Dressler carries the movie. Beery is very much a supporting actor here, no matter what his billing was but he gives Dressler a run for her money. They made a good pair. Rambeau puts in a good performance, too.
The young girl is rather insipid but they usually are in these kinds of movies.
The older leads are playing people who have seen better days, though I don't think Rambeau's character really had too many "better days".
Dressler had never been pretty (watch "Tillie's Punctured Romance" 1914 starring her and Charlie Chaplin) but she had kindness and a certain sweetness that came through the characters she played, no matter how rough they were.
It was Dressler's movie. She darn near steals the show from Garbo in "Anna Christie" (also 1930). A force to be reckoned with.
Min watching her foster daughter (who she never formally had guardianship of) going off on her honeymoon and then being escorted off by the cops because she had shot and killed the real mother because the woman was going to blackmail her own flesh and blood (she had abandoned her in infancy to Min) really brings tears to my eyes. Bill was going to help her escape to Mexico on his boat (though she is almost robotic in her responses, as if it doesn't matter any more). The woman had actually attacked her with a hot curling iron when she felt threatened by Min (Min said she wasn't going to leave that room, though she didn't actually _do_ anything except stand in the doorway). Min shot her almost as a reflex. It had been established earlier in the movie that Min kept a gun to protect herself.
She has a slight, sweet smile on her face as she's escorted by the police through the crowd of onlookers who had watched the young couple. She didn't make it known to her foster daughter that she was in the crowd. She had seen the girl off to a good start. They're were going to settle clear across the country so it'd be unlikely they'd know what happened and Min would never tell why.
The young girl is rather insipid but they usually are in these kinds of movies.
The older leads are playing people who have seen better days, though I don't think Rambeau's character really had too many "better days".
Dressler had never been pretty (watch "Tillie's Punctured Romance" 1914 starring her and Charlie Chaplin) but she had kindness and a certain sweetness that came through the characters she played, no matter how rough they were.
It was Dressler's movie. She darn near steals the show from Garbo in "Anna Christie" (also 1930). A force to be reckoned with.
Min watching her foster daughter (who she never formally had guardianship of) going off on her honeymoon and then being escorted off by the cops because she had shot and killed the real mother because the woman was going to blackmail her own flesh and blood (she had abandoned her in infancy to Min) really brings tears to my eyes. Bill was going to help her escape to Mexico on his boat (though she is almost robotic in her responses, as if it doesn't matter any more). The woman had actually attacked her with a hot curling iron when she felt threatened by Min (Min said she wasn't going to leave that room, though she didn't actually _do_ anything except stand in the doorway). Min shot her almost as a reflex. It had been established earlier in the movie that Min kept a gun to protect herself.
She has a slight, sweet smile on her face as she's escorted by the police through the crowd of onlookers who had watched the young couple. She didn't make it known to her foster daughter that she was in the crowd. She had seen the girl off to a good start. They're were going to settle clear across the country so it'd be unlikely they'd know what happened and Min would never tell why.