MIN AND BILL (1930) B/W 66m dir: George Hill

w/Marie Dressler, Wallace Beery, Dorothy Jordan, Marjorie Rambeau, Donald Dillaway, DeWitt Jennings, Russell Hopton, Frank McGlynn Sr., Gretta Gould, Jack Pennick

Dressler and Beery make an appealing team in this early "talkie" that won Dressler a Best Actress Oscar. They play tough waterfront denizens who try to stop the authorities from removing Marie's "daughter" to a "decent" home.

From The Movie Guide: "One of the most unlikely duos ever to stroll across a screen was the pairing of 62-year-old bulldog Marie Dressler and big-bellied, 55-year-old Wallace Beery. Yet they made such a lovable couple in MIN AND BILL that they were teamed again in TUGBOAT ANNIE in 1933. Although MIN AND BILL is a heartfelt drama, most viewers recall its hilarious comedy sequences and the noisy relationship between Min (Dressler) and Bill (Beery). ...

"A legendary star of the stage and vaudeville, Dressler watched her silent screen stardom of the 1910s wane until she made a triumphant return in ANNA CHRISTIE earlier in 1930. As a result of her immense popular success in MIN AND BILL and half a dozen follow-up vehicles, she was to spend her last years as MGM's (indeed, the industry's) biggest star before her death from cancer in 1934. She'd still make any list of the ten most huggable stars in film history."