Millie (1931); Fine story and a great cast

Movie Reviewed: Millie (1931)

This is a star-studded movie that includes; Helen Twelvetrees, Lilyan Tashman, Joan Blondell and Anita Louise. I was fascinated with the handling of a controversial story in which a wronged woman tries to fight to save her only daughter from a lecherous old man. In an act of rage she shoots and kills the man for which she is tried in the court of law. To protect her innocent young girl, she does not reveal her daughters' relationship with the murdered individual until her own daughter comes to her defense. At times this movie reminds me of another well-known classic, The Women (1939), starring Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, and Rosalind Russell. It also bears similarities to the real life story of director and actor, Desmond Taylor. He was known to have a sexual liaison with the 19-year-old actress Mary Miles Minter. This alleged sexual liaison of the 49-year-old Taylor started when Minter was 17. Many reporters suspect that Charlotte Shelby, Mary Minter's mother shot and killed Desmond Tylor in 1922 when she found out about the affair. This case remains unsolved.

A surprising part of this 1931 movie is it presents Lilyan Tashman and Joan Blondell as the lesbian friends of the lead character Millie, played brilliantly by Helen Twelvetrees. This is one of the several "bold" movies the pre-code era studio's presented to the audience even though the clergy strongly deplored the morality of these movies. It is interesting to learn that Lilyan Tashman was a daring lesbian and made no secret of her sexual preference. Her sexual advances towards women in the powder room were almost legendary. Young Anita Louise who plays the daughter of Millie is somewhat melodramatic at times.

On the lesser side of movie is the sad and sudden end in the lives of two women of this movie. Helen Twelvetrees' career ended at a young age due to her unstable personality. Long forgotten, she committed suicide by a drug overdose at the age of 49. Lilyan Tashman died of cancer at the age of 38. This ravishing blonde beauty joined the list of blonde actresses such as Carole Lombard and Jean Harlow in departing at a very young age. Robert Ames, the lead actor died at the age of 42 due to sudden abstinence from alcohol. The actor was being treated from alcohol addiction in the last few months of his life.