User reviews

Given the running time of barely over an hour my guess is that MGM did not think Min and Bill would wind up the success it did. But the team of Wallace Beery and Marie Dressler proved to be box office. It also proved that you didn't necessarily have to appeal to that all knowing youth market to have box office attraction. Min and Bill was definitely for the senior citizen trade.

Director George Roy Hill created a real waterfront atmosphere for the telling of this story of an old woman who runs a cheap waterfront boarding house and the old fisherman who's her boyfriend. Min has a young girl living with her who was deposited on her doorstep by her mother who took off.

Years later the mother, played by Marjorie Rambeau comes back with a vengeance and wants her kid. The daughter is played by Dorothy Jordan who is now in a finishing school and about to be wed to a rich young man.

Of course this sets up the final conflict. Marjorie Rambeau deserves some accolades as well for her performance as a waterfront tramp.

Since the conflict between Dressler and Rambeau is what drives the film, Beery is around, but he's not central to the plot. Still even today he and Dressler provide a few good laughs.

Marie Dressler who was in her sixties when she won her Oscar for Best Actress, lived only four more years after this film was done. On the strength of this film, she became a box office draw, making something of a comeback from her days in vaudeville in the ragtime era where she was a star. She and Beery partnered again in the lighter Tugboat Annie.

Min and Bill though a real antique from the early talkies retains a certain charm that still comes through for today's audience.

The good leading performances of Wallace Beery and Marie Dressler, plus the well-crafted dockside atmosphere, combine to make "Min and Bill" well worth seeing. Both Beery and Dressler have roles well-suited to them, and the two of them are thoroughly convincing in their relationship with each other. The actual story works all right, but mainly thanks to the leads and the settings. In itself, the story contains some worthwhile ideas, but some of the developments are too contrived to make it fully satisfying.

The main characters are interesting in their personalities, their imperfections, and in their relationships with each other and with the other characters. It's a pleasure to see Dressler and Beery in their scenes together, because with apparent ease they make use of - in ways subtle and not-so-subtle - the full range of possibilities in the way that Min and Bill relate to each other. Then too, the characters fit in seamlessly with the settings, which are also nicely done in themselves.

There's almost no need for much of a story, since it would be interesting just to see more of their daily lives. Most of the developments in the movie revolve around Dorothy Jordan's character, a young woman who has been brought up by Min. There are some thoughtful moments showing how she and Min feel about each other at different times, but at other times the script seems to miss some better possibilities. Dressler makes everything that Min does seem natural, but at times her skill is the only reason why it works. Thanks to her and Beery, it does work pretty well overall, and it is one of the better movies from the earliest years of sound films.

This isn't a great movie, certainly. But Dressler's performance is just as certainly great.

She acts with her face. And what a face! If being a movie star meant being beautiful and glamorous, Dressler had that - not at all. Her face was truly homely. But it was capable of a hundred different expressions, some of them quite subtle. She was, in a sense, the female Lon Chaney. You can see why she would have been a hit in the silents.

She can also do physical comedy with the best of them. Her knock-down, drag-out fight with Berry in his room is a stitch. Is that really Dressler in all that fighting? The story itself - lower-class mother who sacrifices everything to let her daughter have a good (read: upper-class) life was common in the 1930s. There are other famous examples, and they are all weepy. But Dressler's stoic performance of the woman who could not tell her daughter how much she loved her - and yet loved her more than her own life - remains as powerful today as it must have been then, though today it is usually presented as a father who can't express his love to his son.

The implied superiority of the "upper classes" is hard to take today, especially when you see how snooty these wealthy are. But that takes nothing away from Dressler's performance, which merited her Oscar even against some very tough - and very glamorous - competition.

An old harridan, owner of a dockside dive, while fighting fiercely for the happiness of a young girl she's raised since an infant, still is caused constant problems by her boyfriend, the boozing captain of a fishing boat. But through violence & heartbreak, nothing can shake the true affection MIN AND BILL have for each other.

Marie Dressler was a phenomenon, almost a force of nature. Described once as having a face like the back of a bus, she nonetheless was Hollywood's greatest star the last three years of her life. She earned that position by her innate goodness, a quality that moviegoers could sense in all her roles. Here she gives her Best Actress Oscar winning performance and she is wonderful.

Equally memorable is Wallace Beery. Once characterized as having a body like an overstuffed laundry bag, he had the part of the lovable rogue perfected & patented. Very popular with the fans, with Dressler he created one of the legendary screen couplings.

The rest of the cast is really there to support the two stars, but Marjorie Rambeau does stand-out as a slattern who knows too many of Min's secrets.

