Matinee Idle (1930)

User Rating:

4.4/10   

Director:

Arthur Hurley

Writer:

Stanley Rauh (writer)

Release Date:

8 June 1930 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Short

Plot:

A Broadway star, married but something of a playboy, visits his friend, a playwright who is working out a scene for his new play...

Cast

Henry Hull	...	Actor
James Dale	...	Playwright

Also Known As:

Henry Hull in the Matinee Idle (USA) (copyright title)

Runtime:

USA:7 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Vitaphone production reel #1021

Is That Henry Hull?

After seeing Henry Hull in dozens of movies, always playing the old geezer with the rasp in his voice, it is astonishing to watch him in this, when he was actually a matinée idol on Broadway, with a stage accent to match.

This short scene is between him and James Dale, who plays a dramatist who wants Hull to appear in his next play, which Hull proclaims as 'too old-fashioned' -- it involves the character's wife cheating on him and his reaction to it.

It's a little too polite and hoity-toity to be particularly interesting, nor is it particularly cinematic -- it might be a short scene run between changes onstage. But it's interesting to see Hull at this stage in his career.