The Matinee Idol

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.

Director: Frank Capra

Cast: Bessie Love, Johnnie Walker, Ernest Hilliard, Lionel Belmore, David Mir, Joe Bordeaux, Sidney Bracey, Sidney D'Albrook

Audience-only score — full critic data not yet in the ReelXO vault.