The Matinee Idol

The Matinee Idol

Here's a real comedy of the theater, which takes you behind the scenes of a thrilling melodrama and shows you how they acted in the old ten-twenty-thirties. You'll learn how to make love and say nice things to your sweetheart.

NR 1928 · 56 min · ★ 6.6 · Romance, Comedy

The famous matinee idol and blackface comedian, Don Wilson, heads out of town to escape adulation. There, calling himself Harry Mann, he accidentally joins a traveling acting troupe, and falls in love with Ginger Bolivar, who runs the troupe and stars in their Civil War melodrama. Don's producer sees the play, and thinks it's a comic masterpiece, and just what Don's Broadway show needs. But when Ginger finds out she's been played for a fool, will she forgive Don? Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc. in 1997.

Directed by Frank Capra · Written by Ernest Pagano

Your Rating

Where to Watch

Streaming

Rent or Buy

Cast

Bessie Love Ginger Bolivar
Johnnie Walker Don Wilson - aka Harry Mann
Ernest Hilliard Arnold Wingate
Lionel Belmore Jasper Bolivar
David Mir Eric Barrymaine
Joe Bordeaux Auditoning Actor (uncredited)
Sidney Bracey Don's Valet (uncredited)
Sidney D'Albrook J. Madison Wilberforce (uncredited)
Mary Gordon Woman in Audience (uncredited)

Make it a double feature

2h 41m together

The Matinee Idol

It Happened One Night

Both from Frank Capra.

More from Frank CapraSee all →

It's a Wonderful Life

It's a Wonderful Life · 1946

It's a Wonderful Life

MovieDramaFamily

George Bailey has spent his entire life giving to the people of Bedford Falls. All that prevents rich skinflint Mr. Potter from taking over the entire town is George's modest building and loan company. But on Christmas Eve the business's $8,000 is lost and George's troubles begin.

It Happened One Night

It Happened One Night · 1934

It Happened One Night

MovieComedyRomance

A runaway heiress makes a deal with the rogue reporter trailing her but the mismatched pair end up stuck with each other when their bus leaves them behind.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington · 1939

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

MovieComedyDrama

After the death of a United States Senator, the idealistic Jefferson Smith is appointed as his replacement in Washington. The naive and earnest new senator soon finds himself battling political corruption.

Arsenic and Old Lace

Arsenic and Old Lace · 1944

Arsenic and Old Lace

MovieComedyCrime

Mortimer Brewster, a newspaper drama critic, playwright, and author known for his diatribes against marriage, suddenly falls in love and gets married; but when he makes a quick trip home to tell his two maiden aunts, he finds out his aunts' hobby - killing lonely old men and burying them in the cellar!

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town · 1936

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town

MovieComedyDrama

Longfellow Deeds lives in a small town, leading a small town kind of life. When a relative dies and leaves Deeds a fortune, Longfellow moves to the big city where he becomes an instant target for everyone. Deeds outwits them all until Babe Bennett comes along. When small-town boy meets big-city girl anything can, and does, happen.

You Can't Take It with You

You Can't Take It with You · 1938

You Can't Take It with You

MovieComedyRomance

Alice, the only relatively normal member of the eccentric Sycamore family, falls in love with Tony Kirby, but his wealthy banker father and snobbish mother strongly disapprove of the match. When the Kirbys are invited to dinner to become better acquainted with their future in-laws, things don't turn out the way Alice had hoped.

Meet John Doe

Meet John Doe · 1941

MovieDramaComedy

As a parting shot, fired reporter Ann Mitchell prints a fake letter from unemployed "John Doe," who threatens suicide in protest of social ills. The paper is forced to rehire Ann and hires John Willoughby to impersonate "Doe." Ann and her bosses cynically milk the story for all it's worth, until the made-up "John Doe" philosophy starts a whole political movement.

Pocketful of Miracles

Pocketful of Miracles · 1961

Pocketful of Miracles

MovieComedyDrama

A New York gangster and his girlfriend attempt to turn street beggar Apple Annie into a society lady when the peddler learns her daughter is marrying royalty.

