It seems there was a curse on "Millie." Its four co-stars, Helen Twelvetrees, Lylian Tashman, Robert Ames and James Hall all died before they turned 50. As for the movie itself, its pre-code message is that all men are beasts who crave only one thing. The point is made through the saga of Millie Blake whom we first meet as a bashful bride on her wedding night (though even bucket loads of make-up can't hide the fact that Helen Twelvetrees is no teen-ager.) Nor is her paunchy husband an Adonis. Three years and a child later, she catches hubby canoodling with his mistress at a night club, files for divorce and valiantly (if stupidly) relinquishes the alimony she was entitled to. Plucky lass! From there on in, Millie fends off -- or gives in, depending on how you interpret the cutaways -- to a succession of over-age lotharios. But when one of them makes a play for her 16-year-old daughter, she has no choice. She has to shoot the dastard. By today's standards, Millie's sudsy exploits would be almost laughable. But by the standards of 1930/31, as movies were just learning to talk, it qualifies as an interesting (and sometimes downright entertaining) museum piece.
27 Reviews
Men Are Dogs
bkoganbing29 August 2016
Millie is one of those pre-code drama which starts with a pre-World War I setting and takes us deep into the Depression. Helen Twelvetrees is in the title role, but in fact this one could definitely be called a woman's picture. First for the fact that the best roles are for the women and that the men here are mostly dogs.
Millie starts with Helen Twelvetrees as an eager young bride who's run away with the richest, handsomest boy in town. They have a kid, but he starts stepping out on her soon enough. She sacrifices in the way Stella Dallas did and gradually she goes through a variety of men all of whom disappoint her one way or another. Twelvetrees also has some gal pals like Joan Blondell and Lilyan Tashman always with an 'I told you so' for all occasions.
But the mother instincts are aroused when one of her men, producer and rake, John Halliday starts moving on her daughter Anita Louise. Then this film starts resembling Madame X.
Twelvetrees made a career of playing tragic parts like in Millie kind of mirroring her own life. There are some great lines coming from her, Blondell and Tashman. For them alone this film is worth a view.
Millie starts with Helen Twelvetrees as an eager young bride who's run away with the richest, handsomest boy in town. They have a kid, but he starts stepping out on her soon enough. She sacrifices in the way Stella Dallas did and gradually she goes through a variety of men all of whom disappoint her one way or another. Twelvetrees also has some gal pals like Joan Blondell and Lilyan Tashman always with an 'I told you so' for all occasions.
But the mother instincts are aroused when one of her men, producer and rake, John Halliday starts moving on her daughter Anita Louise. Then this film starts resembling Madame X.
Twelvetrees made a career of playing tragic parts like in Millie kind of mirroring her own life. There are some great lines coming from her, Blondell and Tashman. For them alone this film is worth a view.
worthy of rediscovery
ChorusGirl28 January 2007
"Work?!? You won't have any time for opportunity!"
This forgotten RKO drama has been rediscovered since Roan Group released their beautiful,spotless DVD of it. While not much more than a "B" programmer, it's still fascinating, especially in its depiction of the sexes.
Mille's character, as played by Helen Twelvetrees, is a neurotic and pouty plain jane, so it's hard to imagine why these three men relentlessly go after her. Maybe because the men are neurotic losers themselves (no one in this film is a glamorous beauty by any means). We barely even get to know them, so the suffering she endures from their infidelity does not convince. Still, Twelvetrees gets points for trying.
But Millie's tribulations aren't the real star of this film.
While it's easy to project gay subtexts onto older films, here it's pretty indisputable that Millie's pals Helen and Angie are more than just friends. Watch Helen gussy herself up when she sees Angie across the room in the club. And their relations with men are based solely on financial gain--they clearly turn to each other for their other needs. Both Lilyan Tashman and Joan Blondell are quite funny in the roles, the former a world-wise goldigger and the latter a young, mercenary bubblehead. In their world, men are mere objects to be used with total detachment--the opposite of Millie, who allows herself to be exploited by men and then wallows in self-pity for the next 3 reels.
While not quite the best of pre-Code, MILLIE is still an important footnote for early 30s movie-making, and worth a look for those (like me) who can't get enough of pre-Catholic League Hollywood.
This forgotten RKO drama has been rediscovered since Roan Group released their beautiful,spotless DVD of it. While not much more than a "B" programmer, it's still fascinating, especially in its depiction of the sexes.
Mille's character, as played by Helen Twelvetrees, is a neurotic and pouty plain jane, so it's hard to imagine why these three men relentlessly go after her. Maybe because the men are neurotic losers themselves (no one in this film is a glamorous beauty by any means). We barely even get to know them, so the suffering she endures from their infidelity does not convince. Still, Twelvetrees gets points for trying.
But Millie's tribulations aren't the real star of this film.
While it's easy to project gay subtexts onto older films, here it's pretty indisputable that Millie's pals Helen and Angie are more than just friends. Watch Helen gussy herself up when she sees Angie across the room in the club. And their relations with men are based solely on financial gain--they clearly turn to each other for their other needs. Both Lilyan Tashman and Joan Blondell are quite funny in the roles, the former a world-wise goldigger and the latter a young, mercenary bubblehead. In their world, men are mere objects to be used with total detachment--the opposite of Millie, who allows herself to be exploited by men and then wallows in self-pity for the next 3 reels.
While not quite the best of pre-Code, MILLIE is still an important footnote for early 30s movie-making, and worth a look for those (like me) who can't get enough of pre-Catholic League Hollywood.
A Bit Disjointed, Kind of Dated, Mildly Interesting
lawprof18 February 2004
Prolific director John Francis Dillon's 1931 "Millie" is a curiosity piece, a pastiche of poor editing and some sprightly acting vignettes.
Millie, Helen Twelvetrees, starts off as a swept-off-her-feet kid eloping with handsome and ambitious Jack Maitland, James Hall. Her shaking virgin-wedding night-do we have to go to bed?- scene is very funny, one of the best of its kind on old film.
Ensconced in Westchester County outside NYC, Jack makes big bucks and Millie, now three years on and with a little girl, is neglected, bored and angry at her absent husband. A reunion with two girlfriends at a cabaret brings an encounter with an errant Jack and his foul-mouthed paramour who gets a sock in the jaw from Millie.
Divorced and working in New York City, Millie leads a socially active life with fast-track friends and wild parties. Reflecting the hesitancy of many directors and script writers at the time it's never really clear if Millie goes beyond gay partying to hop into the sack with rabidly panting, pursuing men, some already married.
Millie has one true male admirer, a reporter named Tommy, played by Robert Ames. A drunken twit tells Millie he's fooling around with another woman and she believes her, ending the best relationship she's had. Tommy's a sad case.
The story turns melodramatic when an older man-about-Manhattan, long obsessed with Millie, shows an unhealthy interest in her now gorgeous teenage daughter, Connie. The denouement is predictable but there's a nice trial scene to wrap things up.
