"My Man Godfrey" movie was made in 1936 and remade in 1957. This is the 1936 version.
Scatter brained socialite Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard) finds "forgotten man" Godfrey Smith (William Powell) in a city dump as part of distasteful scavenger hunt. Godfrey is later taken on as the Bullock's butler. Romance and screwball antics ensue.
From Amazon:
Director Gregory La Cava deftly balances satire, romance, and social comment in this 1936 classic, which echoes Frank Capra in its Depression-era subtext.
The Bullocks are a well-heeled, harebrained Manhattan family genetically engineered for screwball collisions: father Alexander (Eugene Pallette, of the foghorn voice and thick-knit eyebrows) is the breadwinner at wit's end, thanks to his spoiled daughters, the sultry Cornelia (Gail Patrick) and the sweet but scatterbrained Irene (a luminous Carole Lombard), his dizzy and doting wife, Angelica (Alice Brady), and her "protégé," Italian freeloader Carlo (Mischa Auer).
When Irene wins a society scavenger hunt (and atypically trumps her scheming sister) by producing a "lost man," a seeming tramp named Godfrey (William Powell), all their lives are transformed.
With the always suave, effortlessly funny Powell in the title role, this mystery man provides the film's conscience and its model of decency; the giddy, passionate Lombard holds out its model for triumphant love. In a movie riddled with memorable comic highlights, the real miracle is the unapologetic romanticism that prevails. --Sam Sutherland, Amazon
Featuring:
William Powell
Carole Lombard
Gail Patrick
Alice Brady
Eugene Pallette
Alan Mowbray
Mischa Auer
Franklin Pangborn
Director: Gregory La Cava
Producer: Gregory La Cava & Charles R. Rogers
Production Company: Universal Pictures
Audio/Visual: sound, b/w
Keywords: screwball; comedy; romance
