Min and Bill

Min and Bill is a comedy first and foremost, but it has tragic undertones as well. The two lead roles are a pair that are rather shop-worn by life, played to perfection by Wallace Beery and Marie Dressler, neither of whom would ever be called glamorous, but who were both among the biggest draws of their day. Beery and Dressler worked like a charm on-screenand are totaly believable in this film and Marie Dressler won an Oscar for her performance. One of the best early efforts and very much worth your time to watch. Recommended.

Min and Bill (1930)

*** (out of 4)

Marie Dressler picked up the Best Actress Oscar for her performance here as Min, a waterfront rat who was given a small baby after its mother decided to run off. Min raised the kid to a young woman (Dorothy Jordan) along with the help of her friend Bill (Wallace Beery) but she is pretty much forced to throw her out to get her away from the trashy life on the waterfront. Then, Min must do even more when the girl's drunken mother shows back up. The actual screenplay here, by Frances Marion, is pretty standard for the era as it really doesn't try to do too much but there are some excellent performances that make the film worth viewing. I've been rather hit and miss on my opinions of Dressler but there's no question that this film belongs to her and it's without question the best work I've seen from here. I guess this was a real coming out after apparently considering suicide only a few years earlier when she made her comeback in THE PATSY, which eventually led to more roles and then this one, which got her the Oscar. Again, her look is just right for the film but I was amazed at how much heart and soul she pumped into her character and the film. This is a pretty dark little movie that doesn't take any comic turns or center on fake moments. The characters are shown as being ugly and trashy and it doesn't try to make them look good at any point. The film and Dressler's performance also makes it clear that ugly people can have good hearts, which I believe is the real point of the film. I was surprised that the film took a few of the twists that it did but then again, we're dealing with a pre-code era where happy situations weren't always forced on movies. Beery is also very good in his supporting role as his always plays the idiot well. I was also impressed with Jordan in her role and Marjorie Rambeau is fine as the drunken mother. Again, the screenplay is pretty straight forward and simple and it was clearly written to fit Dressler and Beery but the two take it, run with it and in the end deliver a nice little gem.

Min and Bill, in my estimation, is the best comedy of 1930. The scintillating scenes between Wallace Beery and Marie Dressler are authentic and hilarious. Neither of these first-rate performers misses a beat with the great script provided by the film's writers. Dressler was so good, she won an Oscar for her performance. Beery is just as good in this film as he was in his two Oscar-winning roles that were to follow. Talk about a win-win situation. The viewer cannot wait for the next line from either of them with their ongoing battles on the screen. Audiences during the Depression LOVED this film, as it made them forget their considerable troubles for an hou or so.

The dialogue is not as modern as my summary, as "Min And Bill" is shot through with the vernacular of the 20's. Love it when people say, for instance, "So's your old man", or "Aw,jeepers ....". It's almost like a lost language, one that you only hear in old movies. Problem is that often accompanying old expressions is that the plots of the movies are often threadbare with age, and that's what happens here. This one is the one about the guardian who raises a baby from infancy, and doesn't want to part with it when hemmed in by circumstances. It's been done many times since.

But this one stars Marie Dressler, which sets it apart. Here she is a rumpled old 'wharf rat' who runs a waterfront hotel/flophouse saddled with a barnacle/fisherman (Wallace Beery) who has attached himself to her. She is raising a teen-age girl who was dropped at her doorstep as a baby, and here is where the story becomes familiar.

Marie Dressler died too soon. She was, for a short time, a national treasure - even though she was Canadian. She starred in too few pictures but won an Oscar for this one. In all her movies, she was pitch perfect, with a little staginess - but she was a stage actress before Hollywood called.

Sad to say, there will never be another like her, but "Min And Bill" is a good example of her thoroughly entertaining on-screen persona. She was good in "Anna Christie" and, especially, in "Dinner At Eight", in which she achieves immortality with the knock-out punch last line in the picture.

"Min and Bill" stars Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery as the eponymous Min and Bill. The first time I saw Marie Dressler in anything was the silent film "Tillie's Punctured Romance" (1914) with her and the incomparable Charlie Chaplin. That movie was wonderful. She was a lot younger in that movie, but she was the same type of character: a rough woman who could dish out punishment and take it as well.

In "Min and Bill" she plays the proprietor of a little inn on the wharf. They are somewhere on the west coast, perhaps in southern California, just a ship ride from San Francisco. Bill is her boyfriend(??). I have to add question marks because they seemed to be simply friends, but she got mighty upset when Bill was fooling around with a woman named Bella (Marjorie Rambeau).

Min was taking care of a school age girl named Nancy (Dorothy Jordan). We learn that Nancy is not Min's daughter, but she loves her and takes care of her as if she were her own. Min has such a gruff exterior and personality that even the love she shows looks like anger. The more love and appreciation Nancy showed Min the meaner Min would be, but we know she loves her even if she doesn't say it.

I would say that that was the main message of the movie: love can be shown in different ways. Min had to make some serious sacrifices for Nancy's sake. So even though she didn't verbalize her love or show it with body language, she did plenty to show her love. At times you want to slap Min and yell, "Can't you act like you love her!?" but that's not the type of person she was and by the end of the movie you will accept Min as the hero she was.

Free on YouTube.