"Millie" skirts on the border of dealing openly with adultery and promiscuousness. What is unusual is that the film has a clear sapphic subtext depicting Millie's two girlfriends as sexually involved - the first scene they're in shows them in bed in nightclothes. THAT was very unusual for the times. I wonder how many 1930s moviegoers picked up on that.
Most of the cast isn't well known other than to aficionados of pre-war films. Joan Blondell, whose career was in the ascendancy, is young Angie, a flighty friend of Millie and probable lover of her other girlfriend.
Better direction and editing would have improved a basically interesting story. It's a museum piece worth seeing if you care about how Hollywood portrayed extramarital flings, lechery, boozing and partying in the grand old Pre-Code Days.
5/10.
Millie, Helen Twelvetrees, starts off as a swept-off-her-feet kid eloping with handsome and ambitious Jack Maitland, James Hall. Her shaking virgin-wedding night-do we have to go to bed?- scene is very funny, one of the best of its kind on old film.
Ensconced in Westchester County outside NYC, Jack makes big bucks and Millie, now three years on and with a little girl, is neglected, bored and angry at her absent husband. A reunion with two girlfriends at a cabaret brings an encounter with an errant Jack and his foul-mouthed paramour who gets a sock in the jaw from Millie.
Divorced and working in New York City, Millie leads a socially active life with fast-track friends and wild parties. Reflecting the hesitancy of many directors and script writers at the time it's never really clear if Millie goes beyond gay partying to hop into the sack with rabidly panting, pursuing men, some already married.
Millie has one true male admirer, a reporter named Tommy, played by Robert Ames. A drunken twit tells Millie he's fooling around with another woman and she believes her, ending the best relationship she's had. Tommy's a sad case.
The story turns melodramatic when an older man-about-Manhattan, long obsessed with Millie, shows an unhealthy interest in her now gorgeous teenage daughter, Connie. The denouement is predictable but there's a nice trial scene to wrap things up.
"Millie" skirts on the border of dealing openly with adultery and promiscuousness. What is unusual is that the film has a clear sapphic subtext depicting Millie's two girlfriends as sexually involved - the first scene they're in shows them in bed in nightclothes. THAT was very unusual for the times. I wonder how many 1930s moviegoers picked up on that.
Most of the cast isn't well known other than to aficionados of pre-war films. Joan Blondell, whose career was in the ascendancy, is young Angie, a flighty friend of Millie and probable lover of her other girlfriend.
Better direction and editing would have improved a basically interesting story. It's a museum piece worth seeing if you care about how Hollywood portrayed extramarital flings, lechery, boozing and partying in the grand old Pre-Code Days.
5/10.
Shocking for its time!
Jim Tritten23 February 2002
Pretty racy when it was released but rather tame by today's standards. Uneven production with some very good moments but more that will catch your mind wandering. If you are interested in pre-code movies, this one should be seen. Story involves a mother who gives up child and falls from grace only to be redeemed at the end. It is also a movie about a strong woman who exercised choice and refuses to live the kind of life that destined for most young women who were married at the time. Not a great film and probably only worth your time if looking for historical examples or as a classroom project.
Silly Millie
AAdaSC21 April 2019
Helen Twelvetrees (Millie) stars as the title character in a soap opera story of her life. We follow her as she gets married to wealthy James Hall (Jack) as an innocent girl and we end up almost 20 years later. How does she change during this period? Pretty drastically.
The supporting cast are good despite every character being portrayed as deceitful - the men are cheaters and the women are gold-diggers. Lilyan Tashman (Helen) and Joan Blondell (Angie) have the most entertainng parts and they are funny with their dialogue. They also provide some glamour with their outfits and the sets are interesting. We also get creepy John Halliday (Jimmy) who keeps trying his luck with Twelvetrees over the course of the film. Well, if the girl doesn't wanna play what's a man to do?
It's a woman's film from the early 1930s and is of historical interest as that.
The supporting cast are good despite every character being portrayed as deceitful - the men are cheaters and the women are gold-diggers. Lilyan Tashman (Helen) and Joan Blondell (Angie) have the most entertainng parts and they are funny with their dialogue. They also provide some glamour with their outfits and the sets are interesting. We also get creepy John Halliday (Jimmy) who keeps trying his luck with Twelvetrees over the course of the film. Well, if the girl doesn't wanna play what's a man to do?
It's a woman's film from the early 1930s and is of historical interest as that.
All men are wolves in sheep's clothing according to "Millie"
kidboots14 June 2008
Warning: Spoilers
I liked this film - I was looking forward to seeing this as Helen Twelvetrees was Queen of the betrayal movie, so I had read.
I especially like Helen Twelvetrees and think there should be more of her films available. She had a really ethereal beauty and was really suited to playing sweet young innocents ie "Bad Company". In "Millie" she was never a "sweet young thing" being more of a "hot little number", judging by the young fellow's comments at the drug- store. Millie is already on her way to becoming Mrs. John Maitland as the film begins - 3 years later she is a bored young wife and mother, whose husband is having a fling with another woman. Millie accidentally finds out while lunching with gal pals (Lilyan Tashman and Joan Blondell - who even share the same bed!!!) John (James Hall) is more concerned with not causing a scene rather than comforting Millie. Unlike one of the other reviewers I did not like her husband - he didn't seem sorry for his actions. She then gets a job at a cigarette stand and in the years that follow, rises up in the business world to become manager of her own concession stand.
I actually think the film is about Millie's emancipation from a rich business man's bored wife to being an independent young woman. When she first leaves her husband, her pals ask her how she is going to survive. Millie is determined to do it on her own and not ask her husband for anything. She also decides to leave her daughter with him because she would not be able to give her the things she need.
After fending off men right, left and centre, she finally falls for Tommy Rock (Robert Ames) a reporter who wants to marry her. Millie is determined not to marry again but is quite happy to move in with him. He then treats her the same way as her husband treated her. I really wasn't expecting that - his personality being of the "awh shucks" type. At least he was sorry - sitting down and crying his eyes out when she leaves him (after she wrecks his apartment!!!) She then decides to be free and easy with her love - even offending Joan Blondell, who has since married a respectable businessman.
John Halliday plays James Damier, Millie's boss, who has always been keen on her but as time goes on transfers his attentions to Millie's daughter Connie. She is played by Anita Louise, who looks about 15 and absolutely gorgeous. I won't reveal the ending but it is quite melodramatic.
Look out for Carmelita Geraghty - I think she plays the young woman who tells Millie that Tommy has been cheating on her and can prove it. She was a lovely actress who was always under used in my opinion.
Recommended.