A good representative of its era, this early talkie is sparked by the chemistry between Dressler & Beery. Some of the staging may be a bit stiff, but Miss D. & Mr. B. always fascinate. Location filming in an actual harbor also helps the movie considerably.

Marie Dressler was always never less than watchable and when she was at her best ('Dinner at Eight' being one of the best examples) she was more than great. Wallace Beery was more mixed for me, he had fine performances in the likes of 'The Big House' but at other times he could be hammy and unbalance things. Seeing a film with them together did sound interesting, the story sounded charming and the positive critiques promising.

While not a perfect film, with a few things that don't work as well as others, 'Min and Bill' was a lovely way to spend just over an hour or so. The good things far outweighing the cons. Whatever reservations one has with the story, the performances of Dressler and Beery make 'Min and Bill' well worth watching. As well as the balance of humour and emotion, which is balanced just about right and both elements handled well individually too.

The story is very slight and very creaky, with some of the pace not always coming to life.

Also thought that the title does mislead, for a titular character Bill is too much of an underused plot device.

Dressler on the other hand is a marvel, never going over the top and the performance is amiable and at times very moving. She also has a very expressive face and telling expressions. Beery's good natured performance is one of his more subtle and better ones and his chemistry with Dressler is truly charming and gives 'Min and Bill' a lot of much needed heart. The production values are not exceptional but it's still nicely photographed. The direction is sensitive on the most part, if at times a bit on the staid side.

Like what was said above, there is humour and emotion here. Neither over-balances the other, though the latter resonates a little more, and the humour is gently amusing and the emotion genuinely touching.

Concluding, quite lovely if a bit creaky narratively. See for the chemistry of Dressler and Beery and for Beery and especially Dressler (who essentially is the film). 7/10

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" is one of those early sound films that's just too antiquated to enjoy anymore. It's not just that it was made in the early 1930s -- plenty of other films made around the same time ("All Quiet on the Western Front," "The Public Enemy," "M" are just a few that spring to mind) play just as well now as they did then. No, "Min and Bill" is just too flimsy, too poorly constructed, and too poorly acted to be of much interest to a modern day film fan.

The only interest the film really has is to give us a look at the performance that brought Marie Dressler her Academy Award for Best Actress. Dressler was a bit of an oddity, and her story would still be odd today. A quite ugly, middle aged actress who bucked all conventions of what a Hollywood actress should look like but who nevertheless was the top box office draw for a few short years. I wish I could say that her performance in "Min and Bill" justifies her allure, but I can't. A stage actress who also appeared in some silent films, Dressler doesn't know how to modulate her acting for the sound medium. She's all exaggerated mugs and grimaces. Wallace Beery fares much better, and I know audiences at the time were tickled by his and Dressler's antics, which involved Dressler beating the crap out of him. But that scene, as well as another in which Dressler finds herself in a runaway speed boat, plays the comedy too broadly, clearly inspired by the slapstick silent comedies that only recently transitioned into sound versions themselves. None of it is very funny, and much of it is actually pretty stupid.

Marjorie Rambeau shows up a bit later in the movie and enticed me with the promise of a good performance, but she goes off the acting rails in her later scenes and ends up being as bad as everyone else.

I would only recommend this movie if you're an Academy Award completist, but for no other reason.

Grade: D+

Seedy waterfront hotel proprietress Marie Dressler (as Min) lives with a pseudo-family she has created. Her "partner" is Wallace Berry (as Bill), with whom she exchanges "flirts" for free rent. Together, they are surrogate parents for schoolgirl Dorothy Jordan (as Nancy), who was abandoned by lowlife mother Marjorie Rambeau (as Bella). Problems surface during Ms. Jordan's adolescence; she begins to draw the attention of both suitors, and truant officers. Then, her sleazy mother returns to claim her…

If you're looking at the comments on "Min and Bill", you may be interested in sampling Dressler's "Best Actress" performance. IMO, although she did win the 1930/31 Academy Award, this is neither Dressler's best performance, nor the best acted role by a woman for the year. During the eligibility period, both the nominated Marlene Dietrich (in "Morocco"), and the non-nominated Sylvia Sidney (in "An American Tragedy") were more worthy. Dressler was certainly deserving of an award, however; she had given a series of flawless performances, leading up to "Min and Bill".

