Millie

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!