I especially like Helen Twelvetrees and think there should be more of her films available. She had a really ethereal beauty and was really suited to playing sweet young innocents ie "Bad Company". In "Millie" she was never a "sweet young thing" being more of a "hot little number", judging by the young fellow's comments at the drug- store. Millie is already on her way to becoming Mrs. John Maitland as the film begins - 3 years later she is a bored young wife and mother, whose husband is having a fling with another woman. Millie accidentally finds out while lunching with gal pals (Lilyan Tashman and Joan Blondell - who even share the same bed!!!) John (James Hall) is more concerned with not causing a scene rather than comforting Millie. Unlike one of the other reviewers I did not like her husband - he didn't seem sorry for his actions. She then gets a job at a cigarette stand and in the years that follow, rises up in the business world to become manager of her own concession stand.
I actually think the film is about Millie's emancipation from a rich business man's bored wife to being an independent young woman. When she first leaves her husband, her pals ask her how she is going to survive. Millie is determined to do it on her own and not ask her husband for anything. She also decides to leave her daughter with him because she would not be able to give her the things she need.
After fending off men right, left and centre, she finally falls for Tommy Rock (Robert Ames) a reporter who wants to marry her. Millie is determined not to marry again but is quite happy to move in with him. He then treats her the same way as her husband treated her. I really wasn't expecting that - his personality being of the "awh shucks" type. At least he was sorry - sitting down and crying his eyes out when she leaves him (after she wrecks his apartment!!!) She then decides to be free and easy with her love - even offending Joan Blondell, who has since married a respectable businessman.
John Halliday plays James Damier, Millie's boss, who has always been keen on her but as time goes on transfers his attentions to Millie's daughter Connie. She is played by Anita Louise, who looks about 15 and absolutely gorgeous. I won't reveal the ending but it is quite melodramatic.
Look out for Carmelita Geraghty - I think she plays the young woman who tells Millie that Tommy has been cheating on her and can prove it. She was a lovely actress who was always under used in my opinion.
Recommended.
Creaky plot
jjnxn-118 August 2013
This creaky antique reworking of Madame X is of interest mainly for its pre-code ingredients, blatant lesbianism, unpunished sex outside marriage etc., than any real value as a film. A lot of the film techniques are reminiscent of silents showing the growing pains of films continued into the early thirties. Part of the problem with the film is that all the men talk about how the heroine gets under a man's skin and they can't get over her but Helen Twelvetrees exudes none of the magnetism that makes that believable. The supporting players add more to the picture than the leads with Lilyan Tashman having the most fun as a party girl with Joan Blondell and Frank McHugh both starting out but already stealing scenes with their patented personas firmly in place. Except for the three of them the acting is extremely florid, especially towards the end. An almost unrecognizable Anita Louise, still beautiful but so young, is cast as Millie's daughter.
It took her a while to become thoroughly modern....
mark.waltz28 May 2014
Warning: Spoilers
This pre-code drama is probably going to be remembered as Helen Twelvetree's signature role. The film takes her from young innocent bride on her wedding night to an aging party girl in court who has been on trial for killing a man who disrespected her daughter. The film is told in "chapters"; The first chapter has Millie as the nervous virgin, and a candle is inserted three times to indicate the passing time. As three years go by, she finds out that she has been a total fool about her philandering husband, and eight years later, is heavily involved in the party scene. More years go by, and now her 17 year old daughter is about to be exploited just as she was. No mother wants their child to go through the same mistakes she went through, and typical in this kind of film, she happens to be carrying a gun.
Shady men and brassy women surround Millie wherever she goes. Her two pals are Lilyan Tashman and Joan Blondell, experts in these types of parts, and her innocent daughter is the young Anita Louise. But everybody pales in comparison to Twelvetrees' total emersement in the role, eating the scenery up like a banquet as she goes from one part of her life to another. By the time she's reached her courtroom finale, she's almost become like Helen Hayes' "Madelon Claudet", a ragged shell of what she once used to be.
Watching the first act of this film reminded me of a 1920's play, "Machinal", based upon a real life murder case where the woman went to the gas chamber in the final scene. While this doesn't go down that path, you do get the sense that had Millie remained with her faithless husband, he would have been the one who got the bullet, and Millie would end up in prison singing the "Cell Block Tango" of how "He Had It Comin'".
Shady men and brassy women surround Millie wherever she goes. Her two pals are Lilyan Tashman and Joan Blondell, experts in these types of parts, and her innocent daughter is the young Anita Louise. But everybody pales in comparison to Twelvetrees' total emersement in the role, eating the scenery up like a banquet as she goes from one part of her life to another. By the time she's reached her courtroom finale, she's almost become like Helen Hayes' "Madelon Claudet", a ragged shell of what she once used to be.
Watching the first act of this film reminded me of a 1920's play, "Machinal", based upon a real life murder case where the woman went to the gas chamber in the final scene. While this doesn't go down that path, you do get the sense that had Millie remained with her faithless husband, he would have been the one who got the bullet, and Millie would end up in prison singing the "Cell Block Tango" of how "He Had It Comin'".
Everyone Is A Loser, But There May Be A Moral
oldblackandwhite18 September 2012
Millie is a well-made, well-acted early talking picture, but like many of these "pre-code" melodramas, it is not going to seem very entertaining to most classic movie fans because it is so unremittingly grim and sleazy. It works overtime to portray life in early 20th century urban America as a nightmarish merry-go-round of boozing, empty partying and infidelity. Not a single strong, moral major character lightens the dark immorality and hedonism. All the men are cheaters, womanizers, child molesters, and drunkards. The women all victimized weaklings, whores, dumb broads, cats, and lushes. Nevertheless, the tone is ultimately cautionary rather than exploitive.
The title character Millie (Helen Twelvetrees) starts as a timid, chaste small town girl who marries a well-off New Yorker (James Hall). A few years later, she is living in luxury, has a beautiful daughter, and a kind-hearted mother-in-law who adores her. But she is unhappy because hubby no long pays much attention to her. He is always going away "on business" -- oh! oh! Presently, while in a nightclub visiting with old home town pal Joan Blondell and Joan's equally slutty cohort Lilyan Tashmn, poor Millie catches hubby with his "business" -- a dame. She divorces the cad but inexplicably lets him have custody of the kid without even demanding a settlement. Any other woman would have socked it to the bum, but our Milly is a hopelessly weak, wavering, unstable type. Her modest job at a hotel tobacco counter gives her contact with lots of men, but only one who interests her, a reporter played by Robert Ames. She thinks he is a nice guy in spite of his guzzling too liberally of prohibition bathtub gin. After all, he is a reporter, and in old movies press men are expected to be drunks. Alas, he turns out to be two-timer as well, the cad! Helped along by the unwholesome influence of professional floozies Blondell and Tashman, Millie descends into wild partying, empty affairs, alcoholism, and a date with a murder trial.
Even though this picture is loaded with drinking, promiscuity, infidelity, bawdy language and behavior, it may not be such a bad one for young people to view with proper supervision. The drinking and other dissipation is not glamorized as in other movies of the era, notably the first two Thin Man movies. Millie in fact shows exactly where such a decadent lifestyle leads -- how disgusting intoxication is, and the harm sleeping around and cheating does to oneself and others.
