Min and Bill (1930)

IMDb plot summary: Min, the owner of a dockside hotel, is forced to make difficult decisions about the future of Nancy, the young woman she took in as an infant.

Directed by George W. Hill. Starring Marie Dressler, Wallace Beery, and Dorothy Jordan.

Min and Bill is set in a coastal town where the titular Bill is a fisherman where the titular Min runs an inn. Over a decade ago, a baby was left in Min's care, and now the baby is a young woman and local authorities are wondering whether she in is an appropriate place for a young woman to be raised. To add to all that, the child's mother has returned, and despite not being in any position to give her an appropriate mother-child relationship, she is demanding the girl's return. Despite the title being "Min and Bill," the story is clearly not about Bill at all. It made me wonder if this was based on some sort of established set of characters. I couldn't find any confirmation of that, but it's got that sense of established characters we know, with no recapping for the audience. If that were the case, I think this would have a better case for being a better movie, but as it is, it's really didn't work for me very much. I think we're supposed to be on Min's side as she tries to shield her adopted child from her mother, but all she does with this is cut off communication entirely with the girl, and it's seen as a unnecessary evil when it seems overtly cruel. It's just kind of a confusing movie that I'm not entirely sure who it's supposed to be about or why.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Min and Bill < Gas Food Lodging

Min and Bill < War of the Buttons (1994)

Min and Bill < Scrooged

Min and Bill > Rescue Me

Min and Bill > The Devil Inside

Min and Bill > Finch

Min and Bill > VeggieTales: The Star of Christmas

Min and Bill < Madagascar

Min and Bill > A Wrinkle in Time (2003)

Min and Bill > Black Rose

Min and Bill > New in Town

Final spot: #3112 out of 3539, or 12%.