''The Matrimonial Bed'' is a 1930 American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorshi ...

comedy film produced and released by

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Di ...

It was based on the French play by

André Mouëzy-Éon André Mouëzy-Éon (9 June 1880 – 23 October 1967) was a French dramatist, author of comedies, librettist, screenwriter and Dialogue, dialoguist. Biography André Mouëzy-Éon begins his career by writing short plays for the Théâtre de Cl ...

and

Yves Mirande Yves Mirande (Bagneux (Maine-et-Loire), May 8, 1876 – Paris, March 17, 1957) was a French screenwriter, director, actor, and producer. Career Yves Mirande began his acting career in the theater, transitioning to movies in the silent era. F ...

. The English version of the play, by

Sir Seymour Hicks Sir Edward Seymour Hicks (30 January 1871 – 6 April 1949), better known as Seymour Hicks, was a British actor, music hall performer, playwright, actor-manager and producer. He became known, early in his career, for writing, starring in and pr ...

, opened in New York on October 12, 1927 and had 13 performances.

Plot

Leopold Trebel ( Frank Fay) is a man who was in a train wreck five years earlier and was taken for dead by his wife, Juliet (

Florence Eldridge Florence Eldridge (born Florence McKechnie, September 5, 1901 – August 1, 1988) was an American actress. She was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play in 1957 for her performance in '' Long Day's Journey into Night''. Ea ...

). Leopold and Juliet have both remarried. Leopold, who remembers nothing that occurred before the train wreck, is the father of two sets of twins by his new wife, Sylvaine (

Lilyan Tashman Lilyan Tashman (October 23, 1896 – March 21, 1934) was an American actress. Tashman was best known for her supporting roles as tongue-in-cheek villainesses or playing the vindictive "other woman". She made 66 films over the course of her ...

). Juliet has recently had a child with her new husband, Gustave Corton (

James Gleason James Austin Gleason (May 23, 1882 – April 12, 1959) was an American actor, playwright and screenwriter born in New York City. Gleason often portrayed "tough-talking, world-weary guys with a secret heart-of-gold." Life and career Gleason w ...

). Leopold is a very popular hairdresser and some of Juliet's friends urge her to try him out. When Leopold shows up at her home, he shocks the servants and his ex-wife. A doctor manages to restore Leopold's memory through hypnosis but in the process makes him forget what has happened in the last five years. When Leopold awakes from hypnosis, he thinks he has only been unconscious for a short while. He assumes he is still Juliet's husband. The doctor warns everyone not to tell him the truth because the shock could kill him. Just at this crucial moment, Gustave Corton arrives home and is shocked to find Leopold in his bed. Later on, Sylvaine arrives only to find her husband in bed with Gustave Corton. Eventually, Leopold learns what has happened and asks the doctor to pretend to take back his memory so that Juliet, whom he deeply loves, can continue to live her new life.

Pre-Code Sequences

* Leopold is discovered in bed with Gustave, and Sylvaine assumes they are having an affair and, shocked, exclaims: "What kind of a house is this?" * When the doctor attempts to examine Leopold, the other assumes the doctor is gay and refuses to take off his shirt. When the doctor turns off the light to hypnotize him, Leopold exclaims that he was right in his suspicions about him. * The movie has numerous gay jokes as the hairdresser/husband played by Leopold. Actor Frank Fay camps up the hairdresser persona to differentiate himself from the personality of the husband. There are lines like "I may be a hairdresser but that doesn't mean I hold men's hands". When he asks what manner of person was he as the hairdresser, he is told, "You were gay, a bit dandified."

Cast

* Frank Fay as Adolphe Noblet/Leopold *

as Sylvaine *

as Gustave Corton *

Beryl Mercer Beryl Mercer (August 13, 1882 – July 28, 1939) was a Spanish-born American actress of stage and screen who was based in the United States. Early years Beryl Mercer was born to British parents in Seville on 13 August 1882. Her father wa ...

as Corinne *

Marion Byron Marion Byron (born Miriam Bilenkin; 1911 – 1985) was an American movie comedian. Early years Born in Dayton, Ohio, Byron was one of five daughters of Louis and Bertha Bilenkin. Career After following her sister into a short stage caree ...

as Marianne *

Vivian Oakland Vivien Oakland (born Vivian Ruth Andersen; May 20, 1895 – August 1, 1958), was an American actress best known for her work in comedies in Hollywood in the 1920s and 1930s, most notably with the Hal Roach Studios. Oakland appeared in 157 films ...

as Suzanne Trebel *

Arthur Edmund Carew Arthur Edmund Carewe (December 30, 1884 – April 22, 1937), born Hovsep Hovsepian ( hy, Հովսեփ Հովսեփյան), was an Armenian-American stage and film actor of the silent and early sound film era. Early life Born on December 30, 18 ...

as Dr. Friedland * James Bradbury Sr. as Chabonnais *

as Juliette

Preservation status

*A print is held in the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

collection.''Catalog of Holdings The American Film Institute Collection and The United Artists Collection at The Library of Congress'', (<-book title) p.113 c.1978 by The American Film Institute

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Matrimonial Bed, The 1930 films Warner Bros. films American films based on plays 1930s English-language films Films about amnesia Films directed by Michael Curtiz American black-and-white films Films scored by Louis Silvers American comedy films 1930 comedy films 1930s American films