Though much immorality and freewheeling lifestyle is shown in Millie, there is in fact no hint of a lesbian relationship between the floozies played by Blondell and Tashman as some others have alleged -- except in the diseased imaginations of the homophobes and homophiles who find such under every rock. The two girls are shown in the same bed together all right, but simply because they are renting a cheap room furnished with only one bed. It was common in those days for both male and female room mates on an economy budget to do so -- with no hanky-panky.
Again Millie is a well-made movie with an engrossing story, but it is simply peopled with too many unredeemed losers to be enjoyable to those with a wholesome outlook. The only strong, moral character is Millie's mother-in-law (Charlotte Walker), but she is given only three brief appearances. If her character had been beefed up with a little more screen time, it would have helped.
A final note. Several of the players in Millie met sad ends. Helen Twelvetrees' career ended early, mainly because the directors and studio bosses got fed up with her tantrums and her otherwise unstable personality. Forgotten for many years, she died of a drug overdose, an apparent suicide, at age 49. Lilyan Tashman died of cancer three years after Millie was released. As Millie's booze-soaked reporter boy friend, Robert Ames was apparently playing himself. A year later he died at 42 of -- get this --delirium tremens! Don't drink, kiddies.
The title character Millie (Helen Twelvetrees) starts as a timid, chaste small town girl who marries a well-off New Yorker (James Hall). A few years later, she is living in luxury, has a beautiful daughter, and a kind-hearted mother-in-law who adores her. But she is unhappy because hubby no long pays much attention to her. He is always going away "on business" -- oh! oh! Presently, while in a nightclub visiting with old home town pal Joan Blondell and Joan's equally slutty cohort Lilyan Tashmn, poor Millie catches hubby with his "business" -- a dame. She divorces the cad but inexplicably lets him have custody of the kid without even demanding a settlement. Any other woman would have socked it to the bum, but our Milly is a hopelessly weak, wavering, unstable type. Her modest job at a hotel tobacco counter gives her contact with lots of men, but only one who interests her, a reporter played by Robert Ames. She thinks he is a nice guy in spite of his guzzling too liberally of prohibition bathtub gin. After all, he is a reporter, and in old movies press men are expected to be drunks. Alas, he turns out to be two-timer as well, the cad! Helped along by the unwholesome influence of professional floozies Blondell and Tashman, Millie descends into wild partying, empty affairs, alcoholism, and a date with a murder trial.
Even though this picture is loaded with drinking, promiscuity, infidelity, bawdy language and behavior, it may not be such a bad one for young people to view with proper supervision. The drinking and other dissipation is not glamorized as in other movies of the era, notably the first two Thin Man movies. Millie in fact shows exactly where such a decadent lifestyle leads -- how disgusting intoxication is, and the harm sleeping around and cheating does to oneself and others.
Though much immorality and freewheeling lifestyle is shown in Millie, there is in fact no hint of a lesbian relationship between the floozies played by Blondell and Tashman as some others have alleged -- except in the diseased imaginations of the homophobes and homophiles who find such under every rock. The two girls are shown in the same bed together all right, but simply because they are renting a cheap room furnished with only one bed. It was common in those days for both male and female room mates on an economy budget to do so -- with no hanky-panky.
Again Millie is a well-made movie with an engrossing story, but it is simply peopled with too many unredeemed losers to be enjoyable to those with a wholesome outlook. The only strong, moral character is Millie's mother-in-law (Charlotte Walker), but she is given only three brief appearances. If her character had been beefed up with a little more screen time, it would have helped.
A final note. Several of the players in Millie met sad ends. Helen Twelvetrees' career ended early, mainly because the directors and studio bosses got fed up with her tantrums and her otherwise unstable personality. Forgotten for many years, she died of a drug overdose, an apparent suicide, at age 49. Lilyan Tashman died of cancer three years after Millie was released. As Millie's booze-soaked reporter boy friend, Robert Ames was apparently playing himself. A year later he died at 42 of -- get this --delirium tremens! Don't drink, kiddies.
Yet another "mother love" melodrama
Matt-29316 July 1999
Very typical of its time, "Millie" stars Helen Twelvetrees as the title character, a woman who starts off as a respectable young mother married into a rich family. Soon enough, she divorces, gives up her child and descends into a shameful streetwalker's life. Before the final frame, she tries to get her daughter and her dignity back. The most notable thing about it now is the presence of a young Joan Blondell as one of Millie's slutty friends. Helen Twelvetrees herself is fascinating to watch - sort of a cross between Clara Bow and Glenda Farrell, very vivacious and totally unlike the stuffy, victorian-era images that the her name conjures up (the big joke at the time was that she was Rin Tin Tin's favorite actress!).
The Trials and Tribulations of a Red-Headed Woman
movingpicturegal17 July 2006
Soap Opera following the exploits of Millie Blake (Helen Twelvetrees) and her "love parade" of heels. This film spans nearly twenty years as we watch our Millie go from jittery young girl scared to face her honeymoon bed (as her new hubby presses "Are you sleepy yet?"), to rich, bored, and lonesome wife and mother, to divorcée working the counter of a cigar stand fending off "offers" from men, to mother who will stop at nothing to help save her teenage daughter's virtue. Millie soon realizes that "all men are tramps" - and it's true, at least in her world - all the men in this film are just complete womanizing cads, and one man goes even further than that when he attempts to pursue a very innocent sixteen year old girl (who calls him "Uncle"), rubbing her ankles, ladling her with "cider", and getting her to put on one of his assortment of "Mandarin Coats".
This pre-code film has it all - from a montage of a day at Coney Island to cat fights to divorce to bootleg cocktail parties to two blondes in negligees sharing a double bed all the way to the schemes of a lecher. It is really fun to watch the scenes with Millie's two blonde gal pals, childhood friend Angie and her bed friend Helen, a feisty, tough, wisecracking sort of gal - these two women run through men, booze, and outlandish fur, satin, and chiffon gowns like water. There is a nice musical number in one nightclub scene, a rendition of "Millie, the Red Head". This film actually becomes quite serious in later scenes, bringing it to a satisfying climax. Very good.
This pre-code film has it all - from a montage of a day at Coney Island to cat fights to divorce to bootleg cocktail parties to two blondes in negligees sharing a double bed all the way to the schemes of a lecher. It is really fun to watch the scenes with Millie's two blonde gal pals, childhood friend Angie and her bed friend Helen, a feisty, tough, wisecracking sort of gal - these two women run through men, booze, and outlandish fur, satin, and chiffon gowns like water. There is a nice musical number in one nightclub scene, a rendition of "Millie, the Red Head". This film actually becomes quite serious in later scenes, bringing it to a satisfying climax. Very good.
love blondell
duaneincali26 May 2020
As a pre code example of movie making i recommend this. adult script. all those who say the two female friends were 'obvious' lesbians..........I actually feel that they were intimating that they were prostitutes. who knows. the two friends to me were the entire movie. and i had never seen anita louise so young before. interesting flick, but not for the millenials.
interesting for social historians, but the plot is slow
claudecat26 February 2002
This movie is not at all well made: scenes fade in and out far too slowly, the camerawork is pedestrian in the extreme, and some of the plot twists are never satisfactorily dealt with. But the storyline still manages to engage, in spite of its slow pace, and those interested in the culture of the 30's will enjoy seeing what a "woman's weepie" of the time was (not to mention the clothes). The plot also has a few surprises: protagonist Millie admirably insists on working for her independence, but gold-diggers Lilyan Tashman and Joan Blondell are also portrayed as likeable. A bonus: Frank McHugh, in a bit role, does a fine job singing a little number. But overall the film is not for those with low reserves of patience.
