Min and Bill (1930)

(On Cable TV, November 2022) While “soundies” technically replaced silent films from 1927 to 1930, it took slightly longer for Hollywood to adjust and grow comfortable with the new medium—new actors with melodious voices, cameras that could accommodate sound requirements, new pacing possibilities and even the basic building blocks of sound editing had to be figured out. In many ways, Min and Bill feels like a silent film with audible dialogue: Featuring first-generation film performers Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery (the first of which got an Oscar for her performance, while the second was one of the highest-paid stars in the business), it’s a ponderous melodrama that is more challenging than expected to watch: The editing is rough, the flow is clunky, and the heightened emotions belong more to theatrical actors trying to reach the back rows. There’s an amusing boat chase sequence early on, but the rest of the film becomes increasingly dark, as it depicts an adoptive mother trying to protect her daughter against the evil nature of her biological mom. The drama is less compelling than the film’s early comedy, and so the film worsens throughout its running time, becoming increasingly overblown yet less effective as it makes its way to a conclusion. Min and Bill reminded me of how high the accessibility bar can be for silent dramas compared to silent comedies—and acts as a signpost about the not-so-obvious transition from silent to sound.