Lady for a Day

Lady for a Day · 1933

MovieComedyDrama

Apple Annie is an aging New York City fruit seller whose daughter Louise has been raised in a Spanish convent since she was an infant. As she grows up, Louise is led to believe that her mother is a society matron called Mrs. E. Worthington Manville. Annie worries that her lie is in danger of being uncovered when she learns that Louise is sailing to New York with her new fiancé and his nobleman father.

Westward the Women

Westward the Women · 1951

Westward the Women

MovieWesternDrama

There's a deficit of good, honest women in the West, and Roy Whitman wants to change that. His solution is to bring a caravan of over 100 mail-order brides from Chicago to California. It will be a long, difficult and dangerous journey for the women. So Whitman hires hardened, cynical Buck Wyatt to be their guide across the inhospitable frontier. But as disaster strikes on the trail, Buck just might discover that these women are stronger than he thinks.

Lost Horizon

Lost Horizon · 1937

MovieAdventureFantasy

British diplomat Robert Conway and a small group of civilians crash-land in the Himalayas, where they are rescued by the inhabitants of the hidden, idyllic valley of Shangri-La. Protected by the mountains from the world outside, where the clouds of World War II are gathering, Shangri-La provides a seductive escape for the world-weary Conway.

State of the Union

State of the Union · 1948

State of the Union

MovieComedyDrama

An industrialist is urged to run for President, but this requires uncomfortable compromises on both political and marital levels.

Forbidden

Forbidden · 1932

MovieDramaRomance

On a cruise to Cuba, Lulu Smith falls in love with Bob Grover. Back home, she breaks off the romance when he tells her he is married. Lulu has a baby but doesn't tell Bob, who turns out to be a rising politician. She passes herself off as the baby's nanny. When Bob learns what is going on, he adopts the little girl, not telling his wife or anyone else where she came from. Lulu gets a job at a newspaper. Things get complicated when the editor gets the dirt on Bob, but also wants to marry Lulu.

The Power of the Press

The Power of the Press · 1928

The Power of the Press

The naive newspaper cub Clem lands a scoop when he's sent out to cover a murder. In his enthusiasm he writes that the main suspect is Jane. When she confronts Clem, she convinces him to help her prove her innocence.

Why We Fight: Prelude to War

Why We Fight: Prelude to War · 1942

Why We Fight: Prelude to War

MovieDocumentaryWar

Prelude to War was the first film of Frank Capra's Why We Fight propaganda film series, commissioned by the Pentagon and George C. Marshall. It was made to convince American troops of the necessity of combating the Axis Powers during World War II. This film examines the differences between democratic and fascist states.

The Bitter Tea of General Yen

The Bitter Tea of General Yen · 1933

The Bitter Tea of General Yen

MovieDramaRomance

Shanghai, China, the 1920s. In the midst of a bloody civil war, General Yen, a ruthless warlord, rescues Megan Davis —who was about to marry a missionary— from certain death amid the chaos.

More Like This

Human Desire

Human Desire · 1954

MovieCrimeDrama

A Korean War vet returns to his job as a railroad engineer and becomes involved in a sordid affair with a co-worker's wife following a murder on a train.

Bambi Meets Godzilla

Bambi Meets Godzilla · 1969

Bambi Meets Godzilla

MovieComedyAnimation

A deer, disillusioned by the consumerism that defines his life. A lizard, ostracized from society, forever wandering. A chance meeting in the middle of a field. Who will survive? And who will transcend existence? Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2009.

Leave Her to Heaven

Leave Her to Heaven · 1945

Leave Her to Heaven

MovieDramaThriller

A socialite marries a prominent novelist, which spurs a violent, obsessive, and dangerous jealousy in her.

The Big Country

The Big Country · 1958

The Big Country

MovieDramaWestern

Retired wealthy sea captain Jim McKay arrives in the Old West, where he becomes embroiled in a feud between his future father-in-law, Major Terrill, and the rough and lawless Hannasseys over a valuable patch of land.

A Grand Day Out

A Grand Day Out · 1990

A Grand Day Out

MovieFamilyAnimation

Wallace and Gromit have run out of cheese, and this provides an excellent excuse for the duo to take their holiday to the moon, where, as everyone knows, there is ample cheese.

