win a contract, but Elmer and Elvira's mom become popular musical-comedy stars!
The film is studded with guest appearances by such MGM contractees as directors Cecil B. DeMille, Lionel Barrymore, Fred Niblo, and actors Gwen Lee, John Miljan, William Haines, Karl Dane and Keaton's then-girlfriend Dorothy Sebastian. The film was remade as Pick a Star in 1937, and as Abbott and Costello in Hollywood in 1945." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/free-and-easy-v18547

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Loose ankles 1930 - Young and Fairbanks are charming, but character actresses shine

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021087/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
IMDB rating: 5,9

Director: Ted Wilde
Main Cast: Loretta Young, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Louise Fazenda, Otis Harlan

"The story concerns a group of society people hearing a will read to them. The deceased's niece (Loretta Young) has most of the luck when an estate is left to her under the condition that she find a husband and no scandal be brought to the family. Everyone else's inheritance depends on this clause, but Ann (Young) doesn't want her share. In fact, she's determined to force everyone out of theirs because she thinks the family is too greedy. Off she goes to put an ad in the paper for a boy to 'compromise her'. Andy (Edward Nugent) finds it in the paper and thinks he'd be perfect for the role, but instead thinks maybe his room mate Gil (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) would be better suited. In a very funny scene, Gil goes to Ann's home and is taken advantage of by the maid (Daphne Pollard). Somehow, they all end up at a speakeasy where Ann's uptight aunts Katherine (Ethel Wales) and Sarah (Louise Fazenda) steal the show during a drunken spectacle where Andy tries to control his laughter.
Heady with too much dialogue, as were so many of the first talkies, it tends to creak badly, leaving the performers to strain a bit for laughs. Very little more is required from the two leads than to look attractive and recite their lines. However, there are some fun performances from the supporting cast which makes the film worthwhile."

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(double feature with The Naughty Flirt 1931)

The Bishop murder case 1930 - A very satisfying Philo Vance entry

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0020695/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
IMDB rating: 6,0

Directors: David Burton, Nick Grinde
Main Cast: Basil Rathbone, Leila Hyams, Roland Young, Alec B. Francis, George F. Marion

"Nine years before stepping into the role of Sherlock Holmes, Basil Rathbone essayed the character of S.S. Van Dyne's dilettante detective Philo Vance in The Bishop Murder Case. While the film is more of interest for curiosity value, it's not a bad detective movie. A large part of what is wrong with it is related to when it was made; in 1930, films were still trying to come to grips with sound. Like many other films from the era, Bishop is quite static - and the sound is so poor that the dialogue is frequently incomprehensible. It also suffers from 'acting schizophrenia', also not uncommon for the time, in which part of the cast is fairly comfortable with dialogue-centered acting, while another part is still acting as if in front of a silent camera. Fortunately, star Basil Rathbone belongs in the former category (as does the estimable Roland Young). Both turn in very good performances, Rathbone's of a quality that makes one wish he had been given the opportunity to make more Philo Vance films. With an imaginative use of 'natural' sound in the exterior scenes, The Bishop Murder Case is ultimately laid low by its molasses-slow pacing, though things become moderately exciting when the heroine is kidnapped in the last reel. The basic story of Bishop is quite solid and the screenplay is pretty good, but the direction is terribly sluggish. Nonetheless, fans of the detective genre - or of Rathbone - should definitely check this one out." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/the-bishop-murder-case-v85130/

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Mammy 1930 - "Let me sing and I'm happy"

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021110/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
IMDB rating: 6,3

Director: Michael Curtiz
Main Cast: Al Jolson, Lois Moran, Lowell Sherman, Louise Dresser, Hobart Bosworth, Tully Marshall

"Mammy features Al Jolson as the star of a travelling minstrel show, appearing in a small Southern town. Jolson falls in love with an actress in the troupe (Lois Moran), but she loves another. One of Jolson's fellow minstrels (Lowell Sherman) is shot backstage, and it is assumed thanks to several plot convolutions that Jolson is guilty of the deed. He heads for the hills, but returns to the show, his reputation restored but his love for the actress unrequited.
Maudlin in the extreme, Mammy is salvaged by several enjoyable songs by Irving Berlin and by its Technicolor photography (though most TV prints are black and white). The film's fascination with modern viewers rests with the presence of Al Jolson - and with the casual use of profanity during his confrontation scene with Lowell Sherman." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/mammy-v101069

