screens at: http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/3495/milliescreens.jpg

Millie (1931, pre-Code drama)

A spurned woman's licentious life backfires spectacularly, when a former lover begins to pursue her 17-year-old daughter. Murder, scandalous affairs, and (perhaps most shocking of all for 1931) divorce in this pre-Code drama!

I began trying different encoding methods on this one, and settled on an .mkv containter using the H.264 codec; most current video players should be able to handle it.  I've read some complaints about .mkv from folks who prefer .avi using XviD or DivX, and encoded this one multiple times over while tweaking settings, and could not get as good-looking a result.  In particular, fine detail and sharpness was better preserved with H.264.

The movie itself is pretty dated but interesting.  The Wikipedia entry on it is barely readable, and the "Brief Synopsis" at Turner Classic Movies' site is pretty misleading, but their full synopsis (reprinted here below the screenshots) gives the plot in good detail.

1931, black and white, 1.33:1 original Academy aspect ratio
approximately 85 minutes
Directed by John Francis Dillon
Starring Helen Twelvetrees, Robert Ames, Anita Louise
And a cameo by Joan Blondell!

Taken from the Roan Group release, from original 35 mm elements, unrestored

Synopsis

Soon after her father dies, young Millie Blake leaves college to elope with businessman Jack Maitland and move to New York. Three years later, Millie, now the mother of baby Connie, frets over her wealthy husband's frequent absences and his suddenly indifferent manner. After Jack leaves on a business trip, a lonely Millie agrees to meet Angie Wickerstaff, a hometown friend, at a cabaret. There, Angie and Millie, who have been joined by Helen, Angie's gold-digging roommate, spot Jack dancing with an attractive blonde. Millie confronts Jack with his infidelity and then files for divorce, leaving Connie to be raised in prosperity by Jack and his mother. Embittered by her experience, Millie vows to be self-supporting and gets a job as a clerk at a hotel tobacco shop, where she meets newspaper reporter Tommy Rock. Although she rejects the advances of rich banker Jimmy Damier in favor of Tommy, Millie, determined to remain independent, refuses Tommy's proposals. Eventually, Millie is named the manager of all of the hotel's concessions, and Jimmy, as a favor to Millie, offers Tommy a lucrative position in his bank. To celebrate, Millie throws a nightclub party in Tommy's honor, but learns through gossip that Tommy is spending the evening with another woman. Exposed, Tommy is dumped by a heartbroken Millie, who then finds solace in the arms of Jimmy and many other men. Eight years later, Millie hears that Jimmy has been spending time with her ex-husband and ingratiating himself with the beautiful seventeen-year-old Connie. After Millie threatens him, Jimmy assures her that he will stop seeing Connie, but later sneaks the innocent girl to his country lodge. When Millie is informed by Jimmy's chauffeur that Connie is with Jimmy, she rushes to the lodge with a gun and shoots her former lover in front of her daughter. While testifying at her trial, Millie refuses to mention her daughter, but at the behest of Tommy, Connie steps forward and provides her mother with the motive that saves her life.