''Min and Bill'' is a 1930 American

Pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines, popularly known ...

comedy-drama film, directed by George W. Hill and starring

Marie Dressler Marie Dressler (born Leila Marie Koerber, November 9, 1868 – July 28, 1934) was a Canadian stage and screen actress, comedian, and early silent film and Depression-era film star. In 1914, she was in the first full-length film comedy. Sh ...

and

Wallace Beery Wallace Fitzgerald Beery (April 1, 1885 – April 15, 1949) was an American film and stage actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in '' Min and Bill'' (1930) opposite Marie Dressler, as General Director Preysing in '' Grand Hotel'' ( ...

. Adapted by

Frances Marion Frances Marion (born Marion Benson Owens, November 18, 1888 – May 12, 1973) was an American screenwriter, director, journalist and author often cited as one of the most renowned female screenwriters of the 20th century alongside June Mathis a ...

and

Marion Jackson Marion Jackson (December 3, 1879 – November 28, 1962) was an American screenwriter of the late silent and early sound film eras. During her 15-year career she would pen the scripts for over 40 films, both original and adaptations. Biography ...

from

Lorna Moon Lorna Moon (born Nora Helen Wilson Low; 16 June 1886 – 1 May 1930) was a Scottish author and screenwriter from the early days of Hollywood. She is best known as the author of the bestselling novel ''Dark Star'' (1929) and as one of the earlie ...

's 1929 novel, ''Dark Star'', the film tells the story of dockside innkeeper Min's tribulations as she tries to protect the innocence of her adopted daughter, Nancy, while loving and fighting with boozy fisherman Bill, who resides at the inn. The picture was a runaway hit. In 1931, the studio released a Spanish-language version of ''Min and Bill'', ''La fruta amarga,'' directed by Arthur Gregor and starring

Virginia Fábregas Virginia Fábregas García (17 December 1871 – 17 November 1950) was a Mexican film and stage actress active in the early 20th-Century. She appeared in films between 1931 and 1945. Personal life Virginia Fábregas García was born on 17 Dece ...

and

Juan de Landa Juan de Landa (1894–1968) was a Spanish film actor, who was born in the Basque Country. de Landa entered the film industry in 1930 following the arrival of sound film. He initially acted in Spanish-language versions of Hollywood films, but lat ...

. ''Min and Bill'' stars Dressler (Min), Beery (Bill), Dorothy Jordan (Nancy), and

Marjorie Rambeau Marjorie Burnet Rambeau (July 15, 1889 – July 6, 1970) was an American film and stage actress. She began her stage career at age 12, and appeared in several silent films before debuting in her first sound film, '' Her Man'' (1930). She was t ...

(Bella, Nancy's disreputable mother). Dressler won the

Academy Award for Best Actress The Academy Award for Best Actress is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role in a film released that year ...

in 1931 for her performance in this film. Beery received the

Academy Award for Best Actor The Academy Award for Best Actor is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role in a film released that year. The ...

in 1931 for playing the title role in ''The Champ'', which “fully vaulted him from character player to genuine movie star.” Beery became MGM's highest-paid actor in the early 1930s, before

Clark Gable William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901November 16, 1960) was an American film actor, often referred to as "The King of Hollywood". He had roles in more than 60 motion pictures in multiple genres during a career that lasted 37 years, three decades ...

took over that crown; Beery had a clause in his 1932 contract that he be paid a dollar per year more than any other actor on the lot. In 1933, the studio teamed Dressler and Beery as a married couple in ''

Tugboat Annie ''Tugboat Annie'' is a 1933 American pre-Code film directed by Mervyn LeRoy, written by Norman Reilly Raine and Zelda Sears, and starring Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery as a comically quarrelsome middle-aged couple who operate a tugboat. Dr ...

