Millie (1931)
A trusting small-town bride discovers her wealthy husband's infidelity and divorces him, raising their daughter alone while swearing off marriage and drifting through a string of affairs. Years later she shoots a playboy who has set his sights on her grown daughter, and stands trial for murder.
Adapted from Donald Henderson Clarke’s popular novel, Millie gives Helen Twelvetrees one of her signature suffering-heroine roles in the frank pre-Code manner, complete with a courtroom finale. RKO Pathé never renewed the copyright, and the film passed into the public domain in 1959.
Background
Millie is adapted from Donald Henderson Clarke’s popular novel and gives Helen Twelvetrees one of her suffering-heroine roles. John Francis Dillon directed for RKO Pathé. Lilyan Tashman, Robert Ames, Joan Blondell and Anita Louise are in the cast. It is a pre-Code melodrama, made before the Production Code was strictly enforced, and its frank treatment of divorce and infidelity reflects that period of Hollywood. The novel was a popular book of its day, and the film follows its episodic structure.
What to watch for
A trusting small-town bride discovers her wealthy husband’s infidelity and divorces him, then raises their daughter alone while swearing off marriage. Years later she shoots a playboy who has set his sights on her grown daughter and stands trial for murder. Watch how the film moves through its episodes, with a long stretch of Millie’s affairs followed by a courtroom finale. Twelvetrees’ performance relies on emotional suffering and restraint, and the trial scenes shift the film from melodrama toward legal drama. The pre-Code frankness about sexuality and marriage is the most striking element for modern viewers.
