Channel 04

The Matinee

Fast talk, slow afternoons.

The daylight programme: screwball, romance, and one perfect thriller in evening wear. Dialogue as choreography, charm as craft. These are the films that made talking itself cinematic — proof that wit, timed to the frame, is a special effect.

The rotation 21 films · 91 screenings a week

1. His Girl Friday 1940 · Howard Hawks 92 min
2. Meet John Doe 1941 · Frank Capra 123 min
3. Animal Crackers 1930 · Victor Heerman 97 min
4. Holiday 1930 · Edward H. Griffith 91 min
5. The Divorcee 1930 · Robert Z. Leonard 82 min
6. The Cocoanuts 1929 · Robert Florey, Joseph Santley 93 min
7. Min and Bill 1930 · George Hill 65 min
8. Ladies of Leisure 1930 · Frank Capra 100 min
9. The Love Parade 1929 · Ernst Lubitsch 107 min
10. Morocco 1930 · Josef von Sternberg 92 min
11. The Front Page 1931 · Lewis Milestone 100 min
12. Let Us Be Gay 1930 · Robert Z. Leonard 79 min
13. Romance 1930 · Clarence Brown 76 min
14. The Big Pond 1930 · Hobart Henley 78 min
15. The Broadway Melody 1929 · Harry Beaumont 100 min
16. Young Man of Manhattan 1930 · Monta Bell 81 min
17. Free and Easy 1930 · Edward Sedgwick 93 min
18. Anna Christie 1930 · Clarence Brown 89 min
19. Madam Satan 1930 · Cecil B. DeMille 116 min
20. Half Shot at Sunrise 1930 · Paul Sloane 79 min
21. Hook, Line and Sinker 1930 · Edward F. Cline 75 min

Every film starts at a quarter past or a quarter to, and the station break — test card and countdown — runs until it does. The week repeats: what is on at nine this Tuesday is on at nine next Tuesday. It has been running, notionally, since the epoch, and is at the same frame for everyone who tunes in. See what's coming in the Guide.