'', which was also a huge success. In 1933, Dressler topped Quigley Publications' annual Top Ten Money Making Stars Poll of movie exhibitors in 1931 and 1932. She died of cancer in July 1934. DresslerBeeryMinBill1930Trailer

Plot

Min Divot (

) runs a dockside inn. She has been raising Nancy Smith ( Dorothy Jordan) as her own since her prostitute mother, Bella (

), left her at the inn as an infant. Min frequently argues with fisherman Bill (

). Despite Bill's near-constant drinking, Min and he care for each other. Bill and she are the only ones who know the identity of Nancy's real, still living, mother. Min does her best to raise Nancy and keep her from learning about the real activities of the people who live and work on the docks. Despite not having much extra money or a home outside her inn, Min does her best to raise Nancy into a young lady. She does everything she can to make sure Nancy is never around when Bella arrives for a visit. Nancy loves Min as her own mother and frequently skips school to be with her. After repeatedly dealing with the truant officer, Min uses the money she had hidden in her room to send Nancy to a fancy boarding school. She hopes the school will teach Nancy better manners than those she had been picking up from Bill and the others on the docks. The schooling works, and Nancy returns to Min with good manners, an education, and the news that she is now engaged to a very wealthy man named Dick Cameron. She wants Min to attend the wedding. Min is thrilled, until she finds out that Bella has returned. Seeing how happy Nancy is to be getting married (and the wedding will be taking place in a few days), Min deliberately argues with Nancy and says terrible things she does not mean for Nancy to immediately leave. She is mad at herself for hurting Nancy, but is relieved that she is gone by the time Bella arrives. Min stalls Bella, hoping the wedding will take place and the couple can leave for their honeymoon before Bella can interfere. Bella arrives as the ceremony takes place. She confronts Min in an upstairs room in her inn. She has discovered her daughter's identity, and that of her very wealthy new husband. She taunts Min with the information and pledges to torment Nancy and her new husband until they give her money and take her into their new home. AngryDresslerMinBill1930Trailer

Min thinks about the wedding and Nancy's happiness, and tries to prevent Bella from leaving. When Bella attacks Min with a hot curling iron and attempts to leave, Min takes a hidden gun and shoots her dead. Min drops the gun and flees the room. Bill, knowing what was going on, tries to help Min by pleading with her to drive down to Mexico on his boat. Once Min and Bill leave the inn for the boat, an eavesdropping sailor enters Min's room and discovers Bella's corpse. Just as Min and Bill are about to board Bill's boat, however, Min sees Nancy and Dick Cameron about to board a boat to their honeymoon, and is drawn silently to the happy couple. She wants to see Nancy one last time.. Min watches, but decides not to let Nancy know she is there, and stays hidden in the crowd. Two police officers quietly confront Min about the shooting at the inn. Min does not say much. She takes one final look at a smiling Nancy as she leaves with her husband. Min turns back and smiles as she quietly walks away with the officers. She is sad that it may be the last time she ever sees Nancy, but at the same time, she is happy that Nancy managed to escape a dead-end life by the docks. Bill watches helplessly.

Cast

as Min Divot *

as Bill * Dorothy Jordan as Nancy Smith *

as Bella Pringle * Donald Dillaway as Dick Cameron *

DeWitt Jennings DeWitt Clarke Jennings (June 21, 1871 – March 1, 1937) was an American film and stage actor. He appeared in 17 Broadway plays between 1906 and 1920, and in more than 150 films between 1915 and 1937. Biography He was born in Cameron, Misso ...

as Groot *

Russell Hopton Harry Russell Hopton (February 18, 1900 – April 7, 1945) was an American film actor and director. Biography Hopton was born in New York City, New York. He appeared in 110 films between 1926 and 1945, often playing streetwise characters f ...

as Alec Johnson * Frank McGlynn, Sr. as Mr. Southard (credited as Frank McGlynn) * Gretta Gould as Mrs. Southard

In popular culture

Jack Kerouac Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Of French-Canadian an ...

, in ''

On the Road ''On the Road'' is a 1957 novel by American writer Jack Kerouac, based on the travels of Kerouac and his friends across the United States. It is considered a defining work of the postwar Beat and Counterculture generations, with its protagonis ...

'', has his protagonist-narrator Sal Paradise compare Dean Moriarty and his second wife Camille to ''Min and Bill''.

Reception

The film made a profit of $731,000.Scott Eyman, ''Lion of Hollywood: The Life and Legend of Louis B. Mayer'', Robson, 2005, p. 191

References

External links

*
''Min and Bill''
tcm.com; accessed July 28, 2015. * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Min And Bill 1930 films 1930 comedy-drama films American comedy-drama films American black-and-white films Films based on British novels Films directed by George Hill Films featuring a Best Actress Academy Award-winning performance Films produced by Harry Rapf Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Films with screenplays by Frances Marion 1930s English-language films 1930s American films it:Castigo#Cinema