My Man Godfrey (1936)

A scatterbrained socialite hires a vagrant as a family butler...but there's more to Godfrey than meets the eye.

Director:

Gregory La Cava

Writers:

Morrie Ryskind (screen play), Eric Hatch (screen play)

Stars:

William Powell, Carole Lombard, Alice Brady

Nominated for 6 Oscars. Another 1 win.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
William Powell	...	Godfrey
Carole Lombard	...	Irene Bullock
Alice Brady	...	Angelica Bullock
Gail Patrick	...	Cornelia Bullock
Eugene Pallette	...	Alexander Bullock
Jean Dixon	...	Molly
Alan Mowbray	...	Tommy Gray
Mischa Auer	...	Carlo
Pat Flaherty	...	Mike Flaherty
Robert Light	...	Faithful George

Storyline

In the depths of the Depression, a party game brings dizzy socialite Irene Bullock to the city dump where she meets Godfrey, a derelict, and ends by hiring him as family butler. He finds the Bullocks to be the epitome of idle rich, and nutty as the proverbial fruitcake. Soon, the dramatizing Irene is in love with her 'protege'...who feels strongly that a romance between servant and employer is out of place, regardless of that servant's mysterious past...

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Plot Keywords:

butler | class differences | great depression | homelessness | based on novel | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Russian

Release Date:

6 September 1936 (USA)

Also Known As:

Al servicio de las damas

Filming Locations:

Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$656,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min 90 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Noiseless Recording Electric)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Mischa Auer's character Carlo repeatedly sings "Ochi Chornya" in this movie. Nine years later in And Then There Were None (1945) his character Prince Nikita Starloff begins playing the first few notes of "Ochi Chornya" on the piano before meeting his demise.

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Goofs

After Cornelia's necklace supposedly disappears, three police officers are at the Bullock home to investigate. Minutes later, only two of them are shown leaving.

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Quotes

[at the city dump]
Irene: Could you tell me why you live in a place like this when there's so many other nice places?
Godfrey: You really want to know?
Irene: Oh, I'm very curious.
Godfrey: It's because my real estate agent felt that the altitude would be very good for my asthma.

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Crazy Credits

The opening credits features a darkened city skyline and the names of the cast and crew appear as the camera pans across lighted billboards and neon signs.

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Alternate Versions

Also available in a computer-colorized version.

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Connections

Version of My Man Godfrey (1957)

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Soundtracks

Drink a Highball
(1901) (uncredited)
Words and Music by G.B. Brigham
Sung a bit a cappella by William Powell

User Reviews

Set Firmly In The Depression

For his second Academy Award nomination for Best Actor William Powell was loaned to Universal for My Man Godfrey. At the time this film was made there was a lot of buzz about Powell working with Carole Lombard who only a few years earlier he had been married to. They needn't have worried. The split was an amicable one and Powell and Lombard got along great on the set and created along with Director Gregory LaCava one of the classic screwball comedies of the Thirties.

In fact My Man Godfrey got a whole host of nominations, for LaCava for Best Director, for Carole Lombard, for Mischa Auer for Best Supporting Actor and Alice Brady for Best Supporting Actress. In the very first year of the Supporting categories, My Man Godfrey had nominees in all the acting categories, but failed to win any awards. Curiously enough, it wasn't nominated for Best Picture.

The Bulloch sisters Carole Lombard and Gail Patrick a pair of ditzy society girls are on a scavenger hunt which takes them to the city dump where they are to find a forgotten man. The expression is taken from Franklin D. Roosevelt who called those who were out of work and without hope forgotten men. The phrase had a lot of currency back in the day.

In fact My Man Godfrey's origins are rooted in the Depression Years. When Powell turns down Patrick's invitation to be her trophy in the scavenger hunt, he accepts Lombard's. It turns out he's no ordinary forgotten man, he is the heir to a large estate held by a prominent Boston WASP family. But that's a fact he conceals from the Bulloch sisters when he's hired as their butler.

His time with the Bulloch family is a learning experience indeed for both of them. The Depression hasn't hit these two girls, but it almost does save for Powell's financial acumen.

As I said the film is firmly ground in those years of the Depression and the New Deal. It's hard to fathom, but when FDR took office on March 4, 1933, twenty five percent of the workforce was unemployed. Today if the number reaches above five percent the doomsayers are calling it a depression. I remember an uncle of mine telling me that when he graduated high school in 1937 a year after My Man Godfrey he could not get work for over 2 years until America went on a war footing before Pearl Harbor. After that he got drafted and didn't have to worry about a job for a few years. He might have been living just like the men in the city dump, but for the fact my grandparents had jobs and kept a roof over everyone's head.

Mischa Auer plays Carlo, a kind of permanent houseguest of Alice Brady as Mrs. Bulloch. In today's world long after the Code has been repealed, Auer might well have been more explicitly gay.

Eugene Palette is Mr. Bulloch who freely admits he lives in a house of scatterbrains. Though he got no nominations his playing of the Bulloch patriarch set a standard for him in playing a host of put upon fathers.

In 1957 My Man Godfrey was remade with David Niven and June Allyson co-starring. Neither of the leads lacked for the charm needed to put over the story, but instead of The Great Depression, David Niven is an illegal alien looking to get a visa. You don't quite feel for him as you do for the jobless and hopeless William Powell.

If My Man Godfrey is ever remade in the modern era, let's hope they keep the economic underpinnings of this classic screwball comedy, even if they don't take it back to the Depression Years.