Marilyn Miller Movies
American actress/singer Marilyn Miller was most famous during the 1920s for her work in several Broadway musicals. She only made three films and would have made more had she not died at the age of 37. Her life was made into a biopic in Look for the Silver Lining (1949) starring June Haver as Miller. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi- 1931
In this musical comedy, Fred Von Wellingen (Ben Lyon), the scion of a wealthy German family, has fallen in love with Lia Toerrek (Marilyn Miller), a poor but beautiful girl who has gladly agreed to marry him. However, when Fred's father Otmar (Ford Sterling) decides to hold a banquet to celebrate his son's imminent marriage, he's thoroughly appalled by Bela Toerrek (W.C. Fields), Lia's father and a man with a severe lack of good breeding. When Bela announces that he earns a living as a barber and that Lia is a barmaid, the assembled bluebloods are less than amused, and their ire turns to disgust when Bela grabs some of the dinnerware and uses it to demonstrate his juggling techniques. Otmar wants to call the wedding off and offers his son a high-paying job in the family business if he leaves Lia for good. Fred breaks off the engagement, and Lia meets another wealthy man, Baron von Schwarzdorf (Leon Errol), who offers to marry her. However, both Lia and Fred are miserable without each other, and when he learns that she is to wed, he leaps into action to win her back. Field's juggling routine provides the high point of this film, which marked his first appearance in a sound feature. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Marilyn Miller, Ben Lyon, (more)
- 1930
Broadway star Marilyn Miller's second starring film was an adaptation of her 1925 stage hit Sunny. Flashing her celebrated dazzling smile at every possible occasion, Miller is cast as a circus bareback rider, in love with wealthy Tom Warren (Lawrence Gray). Naturally, Tom's aristocratic family are dead set against the romance and do everything they can to degrade and our poor heroine. But Sunny prevails in the end, triumphantly marching to the altar arm and arm with her beloved Tom. The Oscar Hammerstein II-Jerome Kern score includes such lasting favorites as Who (Stole My Heart Away)? Sunny was remade by RKO in 1940 as a vehicle for Anna Neagle. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Marilyn Miller, Lawrence Gray, (more)
- 1929
Recreating her famous Broadway role from 1920, former Ziegfeld star Marilyn Miller took to the Warner Bros. soundstages with the energy that had made her a household name. Miller is Sally Bowling Green, an orphan named after a telephone exchange. Slaving away in a New York coffee shop, she dreams of becoming a famous dancer, a dream that keeps interrupting business. After accidentally dumping a plate of food on booking agent Otis Hooper (T. Roy Barnes), Sally finds herself once more in the employment line. She obtains yet another waitress job at the Balkan beer garden owned by amiable "Pops" Schendorff (Ford Sterling) where Connie (Joe E. Brown), the down-on-his-luck former Grand Duke of Czekoslovonia, also works. She also makes the acquaintance of socialite Blair Farquar (Alexander Gray), who has long loved her from afar. With Farquar's help, Sally proves her nimbleness on the dance floor and is hired by Hooper to impersonate Madame Noskorova, a famous Russian dancer who has eloped despite pressing engagements. Arriving at a party given by influential Mrs. Ten Brock (Maude Turner Gordon, Sally keeps up the masquerade until the hostess announces the engagement of her daughter Marcia (Nora Lane) to Blair. Hurt by the latter's duplicity, she leaves with Connie and Hooper, with Hooper arranging for her to star in the Ziegfeld Follies. On her opening night, a hugely successful Sally is reunited with Blair, who has refused to marry Marcia. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi
- Starring:
- Marilyn Miller, Alexander Gray, (more)
