JustWatch

Playmates

1941

See Kay go Shakespearean and Ginny go for Kay! See Barrymore get amorous and Lupe go berserk! The happiest, tuniest romantic rumpus the Old Professor ever cavorted in!

Lulu Monahan, the press agent for John Barrymore, is attempting to get a sponsor for a radio program. To that end, she and the agent for bandleader Kay Kyser, plant a story that the great Shakespearean actor, over his heartfelt objections, will teach Kyser how to play Shakespeare, which isn't the same as playing Paducah, which soon becomes evident.

Kay Kyser John Barrymore Lupe Vélez Patsy Kelly Ginny Simms May Robson Jack Carr

Theatrical

26 Dec 1941

USANR

USA

26 Dec 1941

TheatricalNR

96 mins More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by RKO_Chester ★★½

The RKO_Chester was my mom's favorite movie house & I learned to love movies from her so for my mom's birth month I watched only these RKO produced or distributed films during November.
John Barrymore's last film
Other say that for Barrymore to be part of this Kay Kyser silly comedy film is sad. I think the norm at the end of most theatrical performers careers is to take what one can still get (which I am sure was even harder for actresses as they got older). And Barrymore does seem to have enjoyed making this picture. His spirit is ever present and he really hams it up at times (ala as he did in Twentieth Century, one of his great…
Review by liza ★★★½

idk what the most unhinged thing about this movie is but its probably the john barrymore nightmare bull
Review by PUNQ ★★½

A chronically drunk John Barrymore up-hamming himself, naive Southern bandleader Kay Kyser doing Sheakespear and Lupe Velez as a aggressive female bullfighter. So much fun for all the wrong reasons, which I guess why it was made in the first place. Might be seen as a sad farewell to John Barrymore, as it ended up being his last film passing away the following year, but I look at it him be a terribly good sport being ridiculed like that.
Review by Max Victory ★★

The wrong tone of lightweight nonsense. It tries to find an irreverent jocularity, with Shakespeare's (supposed) stuffiness as the punching bag, but no one leans into it enough - possibly because John Barrymore and Kay Kyser are playing only slight caricatures of themselves. If Kyser's attempts at blank verse had been more comically wretched, if Barrymore's training methods had been more perverse, if the whole flick had more of the whirlwind energy captured in the fever dream bullfighting scene, this same premise could have been a lot hotter.
I'll give Playmates this: after so many takes on Shakespeare with actors in modern outfits and settings speaking the Bard's centuries-old words as written, there is something fresh about seeing people in tunics and tights with contemporary dialogue. But it's bold as balls to claim that a so-so song-and-dance is how Shakespeare "would have wrote it today."
Review by samsmith2535 ★★

So sad. I had to turn it off after watching John Barrymore perform Hamlet’s soliloquy. Those tears streaming down his cheeks were not acting. It was difficult watching him play the fool in this movie knowing what he was once capable of.
Review by Robert Bonotto ½

A band uses a once-great actor for promotional purposes. That's both the plot, and the reality. The in-debt John Barrymore is painfully humiliated. That's both the plot, and the reality.
A sadistic end to a masochistic (or, in Barrymore's case, machochistic) career. The poster might have been designed by one of his enemies.
Review by ReelMan ★½

Excruciatingly bad. So sad to watch Barrymore end his film career playing second banana to the forgettable Kay Kyser. There is one scene, however, in which Barrymore recites Hamlet's "To be or not to be" soliloquy -- and for a moment, the greatness of Barrymore's talent is on full display. His tearful delivery seems to signify that he knows he's come to the end. Barrymore died a year later.
Review by Eric Borer ★★

Patsy Kelly and Lupe Velez are firing in all cylinders here, and they do a lot to keep Playmates watchable. Otherwise, the script and the humor is bargain basement, even if it's pulled off with polish.
But the main attraction is John Barrymore, who turns the ham-o-meter up to 11 playing himself as a self-important asshole in his final film role. It's not strictly a "good" performance. But it sure is entertaining as he chews every bit of scenery, reads some of his lines off cue cards, and airs out his ethel-butt, all with an attitude that falls somewhere between a knowing wink of self-parody and the rock bottom stench of shamelessly selling out.
But this is Kay Kyser's vehicle,…
Review by weaselfan ★★½

“i have been in the permanent eye so long it is bloodshot.”
i understand this is barrymore’s last film but is this the first appearance of one of the beatles?
patsy kelly is so funny one of my fav character actors, she did her best to make this interesting.
Review by JJ Arias ★★½

I guess it’s pretty awful, isn’t it?
Utterly cringe, salvaged only by Barrymore’s soliloquy
Review by Michael_Elliott ★½

John Barrymore plays himself in this his final movie, which sees the great actor go out on a rather bad note. In the film Barrymore is pretty much playing his real life problem as he can't get any good press so his agent (Patsy Kelly) comes up with a scheme to say he's going to teach bandleader Kay Kyser how to be a Shakespearean actor.
As with Barrymore's THE GREAT PROFILE, this so-called comedy has more frowns than anything else as it's rather sad seeing Barrymore having to spoof himself and make fun of his rather serious alcohol problem, which would claim his life the following year. With that in mind, it's sometimes rather hard to laugh at certain jokes…
Review by loureviews ★★½

I L<3ve Musicals!
A sad film, this final appearance of the great John Barrymore, who by this time was pretty much sleepwalking through his parts. But for all that, there is a chink of light when he recites Hamlet's famous soliloquy, 'To be or not to be' and yes, there is still a flash of greatness.

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Where to watch

Playmates

Synopsis

See Kay go Shakespearean and Ginny go for Kay! See Barrymore get amorous and Lupe go berserk! The happiest, tuniest romantic rumpus the Old Professor ever cavorted in!

Cast

Director

Writer

Editor

Cinematography

Assistant Director

Art Direction

Studio

Country

Language

Genres

Releases by Date

Theatrical

26 Dec 1941

Releases by Country

USA

26 Dec 1941

Popular reviews

Where to watch

Playmates

Synopsis

See Kay go Shakespearean and Ginny go for Kay! See Barrymore get amorous and Lupe go berserk! The happiest, tuniest romantic rumpus the Old Professor ever cavorted in!

Cast

Director Director

Writer Writer

Editor Editor

Cinematography Cinematography

Assistant Director Asst. Director

Art Direction Art Direction

Studio

Country

Language

Genres

Theatrical

26 Dec 1941

USA

26 Dec 1941

Popular reviews

Director

Writer

Editor

Cinematography

Assistant Director

Art Direction