Manthast Absolutely amazing

SparkMore n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

Whitech It is not only a funny movie, but it allows a great amount of joy for anyone who watches it.

Wyatt There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

jarrodmcdonald-1 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.

ksf-2 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.

Ralph Michael Stein 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.

Matt-293 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!).