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Sin takes a holiday 1930 - Ahead of its time for liberated thinking

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021377/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
IMDB rating: 6,3

Director: Paul L. Stein
Main Cast: Constance Bennett, Kenneth MacKenna, Basil Rathbone, Zasu Pitts

"This pre-Code comedy is more interesting for its decor and reflection of the morals of the day than for its acting or story. The plot revolves around three characters, each in love with the one who isn't in love with her or him. Things work out in a way - two characters find each other and the third is left to move on. All this happens in an atmosphere of wealth, where amoral dalliance is both expected and titillating.
Gaylord (Kenneth MacKenna) quickly arranges a marriage of convenience to his secretary, Sylvia (Constance Bennett) to avoid the advances of his socialite friend, Grace (Rita le Roy). Gaylord draws up a 1 year contract with Sylvia so that there is an understanding about how they can both behave and he encourages her to travel to France and do her own thing. However, after spending time in France with Reggie (Basil Rathbone), Sylvia returns to Gaylord to ask what he truly feels....
In this film no-one is correct - everyone behaves atrociously. The men are ultimately revealed as cads or blind to their actions while the women are calculating and far more deliberate and nasty in their actions. It's interesting to watch to see who Sylvia will end up with - she ain't no angel - don't be fooled by her apparent innocence. She's just as much of a bitch as Grace as her behaviour demonstrates. We have a confrontation at the end between all the characters involved which is what we have been anticipating and the dialogue is very entertaining.
In real life Kenneth MacKenna was married to Kay Francis for about 3-4 years in the early 30s (they were divorced in early 1934). He preferred being behind the camera directing rather than out in front, so that explains his disappearance from film acting after 1933."

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Monte Carlo 1930 - "Beyond the blue horizon"

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021153/?ref_=fn_al_tt_3
IMDB rating: 7,0

Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Main Cast: Jeanette MacDonald, Jack Buchanan, Claud Allister, Zasu Pitts

"Monte Carlo was intended to build upon the success of the earlier Jeanette MacDonald-Ernst Lubitsch collaboration, the delightful Love Parade. Unfortunately, although it has one moment that is perhaps better than any isolated moment in the earlier film, Monte Carlo doesn't live up to its promise. Much of the problem is with co-star Jack Buchanan, who simply does not partner MacDonald as well as Maurice Chevalier did in Parade. He doesn't have the power needed to keep pace with MacDonald, especially at this point in her career, and there's a smugness to his personality that is annoying. Lubitsch has done his usual, dependable job of supplying the film with a great number of subtle, sly winks and of keeping the storytelling interesting, but the story itself is too old hat to succeed without a more consistently witty and involving script. Richard Whiting and W. Franke Harling's score is quite good, however, with 'Whatever It Is, It's Grand' and the marvelous 'Beyond the Blue Horizon' exceptional. The latter provides the film's highpoint, as part of the magnificent wedding sequence that opens the film. Lubitsch builds the number, matching the sound and movement of the train to the song to create a genuinely thrilling number. Had the rest of the film lived up to this terrific opening section, Monte Carlo might have been a classic rather than a moderately entertaining trifle." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/monte-carlo-v102788/

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The return of Dr. Fu Manchu 1930 - A good atmosphere, a snappy ending and a few chills along the way

Jean Arthur in The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu (1930)

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021297/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
IMDB rating: 7,1

Director: Rowland V. Lee
Main Cast: Warner Oland, O. P. Heggie, Jean Arthur, Neil Hamilton, Evelyn Hall