Poor Millie!
reelguy22 November 2002
Poor Millie! She marries for love - not money - and still ends up unlucky in love. There's something intriguingly contemporary about her consistently entering into bad relationships. Also contemporary is her decision to live with her boyfriend instead of marrying him - even though he does offer to marry her.
Helen Twelvetrees has the ability to make the heroine's story somewhat compelling despite the film's plodding structure. John Halliday is very appealing as Twelvetrees' suitor until his character turns surprisingly into a cad.
So what's the moral of this "woman's picture?" Millie is so hurt by her broken marriage that perhaps she errs in writing off her unfaithful husband so quickly. In him she may have found the only decent male character in the story.
Helen Twelvetrees has the ability to make the heroine's story somewhat compelling despite the film's plodding structure. John Halliday is very appealing as Twelvetrees' suitor until his character turns surprisingly into a cad.
So what's the moral of this "woman's picture?" Millie is so hurt by her broken marriage that perhaps she errs in writing off her unfaithful husband so quickly. In him she may have found the only decent male character in the story.
Man hating chick flick fashion show.
st-shot17 November 2020
Helen Twelvetrees martyrs and mopes through a couple of decades of men in this creaky melodrama. Helped immeasurably by the presence of two gold digger bisexuals played by Lilyan Tashman and Joan Blondell along with the sophisticated depravity of John Halliday it is a well mounted picture that unashamedly injects a fashion show for the ladies from end to end. With clothes to admire and men to despise Millie probably did not need a free china night to pack them in at the Bijou.
Popular Millie runs off with Jack Maitland to marry. She gives birth and he's wandering in no time. The marriage ends and she falls for a reporter, no better than Maitland and with less money. A long time pursuer (Halliday) gives up on Millie and instead devotes his seductive attentions to her teenage daughter.
Millie is a misandrist field day with nearly every male a drunk, a cheat or both and both Tashman and Blondell providing sardonic commentary whether in bed together or draped in elaborate finery reinforce it with their terse, comic insight. Halliday simply oozes unctuous respectability, his perverse voyeurism drawing him to a Sunday service to ogle Millie's teen.
The film ultimately implodes in the overwrought court scene finale but not before an elaborate fashion show and some entertaining cynical girl talk from Tashman and Blondell that carry MIllie up until that point.
Popular Millie runs off with Jack Maitland to marry. She gives birth and he's wandering in no time. The marriage ends and she falls for a reporter, no better than Maitland and with less money. A long time pursuer (Halliday) gives up on Millie and instead devotes his seductive attentions to her teenage daughter.
Millie is a misandrist field day with nearly every male a drunk, a cheat or both and both Tashman and Blondell providing sardonic commentary whether in bed together or draped in elaborate finery reinforce it with their terse, comic insight. Halliday simply oozes unctuous respectability, his perverse voyeurism drawing him to a Sunday service to ogle Millie's teen.
The film ultimately implodes in the overwrought court scene finale but not before an elaborate fashion show and some entertaining cynical girl talk from Tashman and Blondell that carry MIllie up until that point.
I'd Rather Be a Geranium??
MillieTheRedhead3 February 2024
Warning: Spoilers
There's a party scene with Frank McHugh leading the mostly inebriated guests in a rousing tune while dancing nimbly and waving a handkerchief. I believe the lyrics are "I'd rather be a geranium instead of a Jack and Jill!" I could have it wrong, but this was not a song I was able to find by googling the lyrics. What does it mean? Was he pretending to be gay, or maybe he was gay? This was pre-code after all. Overall, pretty entertaining with a good cast, including Joan Blondell and Lilyan Tashman as gold diggers. I thought the story was good until the end when Millie's ex boyfriend, who seemed like a relatively decent guy, starts seducing her daughter (out of spite??), who was a very naive little drip, I guess kind of like Millie on her wedding night, come to think of it.
Wow, this is confusing.
planktonrules9 March 2010
Warning: Spoilers
Millie is a sap. She marries a rich guy named Maitland and they have a child. She then catches him cheating on her and divorces him...but lets him keep the kid she claims to love. Back then in the early 1930s, she would have been entitled to hefty spousal and child support but lets the guy off amazingly easy...with no support...what a sap! Later, when she has a boyfriend and life seems pretty good, he turns out to ALSO be a cheat! Wow, does she have a hard time picking men.
As a result of these bad relationships, Millie changes. Now she's a wild party girl--doing everything she can to distract herself from her hard luck. Suddenly, many years pass. Millie's daughter who she left early on in the film is now 17 and oddly fashions haven't changed one bit. An old friend of Millie's (yes, it's another evil man!) is now pretending to be the daughter's friend, but he has lecherous designs on her. Millie promises him that if he touches the girl, she'll kill him. Take a wild guess what happens next!
Overall, the film is a confusing and often bizarre mess--a bit like "Madam X" but much, much less focused. So often Millie's motivations and actions seem to make little sense. And, the film seems to have a little of everything tossed into it--so long as it substantiates the notion that all men are pigs. Unusual but not particularly good.
As a result of these bad relationships, Millie changes. Now she's a wild party girl--doing everything she can to distract herself from her hard luck. Suddenly, many years pass. Millie's daughter who she left early on in the film is now 17 and oddly fashions haven't changed one bit. An old friend of Millie's (yes, it's another evil man!) is now pretending to be the daughter's friend, but he has lecherous designs on her. Millie promises him that if he touches the girl, she'll kill him. Take a wild guess what happens next!
Overall, the film is a confusing and often bizarre mess--a bit like "Madam X" but much, much less focused. So often Millie's motivations and actions seem to make little sense. And, the film seems to have a little of everything tossed into it--so long as it substantiates the notion that all men are pigs. Unusual but not particularly good.
A pointless, emotionless narrative from nowhere to nowhere.
1930s_Time_Machine15 July 2023
This is a long sprawling soap about the life of a rather uninteresting girl called Millie. She's an independently minded girl which in the mind of the film's writers means that she will have to pay for that!
Although the film spans twenty years of Millie's life from innocent young thing to a being just a damaged shadow of life, you never really get to know who she is. The writing is much too shallow to understand any character development. It pretends to be a woman's film; a film championing women's struggle against a world ruled by men but its subplot seems to portray the complete opposite theme. The story has no positive message, it has a very pessimistic outlook on life. It exists seemingly just to allow us, the viewer to take some sort of punitive delight in making poor, sweet Helen Twelvetrees suffer for what the writers would like us to imagine is her sinful and amoral life. What is baffling is that her life is neither sinful not amoral, indeed the whole plot is how the men in her life have caused all her problems....but had she expected less from life....
