97. My Man Godfrey (1936)

Directed By Gregory La Cava

Synopsis

Socialites try to pick up "forgotten man" to win a prize at a scavenger hunt. One of them, Irene, a dizzy dame, makes him the butler of her house. Screwbally stuff happens, "forgotten man" is actually rich, marries Irene!

Review

Heh, that was fun. It really was. My Man Godfrey is perhaps one of the strangest and funniest films to be featured on the list up until now. Firstly the acting is really superb, William Powell had already dazzled as The Thin Man and here he is just as good as Godfrey.

The whole family, the Bullocks that he becomes entagled with is completely insane, there is not one sane character in the bunch. Yet the film is so well written that it doesn't come off as just "look at the crazy people", you can understand why they are all crazy. In the end the film points a figure at the stupidity of the high-classes and to the misery that surrounds them while they are blissfully unaware. Still it does this through laughter.

I have to mention the writing again, there is not a superfluous line in the film, and believe me there are a lot of them. From Irene's emo/goth fit to Godfrey's retorts everything is perfectly screenplayed here. Powell is amazing and Carole Lombard is not far behind. It is actually one of the best films I've seen, ever, not just on this list. If you haven't seen it get it now, and as the copyright has expired it is public domain and no one will blame you for downloading it! YAY! Or if you are a sucker for DVD boxes like me get it at Amazon UK or US.

Final Grade

10/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The film was nominated for the following Academy Awards:

* Best Actor in a Leading Role (William Powell)
* Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Mischa Auer)
* Best Actress in a Leading Role (Carole Lombard)
* Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Alice Brady)
* Best Director
* Best Writing, Screenplay

It was the first movie to be nominated in all acting categories.

In 1999, the film was deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

My Man Godfrey has fallen into the public domain, and as a result, was re-released by various distributors in several low-quality, but legal DVD and VHS editions. In 2002, a restored print was made available on DVD by The Criterion Collection. In 2005, 20th Century Fox Home Video released a colorized version.

Scene from the film, you can also get the whole thing on Youtube in nine parts, just search for My Man Godfrey: