My Man Godfrey (1936)

My Man Godfrey (1936)

Director Gregory La Cava’s creation is one very good reason to walk right on by the “New Releases” section of your local video store. Make your way over to “Classics,” and take home the original 1936 version of My Man Godfrey. This masterpiece screwball comedy, based on Eric Hatch’s short novel 1011 Fifth Avenue, is a treasure.

There’s more to Godfrey “Duke” Parke (William Powell) than meets the eye. When Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard) transforms this seemingly typical “forgotten man” from a city dump resident to her family’s butler, the mystery begins to unravel. Discovered by Irene as the last item in an aristocratic scavenger hunt, Godfrey soon finds out that the chaos of a garbage pile is serene compared to the Bullock household.

Rebuffed in her attempt to use him to win the scavenger hunt herself, Irene’s sibling-rival Cornelia Bullock (Gail Patrick) plans to make his life miserable as revenge. Mother Angelica Bullock (Alice Brady) is a perfect role model for her spoiled rotten daughters, the three combining to spend every cent of Alexander Bullock’s (Eugene Pallette) fortune and patience.

Godfrey successfully navigates Cornelia’s treachery, Irene’s scatterbrained courtship and his own past to save the Bullocks from bankruptcy. In the process of teaching these pampered women lessons about life, he also rediscovers a basic necessity of life: faith in oneself.

Nominated for six Academy Awards, My Man Godfrey has no weakness. The script manages to delicately weave social criticism of the 1930s into a package artfully delivered by a stellar cast.

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