It's not unusual to find madcap rich people in '30s films, more specifically, madcap heiresses. They abound. Meet the Bullocks in "My Man Godfrey," about as mad a family as you'll ever meet, complete with a madcap daughter who will someday become an heiress, played by Carole Lombard. William Powell is Godfrey, one of the Depression's forgotten men, whom Lombard decides to remember after he agrees to be the prize find in a scavenger hunt. She hires him as the family butler.
As Irene, Lombard wanders around with her hair in her face looking as though she's having trouble seeing, while her sister, the beautifully put together, bitchy Cornelia (Gail Patrick) tries to frame Godfrey for stealing her necklace in between cocktail parties, and her mother (Alice Brady) talks baby talk to her dog, and her protégée Carlos practices his art by nearly eating the family into poverty. The head of the house, Eugene Palette, understandably has trouble coping. Godfrey sails effortlessly through it all.
This is a wonderful film that manages to show the sadness and rough times brought on by the depression as well as plenty of comedy. Lombard is one actress whose voice, for some reason, never mixed well with the old-fashioned studio sound system, so sometimes her crying and high-pitched protests are grating, though she is certainly very likable in the role of a kind-hearted, sensitive woman. Gail Patrick gives a multilayered performance as the glamorous Cornelia, making the most of a supporting part. Alice Brady and Eugene Palette are wonderful as the parents. Jean Dixon, as the dry-humored maid, nearly steals the movie with her deadpan comments.
William Powell is sheer perfection. Nothing new there. He is in the beginning a dignified, serious bum who is down on his luck, and then turns into a smooth, efficient butler who carries with him a touch of sadness and irony. Like all of Powell's performances, it looks effortless, but it's brilliant.
Certainly a well-remembered and loved film, with good reason.
As Irene, Lombard wanders around with her hair in her face looking as though she's having trouble seeing, while her sister, the beautifully put together, bitchy Cornelia (Gail Patrick) tries to frame Godfrey for stealing her necklace in between cocktail parties, and her mother (Alice Brady) talks baby talk to her dog, and her protégée Carlos practices his art by nearly eating the family into poverty. The head of the house, Eugene Palette, understandably has trouble coping. Godfrey sails effortlessly through it all.
This is a wonderful film that manages to show the sadness and rough times brought on by the depression as well as plenty of comedy. Lombard is one actress whose voice, for some reason, never mixed well with the old-fashioned studio sound system, so sometimes her crying and high-pitched protests are grating, though she is certainly very likable in the role of a kind-hearted, sensitive woman. Gail Patrick gives a multilayered performance as the glamorous Cornelia, making the most of a supporting part. Alice Brady and Eugene Palette are wonderful as the parents. Jean Dixon, as the dry-humored maid, nearly steals the movie with her deadpan comments.
William Powell is sheer perfection. Nothing new there. He is in the beginning a dignified, serious bum who is down on his luck, and then turns into a smooth, efficient butler who carries with him a touch of sadness and irony. Like all of Powell's performances, it looks effortless, but it's brilliant.
Certainly a well-remembered and loved film, with good reason.