My Man Godfrey ***** (1936, William Powell, Carole Lombard, Alice Brady, Eugene Pallette, Gail Patrick, Mischa Auer, Franklin Pangborn, Alan Mowbray) – Classic Movie Review 6315

Co-writer/ co-producer/ director Gregory La Cava’s wonderful, totally spiffing 1936 classic screwball comedy My Man Godfrey stars William Powell as the Great Depression down-on-his-luck socialite Godfrey, who is taken on as gentleman-butler by a wacky posh Thirties family, whose daffy, ditzy heiress daughter Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard) wants to marry him.

Powell and Lombard (who were married from 26 June 1931 to 16 August 1933) are both superb. Other players to relish among the memorable cast are Alice Brady and Eugene Pallette as mom and pop Angelica and Alexander Bullock, Gail Patrick as the other daughter Cornelia, Mischa Auer as the artist Carlo, Franklin Pangborn as Guthrie, and Alan Mowbray as the millionaire Tommy Gray, all giving superlative comic performances in silver-service roles.

The number of hit gags, the polish of the playing and the pace of the direction make this one of the most delicious and pleasurable movies of its kind.

There was a big Oscar buzz surrounding My Man Godfrey and it was nominated for six Oscars. Director, writers, Lombard, Powell, Brady and Auer were all Oscar nominated but, alas, none of them won. Lombard received her only Oscar nomination for Best Actress but the award went to Luise Rainer in The Great Ziegfeld (1936), which also won for Best Picture.

Also in the cast are Jean Dixon, Robert Light as Faithful George, Pat Flaherty, Robert Perry, Selmer Jackson, Ernie Adams and Jean Rogers.

The screenplay by Morrie Ryskind, Eric Hatch and Gregory La Cava (uncredited) is based on the novel by Eric Hatch. Zoe Akins and Robert Presnell Sr were also uncredited contributing writers.

Running 94 minutes, this Universal Pictures film is shot in black and white by Ted Tetzlaff, produced by Charles R Rogers and Gregory La Cava, and scored by Charles Previn.

It was pointlessly remade as My Man Godfrey by Henry Koster in 1957 with June Allyson and David Niven.

Powell was Oscar nominated three times as Best Actor, for The Thin Man (1934), My Man Godfrey (1936) and Life with Father (1947) but he never won.

Lombard married Clark Gable on 29 March 1939 and lived quietly on a 20-acre ranch in the San Fernando Valley. She used her real name of Jane Peters only once in her first film A Perfect Crime (1921) and legally changed her name to Carole Lombard in 1936.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 6315

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