As "Min", Dressler uses an abundance of her manners and fidgets; she is obviously not as well-concentrated or well-directed as in other films; but, she is always entertaining. During one of her most over-the-top scenes, she takes an axe to Wallace Beery. Dressler's best moments occur during her beautifully rendered finale. Mr. Berry excels, but in more of a supporting role than the title implies; and, Ms. Rambeau is a terrific "gutter-rat" rival. See "Emma" for a more award-worthy Dressler performance. And, see "Tugboat Annie" for a superior Dressler-Berry team-up.

****** Min and Bill (11/21/30) George Hill ~ Marie Dressler, Wallace Beery, Marjorie Rambeau, Dorothy Jordan

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.

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.

MIN AND BILL (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1930), directed by George Hill, stars Marie Dressler (1869-1934) and Wallace Beery (1885-1949) in the title roles. Suggested from the book "Dark Star" by Lorna Moon, with adaptation by Frances Marion, with comic book title sounding characters of equal status, is actually a comedy-drama that emphasis more on Min than on Bill. So much on the Min character, it's Dressler who won her only Academy Award as Best Actress of 1930-31, which shows this 67 minute production to be Dressler's movie from start to finish, down to her frequent close-ups and drab clothing.

Plot development introduces Min Divot (Marie Dressler)of Seattle, living on the waterfront dive of San Pedro, California. She is a hard-boiled but good-natured dockside innkeeper who's very good friends with Bill (Wallace Beery), a fisherman whom Min describes as "too dumb to be anything but honest." Aside from Min giving Bill his usual barber shop haircut, Bill also shares the responsibility in helping her raise Nancy Smith (Dorothy Jordan), a teenage girl who works for Min. Having raised Nancy since her prostitute mother abandoned her six-month-old infant in her care, Min's responsibility now is avoiding truant officers wanting to take Nancy back to school for her education, as well as keeping her from the clutches of steady customer, Alec Johnson (Russell Hopton), out for no good. Nancy eventually goes to boarding school under the care of Mr. and Mrs. Southard (Frank McGlynn and Gretta Gould), but rather be with Min above everything else. Though Min loves Nancy as her very own child, to get her to go back to school, she shows tough love by pretending she doesn't want her anymore. Nancy finally goes North for her schooling, and two years later, Nancy, who has found true love with Dick Cameron (Donald Dillaway), telegraphs Min with the good news of returning home with her fiance. During her voyage on ship, she and Dick encounter a drunken passenger, Bella Pringle (Marjorie Rambeau), who, unknown to Nancy, happens to be her mother, believed dead. When Min notices Bella getting off the same boat as Nancy, it is up to Min to make sure their paths don't ever meet.

Distributed on video cassette in the mid 1980s, and later DVD, cable television broadcast of MIN AND BILL have been in recent years on Turner Network Television (1988-1990) and Turner Classic Movies (since 1994). For anyone unfamiliar with MIN AND BILL, the premise starts off amusingly as a madcap comedy in the silent film tradition of comedy director, Mack Sennett. One scene, in particular, involves Min and Nancy in a runaway motorboat, followed by the Min character's falling into the water in a scene reminiscent to Dressler's similar encounter from her silent comedy, TILLIE'S PUNCTURED ROMANCE (1914).

Dressler, with a physical build of a lady wrestler, is equally matched opposite the big and burly Beery, especially during their slightly violent physical battle in the Three Stooges comedy tradition. Aside from some lighter amusements, Dressler demonstrates her fine ability as a dramatic actress as well. Of the supporting players, Marjorie Rambeau is memorable in her unsympathetic role, yet virtually unrecognizable as opposed to her latter movie roles due to her physical appearance and higher-speaking voice. Had MIN AND BILL been remade with title characters married to appease the production code in the 1940s, chances are new casting might have been those of Marjorie Main, Frank Morgan, Beulah Bondi and Donna Reed in the Dressler, Beery, Rambeau and Jordan roles. As it stands, MIN AND BILL, never remade, is certainly fine the way it is. Dressler and Beery make a grand team. Aside from they sharing no scenes together in DINNER AT EIGHT (1933), Dressler and Beery worked one more time in TUGBOAT ANNIE (MGM, 1933), which is often confused with similar background and story of MIN AND BILL, both worthy recommendations. (***)

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.

Actress Marie Dressler gave millions of unemployed and poverty-stricken people during the dark days of the 1930s Depression reason to hope. Down on her luck throughout the 1920s, Dressler abruptly saw her fortunes rise when talkies arrived, creating the ultimate come-back story. She became the undisputed box office movie champion during the early 1930s.

