The Matinee Idol
1928 · 56 MIN · IMDB 6.9 · 662 VOTES · DIR. Frank Capra
Overview
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.
Dialogue Timeline — 172 lines
A SAMPLE ACROSS THE RUNTIME — EVERY LINE IS SEARCHABLE
00:00:17 THE MATINEE IDOL
00:01:56 "Well, what do you think of the Show?"
00:03:33 RAIN OR SHINE THE BOLIVAT PLAYERS...
00:05:19 STAGE ENTRANCE
00:06:06 ...We're going to the show."
00:08:40 "What's your name?"
00:11:49 "Welcome to our jolly family!"
00:14:12 "He said married men make the best soldiers... they know what war means."
00:17:02 "He said the installment collector is comin... hide the piano."
00:19:51 "A-ha!"
00:23:12 "They're so funny, I'm going to make them an offer...
00:24:21 "I must insist on having the same cast I saw today!"
00:26:45 "I just left the Bolivars at the boarding house... they're coming here..."
00:29:08 "Whoops, Dearie!"
00:31:56 "Round up a lot of guests, Arnold. I find I'm giving...
00:35:37 "Say, you might be a star on Broadway, but you don't mean a thing to me!...
00:37:34 "You don't know how to kiss. Let me show you how Don Wilson does it."
00:39:48 "One of your men, Harry Mann, must have stage fright...
00:41:30 "You know, this isn't as funny as it seemed at first."
00:45:54 "There's something wrong... somewhere."
00:50:08 "And you... you made a fool out of me!"
00:53:13 Once again the Bolivar Players took to the road...
00:55:46 ...a lost film was rediscovered in the vaults...
00:56:02 Definition Center in Culver City.
Cast & Characters
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
Sidney Bracey
Don's Valet
Sidney D'Albrook
J. Madison Wilberforce
Mary Gordon
Mother in Audience
Dorothy Vernon
Mother in Audience
Dialogue Record
Lines indexed172
Dialogue density3.1 lines / min
First line00:00:17
Final line00:56:02
Production Record
DirectorFrank Capra
LanguageEnglish
IMDb votes662