The writer, Harvard educated Donald Henderson Clarke's stock in trade were salacious, racy novels about ladies of easy virtue. With this, he has tried to redress the balance by taking a woman's point of view but his traits are still there. Millie's friends, a couple of 'ladies of the night' played particularly unconvincingly by Joan Blondell and Lilyan Tashman are there just to prove that in the world beyond Clarke's ivory tower, these male fantasies do exist - there's no explanation why they end up in this predicament, they just fit into an unfortunate view the world of the late 1920s had about people from different backgrounds. Joan Blondell incidentally only has a very small supporting role, she had not yet developed into the sassy, sexy dame character we all love (well I do!), in fact, as it pains me to say, she's pretty awful in this. Terrible acting however is a common trait of this whole picture - especially the men - except for Frank McHugh who is always great and adds some much needed fun to this otherwise gloomy dirge. Even Helen Twelvetrees who is usually ok (and was brilliant in HER MAN) is a little 'school play' at times. Just because this was filmed in 1930 is no excuse for the poor direction and poor acting and poor story development. There were plenty of superb films made that year year but there were however much more which were like this.
Although its a pretty poor picture, it's almost interesting to get a feel of the prejudices and injustices of this age. Even a film purporting to put over a female point of view gets bogged down in the ingrained judgemental misogyny of the age. There are dozens of early 1930s women's films so much better than this with actual stories and believable dialogue, this is essentially just a pointless daytime soap.
Although the film spans twenty years of Millie's life from innocent young thing to a being just a damaged shadow of life, you never really get to know who she is. The writing is much too shallow to understand any character development. It pretends to be a woman's film; a film championing women's struggle against a world ruled by men but its subplot seems to portray the complete opposite theme. The story has no positive message, it has a very pessimistic outlook on life. It exists seemingly just to allow us, the viewer to take some sort of punitive delight in making poor, sweet Helen Twelvetrees suffer for what the writers would like us to imagine is her sinful and amoral life. What is baffling is that her life is neither sinful not amoral, indeed the whole plot is how the men in her life have caused all her problems....but had she expected less from life....
The writer, Harvard educated Donald Henderson Clarke's stock in trade were salacious, racy novels about ladies of easy virtue. With this, he has tried to redress the balance by taking a woman's point of view but his traits are still there. Millie's friends, a couple of 'ladies of the night' played particularly unconvincingly by Joan Blondell and Lilyan Tashman are there just to prove that in the world beyond Clarke's ivory tower, these male fantasies do exist - there's no explanation why they end up in this predicament, they just fit into an unfortunate view the world of the late 1920s had about people from different backgrounds. Joan Blondell incidentally only has a very small supporting role, she had not yet developed into the sassy, sexy dame character we all love (well I do!), in fact, as it pains me to say, she's pretty awful in this. Terrible acting however is a common trait of this whole picture - especially the men - except for Frank McHugh who is always great and adds some much needed fun to this otherwise gloomy dirge. Even Helen Twelvetrees who is usually ok (and was brilliant in HER MAN) is a little 'school play' at times. Just because this was filmed in 1930 is no excuse for the poor direction and poor acting and poor story development. There were plenty of superb films made that year year but there were however much more which were like this.
Although its a pretty poor picture, it's almost interesting to get a feel of the prejudices and injustices of this age. Even a film purporting to put over a female point of view gets bogged down in the ingrained judgemental misogyny of the age. There are dozens of early 1930s women's films so much better than this with actual stories and believable dialogue, this is essentially just a pointless daytime soap.
Fun early talkie. great story, great cast.
ksf-29 January 2014
Fun to see a young Joan Blondell. She and Frank Mc hugh would make TONS of great films over the next 20 years. The sound and picture quality are surprisingly good for such a seldom seen film. Sure, it ain't no Gone with the Wind, but they packed a lot of story into this early love triangle, or quadrilateral, as the case may be.
Gal (Helen Twelvetrees is "Millie") falls in love, and keeps getting shafted by the men in her life. She is determined to be strong and independent, and protect herself and her daughter, Connie, played by Anita Louise. We see the daughter at the beginning, and again near the end, but she kind of disappears for most of the story. She and her two best friends get together and "help" each other whenever there is a crisis. Help is a relative term here... her two friends take a little too much delight in giving her bad news about her husbands and the guys who "done her wrong".
Good fast moving script for the most part. Granted, there are a couple scenes that don't really need to be there (the "drunk" scene, where the two gal pals console each other, and a couple others.) Takes on some bigger issues, way ahead of its time, but watch it for yourself to see what I mean. I think they are showing all kinds of true life "things", if one reads between the lines, that weren't normally talked about in films. I'm really surprised at the lower rating of "6" as of today, but with only 211 votes, I guess it hasn't been seen much. Directed by John Dillon, who had started EARLY on in the silents. You can tell this was a relatively new talkie, since they use title cards here and there. Novel written by Donald Clarke, who also wrote "Female", another story of an early, independent woman, made into film.
Gal (Helen Twelvetrees is "Millie") falls in love, and keeps getting shafted by the men in her life. She is determined to be strong and independent, and protect herself and her daughter, Connie, played by Anita Louise. We see the daughter at the beginning, and again near the end, but she kind of disappears for most of the story. She and her two best friends get together and "help" each other whenever there is a crisis. Help is a relative term here... her two friends take a little too much delight in giving her bad news about her husbands and the guys who "done her wrong".
Good fast moving script for the most part. Granted, there are a couple scenes that don't really need to be there (the "drunk" scene, where the two gal pals console each other, and a couple others.) Takes on some bigger issues, way ahead of its time, but watch it for yourself to see what I mean. I think they are showing all kinds of true life "things", if one reads between the lines, that weren't normally talked about in films. I'm really surprised at the lower rating of "6" as of today, but with only 211 votes, I guess it hasn't been seen much. Directed by John Dillon, who had started EARLY on in the silents. You can tell this was a relatively new talkie, since they use title cards here and there. Novel written by Donald Clarke, who also wrote "Female", another story of an early, independent woman, made into film.
