Millie (1931)
“She trusted love once. Once was enough.”
Streamed free from the Internet Archive · no signup, no cost — this film is in the public domain.
Synopsis
A frank pre-Code woman's melodrama starring Helen Twelvetrees as a disillusioned divorcée who rejects remarriage for hard-won independence, only to confront a predatory man circling her teenage daughter. It builds to a sensational courtroom climax. Robert Ames, Lilyan Tashman, and Joan Blondell round out the cast.
Cast
About the Director
John Francis Dillon — John Francis Dillon directs this as a showcase for Helen Twelvetrees, one of the era's great weepie stars, leaning into the unsentimental pre-Code candor of its sexual politics.
Why It’s Free: The Public-Domain Story
Public domain by copyright non-renewal. The RKO Radio Pictures film was not renewed at the U.S. Copyright Office and entered the public domain in 1959 (Wikipedia's list of US public-domain films).
Behind the Scenes
Adapted from a Donald Henderson Clarke novel and released by RKO in 1931. The film's copyright lapsed for non-renewal in 1959.
Did You Know?
- A pre-stardom Joan Blondell appears in support before her Warner Bros. breakthrough.
- The story's tough look at a single mother and a predatory suitor is pure pre-Code candor.
- Helen Twelvetrees was one of the most popular "suffering heroine" stars of the early 1930s.
Reception & Legacy
A notable pre-Code melodrama in its day, it's now appreciated for Twelvetrees's performance and its unusually frank handling of divorce, independence, and sexual menace.
Kept Husbands
The Lady Refuses
Behind Office Doors
Letter of Introduction