MY MAN GODFREY (Universal, 1936) D: Gregory La Cava, w/ William Powell, Carol Lombard. Rating: NNNNN DVD package: NN Rating: NNNNN
Fast-paced lunacy, romance and a sharp jab to the upper class make My Man Godfrey one of the all-time great screwball comedies.
In the depths of the Depression, Irene, a New York socialite (Carol Lombard), hires Godfrey, a hobo (William Powell), as her family’s butler.
The family is nuts. Irene is a childish airhead locked in perpetual battle with her vicious, scheming sister (Alice Brady). Their mother (Gail Patrick) babbles drivel and keeps a freeloader (Mischa Auer). Father (Eugene Pallette), a businessman on the verge of bankruptcy, can’t cope with any of it. Godfrey buttles as best he can and fends off both daughters.
Nobody does imperturbable like William Powell. You always know what he’s thinking but never see him working to convey it. He’s the perfect foil for Lombard’s overblown histrionics.
This reissue is part of Universal’s 100th anniversary series, which also includes Charade, All Quiet On The Western Front, The Deer Hunter and Sullivan’s Travels. They’re all great movies, but many of them share the same brief extras package: an eight-minute doc on Carl Laemmle, who founded the studio and shepherded it through Hollywood’s golden years, and another on Lew Wasserman, who brought it into the modern era. Their tone is worshipful, but the information is sound.
EXTRAS Laemmle doc, Wasserman doc. English audio. English SDH, French, Spanish subtitles.
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