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Cast: William Powell, Carole Lombard, Alice Brady
Genre: Screwball comedy romance
About: A rich, ditzy woman (Carole Lombard) goes on a scavenger hunt for a Forgotten Man and finds Godfrey (William Powell) living in the city dump. She then hires him to be the butler to her eccentric family and promptly falls in love with him.
Review: I had watched this classic only once before when I was first getting into 'old films'. I liked it but I wasn't well versed enough in the style of 1930s film making to truly appreciate it. This time around I was even more impressed with this delightful screwball comedy.
Right off the bat I loved the title credits. How clever with the billboard theater style, art deco design. You know for a movie to work like this you need to care about the characters...instantly I liked Godfrey, the Forgotten Man, a derelict living in the city dump. You might think that's preposterous, that nobody would live in dump! Oh, but they did, the Depression of the 1930s was horrible and unlike today there was no 'safety nets' for the destitute.
In the movie you'll hear the phrase , 'prosperity is just around the corner'...being repeated with indignantly by the the city dump dwellers. That phrase resonated with1930s audiences, who recognized it as President Roosevelt's catch phrase. OK...I could go on with the history lessons but the point is this is a brilliant film that was relevant to the target audience as it spoke of the suffering the average person faced and lampooned the ultra rich who made idiots of themselves as they burnt money like it was a stack of firewood.
A lot of movies start off with a good premise, then fizzle out in the end...but not My Man Godfrey. As the story unfolded and we learned more about Godfrey the funner it got. I enjoyed the snappy dialogue, it was cleverly humorous as it lampooned the rich. Carole Lombard was one of the greatest comedians who graced the silver screen. Sadly she would be killed in a plane crash in 1942 helping to sell war bonds. She was only 33 at the time.
In the last few years a digital colorized version of My Man Godfrey. I was curious to see what it looked like. I read about it and learned, it's not one of those hideous Ted Turner colorized movies from the 80s. The colorization process was done in 2005 by the Legion company. It looked great and while I usually hate the idea of colorizing movies, I have to say it looked like an authentic early 1930s color film. The colors were not bright an garish but were muted and matched the color palette of the 30s art deco style of the movie to a tee.
I quickly forgot I was watching a colorized movie and I could actually see a lot more detail in the film too. I noticed some set pieces that I hadn't even seen before. And I could spot some subtle facial inflections that I hadn't noticed before.
After a second viewing of My Man Godfrey, I have to say I was even more impressed with the characters and fast witted dialogue.
.
My Man Godfrey (1936)
Director: Gregory La CavaCast: William Powell, Carole Lombard, Alice Brady
Genre: Screwball comedy romance
About: A rich, ditzy woman (Carole Lombard) goes on a scavenger hunt for a Forgotten Man and finds Godfrey (William Powell) living in the city dump. She then hires him to be the butler to her eccentric family and promptly falls in love with him.
Review: I had watched this classic only once before when I was first getting into 'old films'. I liked it but I wasn't well versed enough in the style of 1930s film making to truly appreciate it. This time around I was even more impressed with this delightful screwball comedy.
Right off the bat I loved the title credits. How clever with the billboard theater style, art deco design. You know for a movie to work like this you need to care about the characters...instantly I liked Godfrey, the Forgotten Man, a derelict living in the city dump. You might think that's preposterous, that nobody would live in dump! Oh, but they did, the Depression of the 1930s was horrible and unlike today there was no 'safety nets' for the destitute.
In the movie you'll hear the phrase , 'prosperity is just around the corner'...being repeated with indignantly by the the city dump dwellers. That phrase resonated with1930s audiences, who recognized it as President Roosevelt's catch phrase. OK...I could go on with the history lessons but the point is this is a brilliant film that was relevant to the target audience as it spoke of the suffering the average person faced and lampooned the ultra rich who made idiots of themselves as they burnt money like it was a stack of firewood.
A lot of movies start off with a good premise, then fizzle out in the end...but not My Man Godfrey. As the story unfolded and we learned more about Godfrey the funner it got. I enjoyed the snappy dialogue, it was cleverly humorous as it lampooned the rich. Carole Lombard was one of the greatest comedians who graced the silver screen. Sadly she would be killed in a plane crash in 1942 helping to sell war bonds. She was only 33 at the time.
In the last few years a digital colorized version of My Man Godfrey. I was curious to see what it looked like. I read about it and learned, it's not one of those hideous Ted Turner colorized movies from the 80s. The colorization process was done in 2005 by the Legion company. It looked great and while I usually hate the idea of colorizing movies, I have to say it looked like an authentic early 1930s color film. The colors were not bright an garish but were muted and matched the color palette of the 30s art deco style of the movie to a tee.
I quickly forgot I was watching a colorized movie and I could actually see a lot more detail in the film too. I noticed some set pieces that I hadn't even seen before. And I could spot some subtle facial inflections that I hadn't noticed before.
After a second viewing of My Man Godfrey, I have to say I was even more impressed with the characters and fast witted dialogue.
.