"In his pre-Charlie Chan days, Warner Oland returned as Dr. Fu Manchu for this sequel to The Mysterious Doctor Fu Manchu (1929). Supposedly the victim of a suicide at the end of the first film, Fu Manchu has actually injected himself with a toxin that will make him only appear dead. Escaping through a trap door in his coffin, Fu Manchu travels to England to seek revenge on the two men he holds responsible for the deaths of his wife and child: Dr. Jack Petrie (Neil Hamilton) and Inspector Nayland Smith (O.P. Heggie). A murderous game of cat and mouse ensues." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/the-return-of-dr-fu-manchu-v107670

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Viennese nights 1930 - "You will remember Vienna"

Vivienne Segal in Viennese Nights (1930)

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021522/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
IMDB rating: 7,1

Director: Alan Crosland
Main Cast: Vivienne Segal, Alexander Gray, Jean Hersholt, Walter Pidgeon, Louise Fazenda, Bela Lugosi

"This sentimental Romberg-Hammerstein operetta was made late in the first cycle of movie musicals, and the glut of product at the time crowded it out at the box office. Which is too bad, because it's excellent of its kind - well-crafted, well-cast, and in handsome two-tone Technicolor.
The authors steal from all over the place: The two-generation love affairs (one happy, one unhappy) recall Romberg's own 'Maytime', and the poor musician and wealthy officer fighting for the fraulein are right out of 'Bitter Sweet'. But the story matters less than the songs ('You Will Remember Vienna', 'I Bring a Love Song', etc.) and the authors' sincerity. It's an unusually full score for a movie musical, with comic numbers, ensembles, and even a show-within-a-show - one senses that Hammerstein and Romberg wanted their screen work to be as good as their stage work.
Vivienne Segal, a prized stage comedienne/soprano, doesn't really get to demonstrate the dry wit and winking innuendo that made her a theater favorite, but she's sweet and direct (at times, she looks like Bette Midler!). Her leading man - Alexander Gray, also from the stage - is stiff in the Nelson Eddy mode, but like Eddy, he gives his all when he sings.
Walter Pidgeon and Bela Lugosi have minor roles."

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(the title is wrong, but it is the right movie)

Fast and loose 1930 - Funny early comedy presenting Miriam Hopkins' film debut

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0020873/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2
IMDB rating: 6,8

Director: Fred C. Newmeyer
Main Cast: Miriam Hopkins, Carole Lombard, Frank Morgan, Charles Starrett, Ilka Chase

"This - the second cinematic version of The Best People, a play by Avery Hopwood and David Gray that was first staged in 1924 and filmed in 1925 - is a period piece that glides over the best efforts of time, its serio-comic point of view intact, a smartly paced affair presenting a strong opportunity for role development beneath its frothy Roaring Twenties backdrop.
Paramount casts new contractee Miriam Hopkins for her film debut as wealthy Marian Lenox, along with Charles Starrett as her chauffeur and beau, Carole Lombard, Frank Morgan and whimsical Ilka Chase, all in top form, whilst Preston Sturges reconditions an already witty storyline. The setting is Long Island, where the Lenox clan resides, and where agitation reigns due to prospects of the family's adult son and daughter marrying below their station (to a chauffeur and a chorus girl), culminating with the entire family unintentionally meeting at a roadhouse speakeasy, whereupon a police raid adds to the growing embarrassment and consternation for two generations of Lenox family members.
The film is smartly directed, and acted with verve by all cast members, Hopkins a lively delight and reliable Morgan as solid as ever, although it is Broadway standout Chase who steals acting honors with her uninhibited performance, each benefiting from the pungent dialogue of Sturges that maintains an airy tone for a sophisticated romp, this version topping its silent screen predecessor in all elements except for Warner Baxter's memorable playing of the prideful and lovelorn chauffeur."

