The Girl Said No

Bulldog-faced, bullmoose-framed Marie Dressler would never win a beauty contest, but her powerful turn as a blowzy sot in Anna Christie opposite Greta Garbo won her a legion of devoted fans. In The Girl Said No, her next film, she again hit the bottle. But this time she played a grouchy grande dame unused to the Demon Rum in a laugh-'til-you-gasp scene that made her reputation as one of the Early Talkie Era's great comediennes. The story follows a brash young man (William Haines) out to make his fortune. His means: sell a passel of 7% bonds. His mark: wealthy Hettie Brown (Dressler). His method: ply the old biddy with booze until she signs on the dotted line. The result: a fall-down-funny (literally) comedy sequence.