The Wrong Trousers

The Wrong Trousers · 1993

The Wrong Trousers

MovieAnimationComedy

Wallace rents out Gromit's former bedroom to a penguin, who takes up an interest in the techno trousers created by Wallace. However, Gromit later learns that the penguin is a wanted criminal.

A Close Shave

A Close Shave · 1996

MovieFamilyAnimation

Wallace's whirlwind romance with the proprietor of the local wool shop puts his head in a spin, and Gromit is framed for sheep-rustling in a fiendish criminal plot.

The Sound of Music

The Sound of Music · 1965

The Sound of Music

MovieDramaFamily

In the years before World War II, a tomboyish postulant at an Austrian abbey is hired as a governess in the home of a widowed naval captain with seven children and brings a new love of life and music into the home.

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans · 1927

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

MovieDramaRomance

A married farmer falls under the spell of a slatternly woman from the city, who tries to convince him to drown his wife.

M*A*S*H

M*A*S*H · 1970

MovieComedyDrama

One of the world's most acclaimed comedies, M*A*S*H focuses on three Korean War Army surgeons brilliantly brought to life by Donald Sutherland, Tom Skerritt and Elliott Gould. Though highly skilled and deeply dedicated, they adopt a hilarious, lunatic lifestyle as an antidote to the tragedies of their Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, and in the process infuriate Army bureaucrats. Robert Duvall, Gary Burghoff and Sally Kellerman co-star as a sanctimonious Major, an other-worldly Corporal, and a self-righteous yet lusty nurse.

Miracle on 34th Street

Miracle on 34th Street · 1947

Miracle on 34th Street

MovieComedyDrama

Kris Kringle, seemingly the embodiment of Santa Claus, is asked to portray the jolly old fellow at Macy's following his performance in the Thanksgiving Day parade. His portrayal is so complete that many begin to question if he truly is Santa Claus, while others question his sanity.

The Misfits

The Misfits · 1961

MovieDramaRomance

While filing for a divorce, beautiful ex-stripper Roslyn Taber ends up meeting aging cowboy-turned-gambler Gay Langland and former World War II aviator Guido Racanelli. The two men instantly become infatuated with Roslyn and, on a whim, the three decide to move into Guido's half-finished desert home together. When grizzled ex-rodeo rider Perce Howland arrives, the unlikely foursome strike up a business capturing wild horses.

Spider Baby

Spider Baby · 1967

MovieComedyHorror

In a dilapidated rural mansion, the last generation of the degenerate, inbred Merrye family lives with the inherited curse of a disease that causes them to mentally regress from the age of 10 or so on as they physically develop. The family chauffeur looks out for them and covers up their indiscretions. Trouble comes when greedy distant relatives and their lawyer arrive to dispossess the family of its home.

The Crimson Kimono

The Crimson Kimono · 1959

The Crimson Kimono

MovieRomanceDrama

Two detectives clash over the hunt for a burlesque dancer’s killer in Los Angeles’ Japanese district.

Wings

MovieDramaAction

Two young men, one rich, one middle class, both in love with the same woman, become US Air Corps fighter pilots and, eventually, heroic flying aces during World War I. Devoted best friends, their mutual love of the girl eventually threatens their bond. Meanwhile, a hometown girl who's the lovestruck lifelong next door neighbor of one of them pines away.

The Circus

The Circus · 1928

MovieComedyDrama

Charlie, a wandering tramp, becomes a circus handyman - soon the star of the show - and falls in love with the circus owner's stepdaughter.

Charulata

Charulata · 1964

MovieDramaRomance

In 1870s India, Charulata is an isolated, artistically inclined woman who sees little of her busy journalist husband, Bhupati. Realizing that his wife is alienated and unhappy, he convinces his cousin, Amal, to spend time with Charulata and nourish her creative impulses. Amal is a fledgling poet himself, and he and Charulata bond over their shared love of art.

The Mark of Zorro

The Mark of Zorro · 1920

The Mark of Zorro

MovieWesternAdventure

Don Diego Vega pretends to be an indolent fop as a cover for his true identity, the masked avenger Zorro. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2012.

Rate this film

Your ratings make Midnight smarter