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http://www.ulozto.net/xKYCCBB/fast-and-loose-1930-avi

The sins of the children 1930 - A long forgotten, but a very good early talkie

Leila Hyams & Robert Montgomery in The sins of the children (1930)

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021382/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
IMDB rating: 6,4

Director: Sam Wood
Main Cast: Robert Montgomery, Leila Hyams, Elliott Nugent, Clara Blandick, Mary Doran, Louis Mann

"Despite its slightly lurid title, this film is all about love. Full of small moments beautifully played, it gives a portrait of an American family over a series of several years, held together through times of tribulation by a proud papa who adores his family unstintingly. This is a 'feel good film' in the best sense of the phrase and perfect to enjoy at the Christmas Holidays. It is a shame that this little gem has become so obscure.
As Adolf Wagenkampf, immigrant German barber, Louis Mann is nothing short of magnificent, giving one of the first great performances of the sound era. Showing enormous confidence in front of the camera, Mann steals the show with his mannerisms and accent, his pliable face registering every triumph or tragedy, every hope or defeat, which comes his way. Mann's beautiful soul is authentic, his talent undeniable. Unfortunately, this was to be virtually his only film. Louis Mann died in February of 1931, at the age of 65.
A very fine cast supports Mann throughout: Clara Blandick as his gentle wife; Francis X. Bushman Jr as the doctor son ashamed of his family name; Elliott Nugent as the inventor son, whose unwise impulse costs his father dearly; pretty Leila Hyams as the headstrong youngest daughter; and James Dolan as the obnoxious son-in-law.
(It was actor Nugent, playing the part of the youngest Wagenkampf son, who was largely responsible for both the original story and dialogue for the film. It's success is his, as well.)
In one of his earliest roles, Robert Montgomery scores as the local cad who compromises Hyams."

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The girl said no 1930 - One-scene Dressler saves the early talkie comedy

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0020919/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
IMDB rating: 7,9

Director: Sam Wood
Main Cast: William Haines, Leila Hyams, Polly Moran, Marie Dressler

"1930. Silents were dead, talkies were king & it was William Haines' golden Hollywood year. His pictures - he starred in 3 - made enough money at the box-office to make him the top male movie star of that year. The girl said no is one of those films.
It is very much a typical Haines comedy, with lots of silliness based on his boyish character (although he was 30, he plays a college kid). His wealthy father dies, leaving his family penniless and Haines in need of finding money. The plot revolves around his attempts to make good in a new job, where he tries to impress Leila Hyams, the pretty secretary he meets there.
Also in the cast are Francis X. Bushman, Jr. as Haines' rival; Clara Blandick (Auntie Em in The Wizard of Oz 9 years later); and the ubiquitous Polly Moran. The inimitable & irrepressible Marie Dressler appears in only one scene, but it's a dandy. She plays a very rich potential client who mistakes Haines for her new doctor, which generates a hilarious slapstick sequence. With this one 10-minute segment, talkie comedy was off to a very good start."

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Young man of Manhattan 1930 - "Cigarette me, big boy!"

Claudette Colbert & Norman Foster in Young Man of Manhattan (1930)

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021568/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
IMDB rating: 6,8

Director: Monta Bell
Main Cast: Claudette Colbert, Norman Foster, Ginger Rogers, Charles Ruggles

"Sometimes a film can be remembered for one thing. In the case of Young Man of Manhattan, it's not because of Ginger Rogers' feature debut (although that is certainly noteworthy). It's for Rogers' unforgettable line, 'Cigarette me, big boy', which became one of the most copied catch phrases of the era. While it's not an especially witty piece of dialogue, if the rest of Young Man's script had at least been at that level, it might have been a good movie. As it is, it's an adequate and fairly forgettable film, distinguished only by the very early presences of Rogers and star Claudette Colbert. Neither one gives a world-beating performance, but it's fun to see Rogers in her nascent wisecracking, flapper role and Colbert using her charm to carry her through some rough patches that she doesn't yet know how to navigate. Monta Bell's direction is sluggish and perfunctory, but he does take advantage of the sports setting of the film to include a number of interesting 'action' shots." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/young-man-of-manhattan-v118101/

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Follow thru 1930 - Practically no plot just the charm of Nancy and Buddy

Nancy Carroll & Charles 'Buddy' Rogers

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0020894/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
IMDB rating: 7,4

Directors: Lloyd Corrigan, Laurence Schwab
Main Cast: Nancy Carroll, Charles 'Buddy' Rogers, Zelma O'Neal, Jack Haley, Eugene Pallette, Thelma Todd