Awful Movie
januszlvii22 December 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Millie is basically a chick flick ( although that term had not been invented yet). I am generally not a fan of crying weeping and too many hugs, do obviously this film would not be my cup of tea. That said, I cannot begin to say how much I disliked this movie. Helen Twelvetrees character (Millie) is one of the most pathetic characters I have ever seen in a movie. Pathetic on the inside and pathetic on the outside ( she even looks unhappy on her wedding day). But she is not the only problem. There is casting Robert Ames ( Tommy). I have seen a couple of Ames films and trust me, he might be the most meh actor in history. How? Because you do not know he is even in the movie ( see him in A Lady To Love and you will get what I mean). Basically there is not a single character ( except her daughter) that you like or even care about ( even Joan Blondell who is usually good to look at and (or) for comic relief fails here). Spoilers ahead: I have never seen a worse scene in a courtroom then Millie on the stand ( she was on trial for murder ( she actually killed her boss who who wanted to have sex with her daughter who was only 16)). Almost anyone knows someone cannot be forced to take the stand if they are on trial. Of course, in the nick of time her daughter shows up and takes the stand and saves Millie from being convicted. I have read that this movie is Twelvetrees best movie: i hate to think of what would be her worst. 1 Star for me. ( fit the daughter). An awful movie.
Millie, the red-head, with dangerous curves
earlytalkie24 January 2011
Here is an early-talkie that I have never before seen until I received the DVD as a gift. This is a fun movie from the "pre-code" era which stars the little-known (these days) Helen Twelvetrees. She had a reputation for playing "wronged women" and she plays one here. Miss Twelvetrees was indeed a beautiful woman and a competent actress. The story is something of a cross between "The Women" (which had not been written yet) and "Madame X", with it's bitchy dialog and it's finale celebrating Mother love. A surprising part of the film shows what is most likely a lesbian relationship between Joan Blondell (in one of her earliest roles) and the amazing Lilyan Tashman. It is truly tragic that Miss Tashman died so young (in 1934) for she could have gone on to play wonderful parts in many later films. My "what if?" scenario would be to cast "The Women" as an RKO film with Miss Twelvetrees playing the Norma Shearer part, Miss Tashman in the Roz Russell role, and Miss Blondell as Phyllis Povah. I adore the original cast, but who knows what my reverie could have been like? This film is also notable as one of the best-preserved (or is it restored?) of it's era. The print is sharp and clear and the sound recording is crisp and distinct, making every word audible. This is one of Alpha's finest quality DVDs, available at a bargain price and most satisfying to view and listen to.
Lesbian Love!
David-24021 March 2002
I'm surprised that no-one has commented yet on the amazing lesbian sub-text in the relationship between the characters played by Joan Blondell and Lilyan Tashman (who was an "out" lesbian in real life). Sometimes it's not even sub-text - especially as the first shot of the couple has them in bed together, half-dressed! And Lilyan is obviously most annoyed when Joan runs off with a rich man. It's also interesting that Millie assumes that Lilyan has never been in love, with a man! Lilyan says she has, but I think she might be talking about a woman.
All film buffs, and lesbians especially, need to re-discover Lilyan Tashman - a remarkable actress, and an even more remarkable person. Her early death is probably responsible for her relative obscurity today, but there are still enough of her films around for us all to hunt out and enjoy. Long live Lilyan!
All film buffs, and lesbians especially, need to re-discover Lilyan Tashman - a remarkable actress, and an even more remarkable person. Her early death is probably responsible for her relative obscurity today, but there are still enough of her films around for us all to hunt out and enjoy. Long live Lilyan!
Helen and Millie
jarrodmcdonald-112 August 2016
Warning: Spoilers
This film is an interesting one but it certainly doesn't hold up well. In a way, it's kind of hard to believe this was Helen Twelvetrees' most well-known role, which says something about her overall movie career. The story is highly overwrought and Twelvetrees is often given to hysterics in her portrayal of a woman who is desperate for two things-- to be loved, and to protect her daughter. It's all supposed to be virtuous and noble, but in the end, you can't really side with her, no matter how much the writers and performers want you to.
The biggest problem facing a story of this kind is that she only has one scene with her infant daughter, and later after her divorce, she never sees her child again. So it's extremely unrealistic that she and her daughter would have any bond years later. When Millie bursts into the lodge to protect her daughter and ends up shooting the man who's been trying to seduce the girl, this is the first time they've even seen each other in all these years. And surely, the girl wouldn't even remember the woman who gave birth to her and abandoned her before she was able to talk.
The courtroom scenes are just as preposterous. We are led to believe the jury is buying the prosecution's idea that Millie killed out of jealousy. But no evidence is even offered to substantiate such a theory. Then, the minute the daughter shows up near the end of the trial, the defense attorney suddenly has it all figured out. How does the defense attorney make this sudden leap in understanding everything? Millie is soon acquitted, and we learn that one of the jurors said he would have killed a man getting cozy with his daughter, too. Wouldn't Millie at least be found guilty of manslaughter?
Of course, it sounds like I am picking this story apart...and maybe I am. But these contrivances are what make the film look silly today. My guess is that sophisticated and intelligent audiences found it silly back in 1931. If the performances had at least been grounded in some sort of reality, I could overlook the ridiculousness of the plot. But even Twelvetrees does not seem to know how to play this story with even one ounce of realism. The two women who play her girlfriends are the best performers in this picture, and that's because they're comic relief and allowed to be legitimately silly. Joan Blondell, one of the female friends, seems to be delivering her lines with a tongue-in-cheek approach, proving she is not taking any of this melodrama seriously. And as a result, she's the best thing in this picture-- the only real reason to see it.
The biggest problem facing a story of this kind is that she only has one scene with her infant daughter, and later after her divorce, she never sees her child again. So it's extremely unrealistic that she and her daughter would have any bond years later. When Millie bursts into the lodge to protect her daughter and ends up shooting the man who's been trying to seduce the girl, this is the first time they've even seen each other in all these years. And surely, the girl wouldn't even remember the woman who gave birth to her and abandoned her before she was able to talk.
The courtroom scenes are just as preposterous. We are led to believe the jury is buying the prosecution's idea that Millie killed out of jealousy. But no evidence is even offered to substantiate such a theory. Then, the minute the daughter shows up near the end of the trial, the defense attorney suddenly has it all figured out. How does the defense attorney make this sudden leap in understanding everything? Millie is soon acquitted, and we learn that one of the jurors said he would have killed a man getting cozy with his daughter, too. Wouldn't Millie at least be found guilty of manslaughter?
Of course, it sounds like I am picking this story apart...and maybe I am. But these contrivances are what make the film look silly today. My guess is that sophisticated and intelligent audiences found it silly back in 1931. If the performances had at least been grounded in some sort of reality, I could overlook the ridiculousness of the plot. But even Twelvetrees does not seem to know how to play this story with even one ounce of realism. The two women who play her girlfriends are the best performers in this picture, and that's because they're comic relief and allowed to be legitimately silly. Joan Blondell, one of the female friends, seems to be delivering her lines with a tongue-in-cheek approach, proving she is not taking any of this melodrama seriously. And as a result, she's the best thing in this picture-- the only real reason to see it.
Millie was no Joke
view_and_review11 August 2022
Warning: Spoilers
In the 80's Eric B. And Rakim came out with a rap song titled "I Ain't no Joke." That term became a common phrase in the 'hood and elsewhere. It basically meant I'm not to be messed with. If someone was said to be "no joke," then that was high praise. Don't eff with him... or her.