For her Academy Award-winning Best Actress performance in November 1930's "Min And Bill," Dressler plays a rough and tumble innkeeper owner who raises an infant left at her doorstep. Not known as your typical glamorous actress, Dressler played aging characters in her later years that were down to earth. She admitted in her biography she "was too homely for a prima donna and too big for a soubrette." Film historian Jaan Salk described Dressler as "an ample figure like a rain barrel and a face that fell into folds like those of a St. Bernard." She excelled in the role of Min Divot, whose attachment to the abandoned infant girl was so motherly she would sacrifice her own life to see her Nancy (Marjorie Rambeau) attain a happy future.

Born in Canada three years after the Civil War, Dressler adopted the stage life when she ran away from home at 14 to tour with a Nevada acting troupe. She gained a ton of acting experience through the turn of the century with several road companies and Broadway stage appearances. As a friend of Keystone Studio owner Mack Sennet, Dressler starred in cinema's first comedy feature film, 1914's "Tillie's Punctured Romance," with Charlie Chaplin in a non-Tramp role. She followed up the hit movie by appearing in two sequels before she returned to the vaudeville circuit.

When the 1920s rolled around, Dressler had trouble finding acting jobs. She claimed the American theater was "youth-mad" and "flapper crazy," and her acting persona leaned towards the matronly type. Dressler lived hand-to-mouth for several years, residing in a tiny New York City room, scratching out a meager living. When silent movie productions were winding down, Dressler had a chance meeting with film director Allan Dwan, who gave her a small part in 1927's 'The Joy Girl." That led to a reacquaintance with MGM scriptwriter Frances Marion, who remembered Dressler recommending her when she was just starting out in the film business. Marion lobbied Irving Thalberg, MGM's head of production, on Dressler's behalf, securing her a role in Greta Garbo's first talking picture, 1930's "Anna Christie." Dressler's performance impressed film critics, motivating MGM to hire her for $500 per week. A string of subsequent successful films proved her to be MGM's most valuable star; her name on the marquee attracted more movie goers than even Garbo. Dressler's salary was bumped up to $5,000 per week.

In "Min And Bill," Dressler teamed up with crusty actor Wallace Beery. One of the film's highlights is when Min discovers a drunk Bill (Beery) messing around with another woman in his room. She proceeds to drag him around the room and attacks him with an axe while he's seeking shelter in a closet. She ends up applying a choke hold on him, turning Bill blue. The sequence illustrates the tempestuous behind-the-scenes relationship between the two stars who were in three movies together. After Beery made one cutting remark, Dressler said, "look you silly s--, you pull one more thing like that on me and I'll have your head. On a platter. And not an expensive platter. A little, cheap, lousy, wooden platter. Like John the Baptist. With a personal note to L. B. Mayer (president of MGM)." "Min And Bill" profited nearly one million dollars for MGM. In a poll of the top money making stars for movie theater owners, Dressler was ranked number one for two consecutive years, in 1932 and 1933. The movie is so highly regarded that Disney World established a restaurant patterned after Bill's boat on Echo Lake called 'Min and Bill's Dockside Diner.

"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.

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The story is set a Pacific Northwest fishing port. It concerns the tragedy of Min, a woman who like Fellini's Cabira,has saved her money and invested in a seaman's hotel which has a restaurant, bar, barber shop and both long and short term rooms. She has had a relationship for years with Bill, a fishing boat skipper who runs a little rum on the side. Years before the action starts Bella, a younger prostitute, has blown into town and dumped her unwanted baby on Min who she figures for a soft touch. After the opening which introduces Min, Nancy and Bill, one of the younger fishermen, creates a crisis by attempting to seduce Nancy with the intent of taking her to a large port to the south and putting her on the street. Min's emotionality devastating actions to protect Nancy are the first step in her self immolation and the rich fulfillment of Nancy's life. Min's fate is not decided by this alone, it is driven by the repeated visitation of Bella, who in her first appearance makes a statement of intent for Nancy no different from the young fisherman's plans. There is also much comic relief, Min's wild ride is not to be missed nor is the battle royal in Bill's room. Remember when watching this that not long before Bill has knocked out a strong young man with hardly more than the flick of his wrist.

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.

Inimitable, unique actors, settings and plot, this is one old movie that could not be remade. Oscar winner Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery shine as distinctly unglamorous, lower class types and an ingenue, Dorothy Jordan, who ended her career with major roles in three of John Ford's best movies. The redemptive power of parenthood is a powerful theme, driven home effectively by the moving conclusion that follows much comic exaggeration. The yearnings of a young person to break the mold of obedient servitude also strikes a chord, especially in bleak 1930. It's the best collaboration of writer Frances Marion with her husband, director George Hill.