EMMA (1932)

This film has a moderately interesting plotline that eventually devolves into a rather musty melodrama. Marie Dressler plays the title character, a housekeeper and caretaker for the somewhat absent-minded inventor Jean Hersholt and his family after Hersholt's wife dies in childbirth. Most of the film takes place after Hersholt's children have grown; Dressler is still in high demand by the spoiled kids to solve their major and minor life problems. When she finally decides to take a long-planned vacation to Niagra Falls, Hersholt tags along and, along the way, he gets up the nerve to ask her to marry him. She does, but their happy days are brief as Hersholt dies soon after the wedding and the kids, who find it hard to believe that their father would have wanted to marry the woman they only think of as a housekeeper, conspire to prove that she forced the marriage, then killed him to get her hands on the family money. Richard Cromwell is the callow and effete son who winds up being Dressler's only ally, but as he comes rushing to be by her side in court, he winds up dead in a plane crash. Will Dressler prevail? Will the children overcome their snobbish and selfish natures to accept Dressler's side as truth? Among the kids are Myrna Loy and prolific B-player George Meeker. John Miljan, who often played slimy lawyers, is the DA. Watchable but slight, mostly recommended for fans of Dressler & Loy. [TCM]