Millie

source: Millie

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'".

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!).

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.

"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.