Min And Bill

Al

Almost all films, especially from Hollywood, deal with beautiful people. Even if they are playing common folk, those who become movie stars are attractive, people who stand out in a crowd. But there are exceptions. Min And Bill, a film from 1930, features two actors who did not rely on their good looks. Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery were big stars, but look like the kind of people you might find at Wal-Mart.

Min And Bill, directed by George Hill, is part comedy and part weepie. Min (Dressler) owns a boarding house near the docks of an unnamed city. Bill (Beery) lives in the place, and the two have a relationship of sorts, but are not married. Dorothy Jordan is a teenager who was abandoned at the house as an infant and Dressler has brought her up as her own, though she does make her work and does not send her to school. Cue the truant officer and other social organizations, who may want to take Jordan away.

Min And Bill was written by Frances Marion, who wrote many films about women making sacrifices for their daughters, such as Stella Dallas. Dressler realizes that Jordan is better off away from the docks, where she is pursued by sailors (one tells her that he can take her where she doesn't have to work, but will make lots of money, a clear reference to prostitution). But when Jordan's real mother shows up, and is revealed to be a craven whore, Dressler has to make some hard choices.

The film is rudimentary in its direction, but soars on its performances. Beery was a huge star (he had it in his contract that he be paid one dollar more than any other Hollywood actor) but this is Dressler's movie, and she did win an Oscar for it. She has the face of a bulldog, but it's an expressive face, and the end of the film is heart-wrenching. But she also displays a brio--she may be down, but she's never out.

Min And Bill can also be very funny. When Dressler catches Beery with Jordan's mother in his lap, she goes on a tirade of destruction that Beery can't stop, even taking an ax to the closet door when he tries to hide in there. When she knocks a picture off his wall I laughed at the way he said, "There goes my mother's picture!"

Films about people at the lower rung of society are not unusual, but usually are cast with beautiful movie stars. I think of when Terence McNally's play, Frankie and Johnny In The Clair De Lune was made into a film (simply called Frankie and Johnny) and the lovelorn and homely waitress, played on stage by Kathy Bates, was recast for film with Michelle Pfeiffer. Bates' reaction was to laugh and laugh. But Min And Bill cast actors who actually look the part, and that gives it an authenticity that lends to its appeal.