When I like an actor or actress I will try to watch as many of their movies as possible. I like Marie Dressler, so I'm trying to see all the films she put out. I watched a couple of her silent films in which she played Tillie and they were wonderful.
In the movie "Reducing" Marie Dressler plays opposite Polly Moran. The two go back to 1927 when they were in the movie "The Callahans and the Murphys" together. "Reducing" was their fifth project together.
Marie Dressler plays Marie Truffle, a woman who is down on her luck, but is extended a helping hand from her sister, Pauline 'Polly' Roche (Polly Moran). Polly sent Marie $200 for her to move her family from South Bend, Indiana to New York City, where Pauline ran a thriving and successful spa. I believe they called it a reducing spa, or reducing business, which was to say she was there to help people lose weight.
Marie and her family moved into Polly's home, which was occupied by her, her daughter Joyce (Sally Ellers), and her help. You could tell right away that the two sisters had a loving yet contentious relationship. Polly was not above subtly, and not so subtly, reminding Marie of the helping hands she's given her. Marie was big enough to swallow her pride for the sake of her family, but the things came to a head when the two sisters argued about their daughters, Vivian Truffle (Anita Page) and Joyce Rochay (Sally Ellers). The two seem to both be the object of the same man, and Joyce had him first, so naturally she saw Vivian as a foreign invader. Vivian, for her part, was largely innocent. She had no eyes on Joyce's man, John Beasley (William Collier Jr.), but Johnny had eyes on her.
This movie didn't speak to me. Besides the comically bittersweet relationship between Marie and Polly, there was the love triangle, so to speak, with Johnny, Joyce, and Vivian-- and I hate love triangles and romantic affairs. What started out as a comedy ended up being quite serious, and although Marie played the hero in this movie, it was having to do with love, infatuation, and desire between two young and naïve women, and one young and naïve playboy, and that just did not interest me.
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