Her Majesty, Love (1931)

Some great stars magic from other mediums just don't translate to the screen. Mary Martin is an example, another is the star of this film, Marilyn Miller. A huge stage star in the 20's and 30's famed for her magnetism and winsome personality, though behind the scenes apparently a horrendous dragon of a woman, she comes across as ordinary on film. Her singing is a tad shrill and her face photographs flatly. She only made three films all of which were successful but whatever their appeal was to audiences of the time doesn't come through very strongly today.

The film's story is nothing special just another one of romantic misunderstanding though it does have the advantage of W.C. Fields as Marilyn's father, displaying all the qualities that Miller is missing.

Probably the most interesting aspect of the picture is that leading man Ben Lyon many years after this had become a casting agent at 20th Century Fox and took a young starlet under his wing. Telling her she reminded him of Marilyn Miller he suggested she take that as her professional name, Miller having died about six years after this film. She demurred on taking the full name but adopted the first and using her maternal grandmother's maiden name as her last became Marilyn Monroe.