Marie Dressler won the best actress Oscar for her performance as Min in this 1930 film. She was nominated again, in 1932, for her role in "Emma," and that is a much better film to showcase the talent of Ms. Dressler. That's because two years in the earliest days of sound pictures made a tremendous difference in the technical aspects, film quality, directing and filming, and, ultimately, the acting. Even though she had a later start in movies - toward the end of the silent era, and didn't make lots of films, Dressler was a very good actress. But her earliest sound films - this one included, are still so wedded to silent film techniques, that they look quite inferior. And that goes for the acting too, which comes across as hammy at times and a little wooden at other times.
The most obvious examples here are with the closeups of Dressler's face and her exaggerated expressions. That was necessary in silent films to convey what was being felt or expressed but not able to be heard. So, in the dramatic roles especially, Dressler could look quite hammy in these earliest films. In the mostly comedy films she was much less so - she seemed more natural and at ease. A very good example of that is in another 1930 film, "Let Us Be Gay" that starred Norma Shearer. Dressler's Mrs. Bouccicault had wonderfully clever and funny lines, and in dialog exchanges with Shearer's Kitty Brown, the humor was lively and didn't need camera work to focus on faces for expressions. So, the occasional closeups didn't seem quite so hammy.
Enough of that on the technical. "Min and Bill" is a good story with some very good camera work and depictions of the wharf or dock areas that must have been around San Diego or possibly Los Angeles. And the story setting is a picture of hard-working people around the fishing fleets. Min never married but she has raised a girl who was just left behind by an acquaintance of the past. She puts Nancy to work in her hotel and café. Min has a guy, Bill, played well by Wallace Beery, who captains a fishing boat. He was one of the early sound icons who played the rough and tumble, usually little-educated, often coarse characters in films.
When the school officials come down on Min for Nancy not attending school, she arranges for her to live with an older couple as a sort of foster home. Then, when Nancy's real mother shows up after many years, hitting he bottle and looking for her baby girl to support her, Min takes her savings and gives them to the foster parents to send Nancy away to a good school.
The ending is hard, but Dressler shows Min's tough outer character to mask the love she has for Nancy. That translates to Min having to bow out of Nancy's life. The theme is a familiar one of sacrificial love and selflessness, and Dressler plays the part well. The rest of the cast are good in their roles.
The most obvious examples here are with the closeups of Dressler's face and her exaggerated expressions. That was necessary in silent films to convey what was being felt or expressed but not able to be heard. So, in the dramatic roles especially, Dressler could look quite hammy in these earliest films. In the mostly comedy films she was much less so - she seemed more natural and at ease. A very good example of that is in another 1930 film, "Let Us Be Gay" that starred Norma Shearer. Dressler's Mrs. Bouccicault had wonderfully clever and funny lines, and in dialog exchanges with Shearer's Kitty Brown, the humor was lively and didn't need camera work to focus on faces for expressions. So, the occasional closeups didn't seem quite so hammy.
Enough of that on the technical. "Min and Bill" is a good story with some very good camera work and depictions of the wharf or dock areas that must have been around San Diego or possibly Los Angeles. And the story setting is a picture of hard-working people around the fishing fleets. Min never married but she has raised a girl who was just left behind by an acquaintance of the past. She puts Nancy to work in her hotel and café. Min has a guy, Bill, played well by Wallace Beery, who captains a fishing boat. He was one of the early sound icons who played the rough and tumble, usually little-educated, often coarse characters in films.
When the school officials come down on Min for Nancy not attending school, she arranges for her to live with an older couple as a sort of foster home. Then, when Nancy's real mother shows up after many years, hitting he bottle and looking for her baby girl to support her, Min takes her savings and gives them to the foster parents to send Nancy away to a good school.
The ending is hard, but Dressler shows Min's tough outer character to mask the love she has for Nancy. That translates to Min having to bow out of Nancy's life. The theme is a familiar one of sacrificial love and selflessness, and Dressler plays the part well. The rest of the cast are good in their roles.