Millie (Helen Twelvetrees) was no joke. I loved Millie, from the beginning to the end. She was absolutely the strongest female character I've seen in any movie from 1930 until the 60's. She was so unlike any other female lead in the dozens of other movies I've seen from that time period.
Millie was like any other woman to start. Jack Maitland (James Hall) unromantically proposed to her and she accepted as though she had no other choice. When, four years and one child later, she caught Jack cheating on her, Millie was forever changed. She was done with marriage, but not before punching out Jack's mistress. She was going to be independent, which was a rarity for that time.
Later on we see Millie working in the lobby of an office highrise and she was the object of every man's affection and attention. Two men pressed hard, Jimmy Damier (John Halliday) and Tommy Rock (Robert Ames). Tommy would be the one she chose, though she would not marry him. Tommy wanted to do the right thing and get married. "Marry me won't you. I want something to hold us together," was Tommy's proposal.
Millie's reply was, "But Tommy, love will do that. If it can't then the rest doesn't matter."
That one statement from Millie spoke volumes. One thing it conveyed was that she had a better understanding of love than any of the women in that era per the dozens of movies I've seen. It also conveyed that Millie had no problem openly flouting societal mores. It was strange and refreshing to see.
Millie and Tommy were a recognized item, but Tommy ended up being no better than Jack. He cheated on her too. It was like Millie had a shelf life. Every man wanted her until they got her, then they wanted to move on.
If the first spoiled relationship made Millie independent, the second one made her a savage. She was set on using men whenever and however she wanted, whether they were married or not. And if she was done with you, she would tell you.
Eight years after her break up with Tommy and roughly sixteen years after her divorce with Jack, Millie was noticeably older, yet still being sought after, though not as much. Her daughter was now sixteen and an old suitor of hers now had his eyes on her daughter.
Yes, it's just as appalling and disgusting as it sounds.
The predator, Jimmy Damier (John Halliday), who I mentioned earlier, was a bit old for Millie when he was aggressively pursuing her which would put him in dirty-old-man territory for Millie's daughter, Connie (Anita Louise).
When Millie heard that Jimmy was finding various reasons to be around her daughter she kindly, yet sternly, demanded that he stay away from Connie. Jimmy swore that he had no ill-intentions towards Connie and he promised to leave the girl alone.
Like all predators, Jimmy lied. One night he had his driver take him and Connie to his lodge in the country. The driver correctly perceived that something was not right about it and called Millie. Millie did what a strong, loving, concerned mother would do--she got her gun and got in a cab.
I was team Millie all the way. As far as I was concerned there wasn't a gun big enough nor enough bullets to take care of Jimmy. I was only hoping that Millie would be the strong female character that she'd been so far and complete the job. In other words, I didn't want her to get to Jimmy's place and then get over powered, or faint, or simply wilt.
To my delight, that did not happen. She beat on Jimmy's door and demanded to search the place when Jimmy proclaimed that Connie wasn't there. Jimmy had already hidden Connie and was going to physically prevent Millie from searching his place. When Millie heard her baby's voice, that was it. One shot later Jimmy was dead.
Regardless of what happened to Millie after she killed Jimmy, she was a hero. If she was arrested, if she fled, if she served time, etc. It didn't matter to me.
She was acquitted, which was the best ending, but that only validated the jury, not Millie. She needed no validation. Millie had lived a life of heartache and pain at the hands of various men, in various ways, so the men of the jury certainly were in no position to define what Millie was at this point. She was strong, she was fearless, she was independent. She was her own woman to the end.
Millie (Helen Twelvetrees) was no joke. I loved Millie, from the beginning to the end. She was absolutely the strongest female character I've seen in any movie from 1930 until the 60's. She was so unlike any other female lead in the dozens of other movies I've seen from that time period.
Millie was like any other woman to start. Jack Maitland (James Hall) unromantically proposed to her and she accepted as though she had no other choice. When, four years and one child later, she caught Jack cheating on her, Millie was forever changed. She was done with marriage, but not before punching out Jack's mistress. She was going to be independent, which was a rarity for that time.
Later on we see Millie working in the lobby of an office highrise and she was the object of every man's affection and attention. Two men pressed hard, Jimmy Damier (John Halliday) and Tommy Rock (Robert Ames). Tommy would be the one she chose, though she would not marry him. Tommy wanted to do the right thing and get married. "Marry me won't you. I want something to hold us together," was Tommy's proposal.
Millie's reply was, "But Tommy, love will do that. If it can't then the rest doesn't matter."
That one statement from Millie spoke volumes. One thing it conveyed was that she had a better understanding of love than any of the women in that era per the dozens of movies I've seen. It also conveyed that Millie had no problem openly flouting societal mores. It was strange and refreshing to see.
Millie and Tommy were a recognized item, but Tommy ended up being no better than Jack. He cheated on her too. It was like Millie had a shelf life. Every man wanted her until they got her, then they wanted to move on.
If the first spoiled relationship made Millie independent, the second one made her a savage. She was set on using men whenever and however she wanted, whether they were married or not. And if she was done with you, she would tell you.
Eight years after her break up with Tommy and roughly sixteen years after her divorce with Jack, Millie was noticeably older, yet still being sought after, though not as much. Her daughter was now sixteen and an old suitor of hers now had his eyes on her daughter.
Yes, it's just as appalling and disgusting as it sounds.
The predator, Jimmy Damier (John Halliday), who I mentioned earlier, was a bit old for Millie when he was aggressively pursuing her which would put him in dirty-old-man territory for Millie's daughter, Connie (Anita Louise).
When Millie heard that Jimmy was finding various reasons to be around her daughter she kindly, yet sternly, demanded that he stay away from Connie. Jimmy swore that he had no ill-intentions towards Connie and he promised to leave the girl alone.
Like all predators, Jimmy lied. One night he had his driver take him and Connie to his lodge in the country. The driver correctly perceived that something was not right about it and called Millie. Millie did what a strong, loving, concerned mother would do--she got her gun and got in a cab.
I was team Millie all the way. As far as I was concerned there wasn't a gun big enough nor enough bullets to take care of Jimmy. I was only hoping that Millie would be the strong female character that she'd been so far and complete the job. In other words, I didn't want her to get to Jimmy's place and then get over powered, or faint, or simply wilt.
To my delight, that did not happen. She beat on Jimmy's door and demanded to search the place when Jimmy proclaimed that Connie wasn't there. Jimmy had already hidden Connie and was going to physically prevent Millie from searching his place. When Millie heard her baby's voice, that was it. One shot later Jimmy was dead.
Regardless of what happened to Millie after she killed Jimmy, she was a hero. If she was arrested, if she fled, if she served time, etc. It didn't matter to me.
She was acquitted, which was the best ending, but that only validated the jury, not Millie. She needed no validation. Millie had lived a life of heartache and pain at the hands of various men, in various ways, so the men of the jury certainly were in no position to define what Millie was at this point. She was strong, she was fearless, she was independent. She was her own woman to the end.
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