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Good concept, poorly executed.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Millie is one of those pre-code drama which starts with a pre-World War I setting and takes us deep into the Depression. Helen Twelvetrees is in the title role, but in fact this one could definitely be called a woman's picture. First for the fact that the best roles are for the women and that the men here are mostly dogs.Millie starts with Helen Twelvetrees as an eager young bride who's run away with the richest, handsomest boy in town. They have a kid, but he starts stepping out on her soon enough. She sacrifices in the way Stella Dallas did and gradually she goes through a variety of men all of whom disappoint her one way or another. Twelvetrees also has some gal pals like Joan Blondell and Lilyan Tashman always with an 'I told you so' for all occasions.But the mother instincts are aroused when one of her men, producer and rake, John Halliday starts moving on her daughter Anita Louise. Then this film starts resembling Madame X.Twelvetrees made a career of playing tragic parts like in Millie kind of mirroring her own life. There are some great lines coming from her, Blondell and Tashman. For them alone this film is worth a view.

This film is an interesting one but it certainly doesn't hold up well. In a way, it's kind of hard to believe this was Helen Twelvetrees' most well-known role, which says something about her overall movie career. The story is highly overwrought and Twelvetrees is often given to hysterics in her portrayal of a woman who is desperate for two things-- to be loved, and to protect her daughter. It's all supposed to be virtuous and noble, but in the end, you can't really side with her, no matter how much the writers and performers want you to. The biggest problem facing a story of this kind is that she only has one scene with her infant daughter, and later after her divorce, she never sees her child again. So it's extremely unrealistic that she and her daughter would have any bond years later. When Millie bursts into the lodge to protect her daughter and ends up shooting the man who's been trying to seduce the girl, this is the first time they've even seen each other in all these years. And surely, the girl wouldn't even remember the woman who gave birth to her and abandoned her before she was able to talk. The courtroom scenes are just as preposterous. We are led to believe the jury is buying the prosecution's idea that Millie killed out of jealousy. But no evidence is even offered to substantiate such a theory. Then, the minute the daughter shows up near the end of the trial, the defense attorney suddenly has it all figured out. How does the defense attorney make this sudden leap in understanding everything? Millie is soon acquitted, and we learn that one of the jurors said he would have killed a man getting cozy with his daughter, too. Wouldn't Millie at least be found guilty of manslaughter?Of course, it sounds like I am picking this story apart...and maybe I am. But these contrivances are what make the film look silly today. My guess is that sophisticated and intelligent audiences found it silly back in 1931. If the performances had at least been grounded in some sort of reality, I could overlook the ridiculousness of the plot. But even Twelvetrees does not seem to know how to play this story with even one ounce of realism. The two women who play her girlfriends are the best performers in this picture, and that's because they're comic relief and allowed to be legitimately silly. Joan Blondell, one of the female friends, seems to be delivering her lines with a tongue-in-cheek approach, proving she is not taking any of this melodrama seriously. And as a result, she's the best thing in this picture-- the only real reason to see it.

Here is an early-talkie that I have never before seen until I received the DVD as a gift. This is a fun movie from the "pre-code" era which stars the little-known (these days) Helen Twelvetrees. She had a reputation for playing "wronged women" and she plays one here. Miss Twelvetrees was indeed a beautiful woman and a competent actress. The story is something of a cross between "The Women" (which had not been written yet) and "Madame X", with it's bitchy dialog and it's finale celebrating Mother love. A surprising part of the film shows what is most likely a lesbian relationship between Joan Blondell (in one of her earliest roles) and the amazing Lilyan Tashman. It is truly tragic that Miss Tashman died so young (in 1934) for she could have gone on to play wonderful parts in many later films. My "what if?" scenario would be to cast "The Women" as an RKO film with Miss Twelvetrees playing the Norma Shearer part, Miss Tashman in the Roz Russell role, and Miss Blondell as Phyllis Povah. I adore the original cast, but who knows what my reverie could have been like? This film is also notable as one of the best-preserved (or is it restored?) of it's era. The print is sharp and clear and the sound recording is crisp and distinct, making every word audible. This is one of Alpha's finest quality DVDs, available at a bargain price and most satisfying to view and listen to.

Prolific director John Francis Dillon's 1931 "Millie" is a curiosity piece, a pastiche of poor editing and some sprightly acting vignettes.Millie, Helen Twelvetrees, starts off as a swept-off-her-feet kid eloping with handsome and ambitious Jack Maitland, James Hall. Her shaking virgin-wedding night-do we have to go to bed?- scene is very funny, one of the best of its kind on old film.Ensconced in Westchester County outside NYC, Jack makes big bucks and Millie, now three years on and with a little girl, is neglected, bored and angry at her absent husband. A reunion with two girlfriends at a cabaret brings an encounter with an errant Jack and his foul-mouthed paramour who gets a sock in the jaw from Millie.Divorced and working in New York City, Millie leads a socially active life with fast-track friends and wild parties. Reflecting the hesitancy of many directors and script writers at the time it's never really clear if Millie goes beyond gay partying to hop into the sack with rabidly panting, pursuing men, some already married.Millie has one true male admirer, a reporter named Tommy, played by Robert Ames. A drunken twit tells Millie he's fooling around with another woman and she believes her, ending the best relationship she's had. Tommy's a sad case.The story turns melodramatic when an older man-about-Manhattan, long obsessed with Millie, shows an unhealthy interest in her now gorgeous teenage daughter, Connie. The denouement is predictable but there's a nice trial scene to wrap things up."Millie" skirts on the border of dealing openly with adultery and promiscuousness. What is unusual is that the film has a clear sapphic subtext depicting Millie's two girlfriends as sexually involved - the first scene they're in shows them in bed in nightclothes. THAT was very unusual for the times. I wonder how many 1930s moviegoers picked up on that.Most of the cast isn't well known other than to aficionados of pre-war films. Joan Blondell, whose career was in the ascendancy, is young Angie, a flighty friend of Millie and probable lover of her other girlfriend.Better direction and editing would have improved a basically interesting story. It's a museum piece worth seeing if you care about how Hollywood portrayed extramarital flings, lechery, boozing and partying in the grand old Pre-Code Days.5/10.