"Less than a week after MGM programmer 'Love in the Rough' opened, another golf themed musical was released (advertised as 'All Singie - Talkie - Dancie - Golfie'), although this one was far more prestigious. The all Technicolor Follow Thru was based on the Broadway hit of 1929 (401 performances) and paired Paramount's singing sweethearts - Charles 'Buddy' Rogers and Nancy Carroll. Apart from the two stars, it followed its stage roots with Jack Haley and Zelma O'Neal repeating their roles as the secondary comic couple and also a teen couple, Don Tomkins and Margaret Lee.
Lora Moore (Nancy Carroll) the champion golfer at the Mission Country Club is defeated at an important tournament by her arch rival Ruth Van Horn (Thelma Todd). She doesn't care - she has caught the eye of handsome golf pro Jerry Downs (Rogers) and begins to wonder if there is more to life than golf!! He is, unfortunately, just passing through so Lora persuades her bubbly friend Angie (Zelma O'Neal) to use her charms on his boss, girl shy Jack Martin (Jack Haley). Haley is the hit of the film, he is hilarious and has a 'head twitch' that happens whenever he sees a girl he likes! Anyway, Angie tries her best with the lively 'Button Up Your Overcoat' (it left you wanting more!) but it doesn't seem to work. Lora and Jerry do their courting to the beautiful 'We'd Make a Peach of a Pair' - and they do! - but wiley Ruth is determined to win Jerry away. Babs and Dinty (the teen couple from the stage show) sing and dance an eccentric number 'Then I'll Have Time for You'. At the Masquerade Ball, Lora looks very fetching in kilts but the night belongs to Angie as she performs the over the top fantasy number 'I Want to Be Bad' - it rivals 'Turn on the Heat' for sheer outrageousness. Ruth spreads stories about Jerry and Lora, upset, challenges her to a golf tournament but with all the agitation is completely off her game until Jerry takes charge at the last hole and orders her to 'Follow Thru'!
As often happened with those 'taken from Broadway' musicals, some of the original songs were ditched - among them was 'You Wouldn't Fool Me, Would You?' that was a big hit for Annette Hanshaw. The big hit of the movie was one especially written for it. 'A Peach of a Pair' was given top treatment by Nancy and Buddy and proved to be the song people were humming on their way home from the cinema."

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Madam Satan 1930 - Musical, comedy, disaster, romance, epic? Decide for yourself

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021106/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
IMDB rating: 6,7

Director: Cecil B. DeMille
Main Cast: Kay Johnson, Reginald Denny, Lillian Roth, Roland Young

"Cecil B. DeMille tried to cover a few too many bases in Madame Satan, with his reach definitely exceeding his (considerable) grasp - but that grasp was still strong enough to produce a film quite unlike any other. Chaotic and messy, this mélange of styles - a musical comedy disaster romance epic, if you will - never approaches coherence, but the second half of the film is fascinating. Of course, to get there one has to go through an awkward and often trying first half, during which song cues are not really set up and the dialogue scenes are played with little sense of style or humor. Once the film gets to the bizarre masquerade ball on the dirigible, however, things pick up; the latter half may not always convince as drama, but it's terrific entertainment. Visually, it's a sheer delight, with some truly incredible costumes and DeMille's practiced hand at crowd control very evident. Highlights include several unexpected and charmingly innapropriate musical numbers, including a bizarre 'Ballet Mechanique' featuring dancer Theodore Kosloff and Kay Johnson's 'Meet Madame' is also noteworthy. The destruction of the dirigible is very well done, with special effects that stand up reasonably well today, and which builds very successfully to a satisfying conclusion. In addition, the humor that is missing (or unintentional) in the first half finds flower in the second, with some wry asides from Roland Young scoring particularly well. Ridiculous and campy at times, Madame Satan is still a one-of-a-kind experience. Though DeMille carefully threw in every ingredient that he hoped would appeal to a mass audience, Madam Satan was one of his few box office flops." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/madame-satan-v30670/

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