Marie Dressier (Min Divot), Wallace Beery (Bill), Dorothy Jordan (Nancy Smith), Majorie Rambeau (Bella Pringle), Donald Dillaway (Dick Cameron), DeWitt Jennings (Groot), Russell Hopton (Alec Johnson), Frank McGlynn (Mr Southard), Greta Gould (Mrs Southard), Jack Pennick (merchant seaman), Hank Bell (sailor), Henry Roquemore (Bella's stateroom lover), Miss Vanessi (woman).
Director: GEORGE HILL. Screenplay: Frances Marion and Marion Jackson. Based on the 1929 novel "Dark Star" by Lorna Moon. Photography: Harold Wenstrom. Film editor: Basil Wrangell. Art director: Cedric Gibbons. Wardrobe: Rene Hubert. Sound recording engineer: Douglas Shearer. Producers: George Hill, Harry Rapf.
Copyright 2 December 1930 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Distributing Corp. New York opening at the Capitol, 21 November 1930. U.S. release: 29 November 1930. 7 reels. 6,200 feet. 69 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Min runs a tough waterfront hotel. She is in love with a fisherman, Bill, who does not altogether return her affections.
NOTES: Best Actress, Marie Dressler (defeating Marlene Dietrich in Morocco, Irene Dunne in Cimarron, Ann Harding in Holiday and Norma Shearer in A Free Soul).
Number 5 on the annual Film Daily poll of U.S. film critics. The number 1 top-grossing film of the year in the U.S. and Canada.
COMMENT: Marie Dressler has herself a royal old time pulling faces in "Min and Bill". Director George W. Hill indulges her persistent penchant for mugging with close-ups galore. But it must be admitted that despite all her strenuous efforts to chew up the scenery, she doesn't quite succeed. She remains steadfastly larger than life, yet still proportionately right for the exaggeratedly down-at-heels waterfront milieu in which she unexpectedly makes her stand for her highly individualistic brand of self-sacrifice and integrity.
The other players don't come anywhere near her, though Wallace Beery and Marjorie Rambeau both take good aim at matching Dressler's dramatics. It is undoubtedly Beery's more restrained portrayal that finds a readier acceptance with modern audiences, particularly as he is the victim in the film's wildest and most hilarious scene.
Actually, although he has more than a fair innings and is given almost as much of the lion's share of attention as Dressler, Beery really has a subsidiary role to both Dorothy Jordan and Marjorie Rambeau. The movie should actually be titled Min and Nancy. It is Dorothy Jordan not Beery who partners Dressler in the film's main burst of story (including the well-worked slapstick boat chase), while Rambeau almost completely usurps Beery in the later stages of the scenario and so brilliantly provides the shattering climax.
On the other hand, though Jordan appears adequate enough in the film's metamorphosis scenes, she seems a bit out of place (though she tries hard) as the kitchen slave.
George W. Hill (easily Metro's best director at this period) handles both the savage comedy and the no-tears dramatics with equal skill and finesse. As in his previous movie "The Big House", he shows himself a master of both atmosphere and action.
Other credits, including Harold Wenstrom's superb cinematography, and Cedric Gibbons' most uncharacteristically grimy art direction (as far removed from Metro glamour as it's possible to get) are likewise outstanding.
Director: GEORGE HILL. Screenplay: Frances Marion and Marion Jackson. Based on the 1929 novel "Dark Star" by Lorna Moon. Photography: Harold Wenstrom. Film editor: Basil Wrangell. Art director: Cedric Gibbons. Wardrobe: Rene Hubert. Sound recording engineer: Douglas Shearer. Producers: George Hill, Harry Rapf.
Copyright 2 December 1930 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Distributing Corp. New York opening at the Capitol, 21 November 1930. U.S. release: 29 November 1930. 7 reels. 6,200 feet. 69 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Min runs a tough waterfront hotel. She is in love with a fisherman, Bill, who does not altogether return her affections.
NOTES: Best Actress, Marie Dressler (defeating Marlene Dietrich in Morocco, Irene Dunne in Cimarron, Ann Harding in Holiday and Norma Shearer in A Free Soul).
Number 5 on the annual Film Daily poll of U.S. film critics. The number 1 top-grossing film of the year in the U.S. and Canada.
COMMENT: Marie Dressler has herself a royal old time pulling faces in "Min and Bill". Director George W. Hill indulges her persistent penchant for mugging with close-ups galore. But it must be admitted that despite all her strenuous efforts to chew up the scenery, she doesn't quite succeed. She remains steadfastly larger than life, yet still proportionately right for the exaggeratedly down-at-heels waterfront milieu in which she unexpectedly makes her stand for her highly individualistic brand of self-sacrifice and integrity.
The other players don't come anywhere near her, though Wallace Beery and Marjorie Rambeau both take good aim at matching Dressler's dramatics. It is undoubtedly Beery's more restrained portrayal that finds a readier acceptance with modern audiences, particularly as he is the victim in the film's wildest and most hilarious scene.
Actually, although he has more than a fair innings and is given almost as much of the lion's share of attention as Dressler, Beery really has a subsidiary role to both Dorothy Jordan and Marjorie Rambeau. The movie should actually be titled Min and Nancy. It is Dorothy Jordan not Beery who partners Dressler in the film's main burst of story (including the well-worked slapstick boat chase), while Rambeau almost completely usurps Beery in the later stages of the scenario and so brilliantly provides the shattering climax.
On the other hand, though Jordan appears adequate enough in the film's metamorphosis scenes, she seems a bit out of place (though she tries hard) as the kitchen slave.
George W. Hill (easily Metro's best director at this period) handles both the savage comedy and the no-tears dramatics with equal skill and finesse. As in his previous movie "The Big House", he shows himself a master of both atmosphere and action.
Other credits, including Harold Wenstrom's superb cinematography, and Cedric Gibbons' most uncharacteristically grimy art direction (as far removed from Metro glamour as it's possible to get) are likewise outstanding.